ANGOLA AID HALT PUSHED AS SENATE MEETS IN SECRET

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP77M00144R000400100012-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 6, 2001
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: December 17, 1975
• Content Type: NSPR

V'AS111NG'I'0N STAR-NI:1VS DATE l 2:'7
Approved For Release 2001/1 fi - VA--RDP7
AAid Halt
Pushed as Senate
Meets in Secret
By Martha Angle
Washington Star Staff Writer
Haunted by the memory of Viet-
nam, the Senate is debating the issue
of U.S. involvement in Angola at an
early stage - before America finds,
itself committed in that strife-torn
African country.
As the full Senate began a closed-
door debate today ovewr covert U.S.
aid in the Angolan civil war, a key
Foreign Relations subcommittee
yesterday urged an immediate halt to
all American aid until such assistance
is authorized by Congress.
A bipartisan coalition led by Sen.
John V. Tunney, D-Calif., sought to
attach a related cutoff amendment to
a $112.3 billion defense appropria
tiorts bill scheduled for final Senate
action today.
TUNNEY CONCEDED he faced an
uphill battle, since most senators
h` ve not yet focused on the Angolan
issue. But he said the action by the
Foreign Relations . subcommittee
should lend impetus to the effort.
Tunney and his allies were seeking
to chop $33 million from the defense
spending bill, evidently in the belief
that this figure represents the
amount of hidden CIA funds which
otherwise would be available for use
in Angola.
The liberal coalition also proposed
language to prohibit the use of "any
other funds appropriated in this act
for any activities in Angola other
than intelligence-gathering."
The closed-door Senate debate
over the Tunney amendment and the
underlying issue of U.S. involvement
in Angola was an unusual but not un-
precedented procedure.
State Department and CIA officials
yesterday, urged the Foreign Rela-
tions. subcommittee not to ban the
covert U.S. aid that has been fun-
neled to two of the three factions now
battling for control of Angola.
The dollar figures contained in the
Tunney amendment, however, ap-
pear to indicate the total. outlay
contemplated in Angola is closer to
$60 million than to the previously re-
ported $50 million.
The assistance is intended to coun-
ter the aid provided by the Soviet
Union and Cuba to the third faction
now fighting in the newly independ
ent country in southwest Africa.
President Ford, speaking 'through
a spokesman, yesterday publicly de-
nounced the Communist intervention
in Angola for the first time.
See ANGOLA, A-8
A. HIGH-ranking U.S. bfficial last
week confirmed ' that the Ford
administration had authorized the
CIA, to supply $25 million in weapons
and funds to these ;anti-Sov[e~ o't8 ,face
lions, with h another Release 2001/11/01 : CIA-RDP77M00144R000400100012-7
't'
low later.
 ANGOLA
Continued romq.1~
"The President is deeply
concerned about the situa-
tion in Angola, especially as
it relates to actions taken
by the Soviet Union and
Cuba in providing large
quantities of military aid
and men to Angola," Depu-
ty Press Secretary William
Greener said.
THE FOREIGN assist-
ance subcommittee of the
Foreign Relations panel did
not ignore the Russian and
Cuban involvement in vot-
ing 7-0 to demand an im-
mediate end to American
involvement in Angola.
At the urging of Sen. Clif-
.ford Case, R-N.J., the sub-
committee called upon "all
countries to terminate any
military assistance such
countries may be giving to
any group, organization,
movement or individual in
Angola."
In addition, the subcom-
mittee urged Ford to"Ido
his utmost" to seek an end
to the hostilities in the for-
mer Portuguese colony and
the disengagement of all
outside parties.
The resolution itself was
sponsored by Sen. Dick
Clark, D-Iowa, chairman of
SEN. JOHN TUNNEY
Coalition leader
the Foreign Relations sub-
committee on Africa.
As a practical matter, the
Senate's only realistic
chance to force a halt to the
flow of U.S. weapons and
money into Angola lay with
Tunney's effort to bar use
of any funds in the big de.
fense appropriations bill for
purposes other than intelli-
gence gathering in the
African nation.
THE APPROPRIATIONS
bill already has cleared
both the House and Senate,
and a conference report
reconciling differences be,
tween the two chambers
has been adopted by the
House.
Nonetheless, there was a
long-shot' possibility that....
Senate liberals could force
a showdown on the Angola
issue and send the bill back
to conference for further
consideration.
Despite the refusal of the
administration to discuss
the matter publiclyy Tunney
Approved void Rleleasd'c fltb1/QBa9'1
that the defense bill con-
tains the 25 million the CIA
still plans to spend in Ango- tions with all of black Afri-
Ia. ca.
CIktO 6400'1kcommittee
p po.;a , w is wi 1 e members indicated that
offered as a joint congres- CIA officials had conceded
sional resolution and as an that the anti-Soviet factions
amendment to a foreign in Angola "can't possibly
military sales bill still in win" their struggle in a
the early stages of the military sense.
legislative process, would The administration posi-
allow the President to re- tion, according to Sen. Jo-
quest permission to provide seph R. Biden Jr., D-Del.,
open aid to Angola. "is that we need a stale-
However, the measure mate in the military situa-
would give either the House tion that would eventually
or the Senate power to veto produce a coalition govern-
such assistance any time ment."
within 30 days after Ford Case emphasized the
requested authority to pro- importance of the decisions
vide the aid. now being reached on the
SEN. FRANK Church, D-
Idaho, an early critic of
American involvement in
Vietnam, said he believes
the United States has al-.
ready gone "too far down
the road towards an open-
ended commitment to a
faction that will lose" in
Angola.
Church said it is a mis-
take to become involved in
Angola simply because the
Russians have made a
move there.
"Any reading of African,
history makes- clear that
the Russians won't prevail
there :For long," he said.
"The whole history of the
continent is one of a fight
against foreign domination,
especially by whites,"
Church said.
Sen. Jacob K. Javits, R-
N.Y., said, "If we have any
interest in Angola which is
worthy of our action
through military or eco-
nomic assistance, 'we must
make it clear how much is
involved and why."
Other senators expressed
fear that American aid to
one faction that is also sup-
~'stpo
Africa could have a devas-
tating effect on U.S. rela-
scope of the American
intervention in Angola.
"We have pretty much
agreed that this is a water-
shed in American policy in
Africa," he said. "We're
looking at the matter so
carefully just because of
that fact."