GUN MERCHANT SELLS WEAPONS TO ONE AND ALL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000300080008-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 24, 1998
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: November 25, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

FOIAb3b
S?pitized,,, Apprc d For Release : CIA-RDP75-
INQUIRER
M. 603,438
S. X133.6 ~3
NOV 2 5 1965
CPYRGHT
'.Nation's capital at the: I ter. p 1e milion t Lee ye rs ag
a arently can buy A cannon at that time more than 100,000
national Armaments C r p form Interarmco or its competi- weapons stacked up in its Alex
which reputedly owns or to s without having to account andria warehouse.
small arms than the B itish to anybody. -- ""
Army, they pretend not t un ith State Department ap-
] th has sold
an
e p
V
?aAAA
,A
GETS U. S. APPROVAL He left t an
of years 0-go-t6 work for a,
By LARRY WEEKLY The significant thing about private arms company'but soon
(this is that Interarmco won't quit that to found his''bw'n com-
Special to The Inquir r sell even a p p any, to a, foreign p
And Washin ton Pos ant', in 1953.
g government without a tacit OK Today he is the sole owne
WASTITING1011, flu V. iii the State Department. of Interarmco, which had a re.
Across the Potomac fro th nder existing laws, ,a mental! ported net book value of $10
nt on the loose in the U. . h a o and had
to. work for inc e CIA
in military.sales to foreign gov~ he went 11
('Inp an~ ernments and factions, as a weapons expert .
CIA r cou le'
t
~
~~~
CPYRGHT
;a ti'd 4 Of C'f-fit! s There is more to.Interarmco At a tender age he found and
.9_ than mail-order sales to nuts old machine gun on a junk piles
and criminals. Fascinated, ..he began tinkering;
~~~ Samuel Cummings, the press-! with it, and this led to a lifelong;
un Me c dent, says domestic customers-I study of weapons.'
r
including a few souvenir-hunt.ersil When drafted, he astounded
who display military artillery the Army with his knowledgei,
Sells eapo as garden statuary--account for of every weapon in the Nation's!
half of Interarmco's sales., arsenal and soon was pr oted'
That means the other half Is to instructor. After his dis get
y
derstand the controversy: tha p va , e comp
a ugh arms abroad to support
envelops them from ti to so. eral small wars.
time. he Russians have denounced
After.all,.they say,.arms sales I erarnico as an arm of the
are just as legal as auto obilei C ntral Intelligence Agency.
egardless of the , truth or
sales. And they don't fee any 1 sity of that, both sides ins
more responsibility-or say they t Cold War obviously mustu
don't-for a customer who mis- u. e'a variety of means in thei'l
uses a gun than an auto ealer 91' nt chess game of limited'
-u
feels for bloodshed on the high a ing of friends and non
- f ends to promote larger goals.f
ways.
CRITICS UNSATISFIED T AVELS A? GREAT DEAL
It is a facile disclaimer and Cummings, from his residence.{
1 Monaco, keeps in close touch
it doesn't satisfy critics who,,
tli arms movement', in'-.'the
can't understand how a. com-' n n-Communist world.
pany like :Interarmco, aded He must do so in order tol
by a former Philadelphia , can,
k ew where to buy and sell.
be allowed to stay in bus' ess. More than half -of: his time is
The e critics seem to went; {
-Interarmeo's lawful mu il?"s ent in traveling around the,
orld, visiting. 'with ministers,+
lion-dollar business , in s rplusi I
military weapons bought from; nerals and potentates. ?
all over the world. From one army he buys of
tch of surplus weapons and
From its warehouse in ellsi ,'1 arms the army with better V andria, revolvers, rifle Interarmco , rifles s s maells; uipment. Then he sends the
pistols, rev-;1 test batch to Europe or Alex-
chine guns, antitank gun, ba- dria, Egypt, for recondition-
zookas, 'cannon and an thing
else that the well-armed rimi- i g before selling it to anotl}erl
nal, guerilla or "sport man" 1" rmy.
the tradition of arms mer.-1
could desire. pants, Cummings is an ex
The critics also resent Inter
atriate (Monaco has no income
s or itci x), is wealthy, ,lives lavishly
merchandise, s advertisements
merchandissee, , often writen in, nd mysteriously.
1es
ON'T DRINK, SMOKE
in arms trade. "`Ile also has a puritanical
LINKED TO BRINK'S C S I'streak that doesn't let him drink,
CPYRGHT J' Another controvert im 'smoke or frequent the expensive
mered when police in Sy ac se,Irestaurants and other hot spots
N. Y., disclosed that th t ugs on the. Riviera,
who looted -a Brink' s Co o ice Cummings, 39, is a former
~- Philadelphian w h o attended
S niti? M r v a ru a easeV sal t ~9 0001 R000300080008-9
- _ ' '
[i:. here'.