CARTER WON'T GIVE DATA ON CUBANS TO FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R000600090007-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 4, 2006
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: June 7, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2006/12/04: CIA-RDP81 M
NEW YORK TIMES; DATE-'.
THENEW 'YORK TIMES, WEDNESDAY JUNE7, 197e
Carter Won't Give Data on Cubans
To Foreign Relations Committee
By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
S'ec1a1 to The New York Time= - - -
WASHINGTON, June 6-The Carter
Administration has refused to turn over
to the Senate Foreign Relations Commit-
tee the documentary evidence to substan-
tiate its charges that Cuba trained and
equipped, Katangan rebels for their recent
invasion of Zaire from Angola, Adminis-
tration officials said today.
Rather than provide the raw material
to the Foreign Relations Committee, the
Administration decided to give it only
to the Senate Intelligence Committee. The
same pattern is being followed on the
House side, officials said. -
Since the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee was the only committee to
raise questions about the Administra-
tion's assertions that Cuba had played
a major role in the Zaire invasion, the
decision to deny it the raw material may
provoke a sharp dispute when Adm.
Stansfield Turner, the Director of Central
Intelligence, testifies before the commit-
tee on Friday to back up the Administra-
tion's assertions about Cuba.
According to members of the Foreign
Relations Committee, their Chairman,
John J. Sparkman of Alabama authorized
the staff to assemble as much informa-
tion as possible about thecharges that
Cuba was involved in preparing the
Katangans for the Zaire action-charges
that Cuba has consistently denied.
Two Requests. Made
But several of the members and staff.
of the Foreign Relations Committee were
equally concerned that the Administra-
tion was not providing them with the
information they needed to question Ad-
miral Turner because of political consid-
erations. In the -interim, the committee
has formally asked the Senate Intelli-
gence Committee for a full. report on the
information it has on the raw material.
At the moment, the committee staff
intends to provide as much data as it.
can in advance -to the committee mem-
bers, pointing out that the staff was un
able to see the actual intelligence materi-
al If the members of the-committee are
unsatisfied with Admiral Turner's brief-
ing -on Friday; they can -demand fuller
information, staff members said:
The Foreign Relations Committee has
been highly critical in the past of what.
Last week and again this morning,
committee staff members asked the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency for the intelli-
gence documentation so that the staff
could prepare material for the senators
to have before Admiral Turner- testifies.
Since members of Congress are usually
occupied with a number of complex mat-
ters, they are usually prepare for a hear-
ing by having staff members summarize
available data and suggest pertinent
questions,
? But the C.I.A.'s Congressional liaison
officials told the Foreign Relations Com-
mittee that the White House had decided
to restrict the data to the intelligence
committees. The official reason was hat
the Administration wanted only those
committees to handle the classified mate-
rial, By implication, the C.I.A. was ex-
pressing concern about possible unau-
thorized disclosures.
oqw
90007-0
Page
it regarded as excessive American in-
volvement in Zaire. Senator Dick Clark
of Iowa, chairman of the Foreign Rela-
tions subcommittee on- Africa, his been.{
concerned about what he perceived -as
exaggerated. concern in the Administra-
tion over the activity by Cubans in Afri-
ca.
Admiral Turner has been selectively
1 briefing key members of Congress and
has elicited statements that President
Carter was justified in charging Cuba
with training and equipping the Katangan
rebels.,
He is telling members of Congress, such
as Representative Thomas P. O'Neill Jr.,
the Speaker, that the Government has
reports from African diplomats, from
captured Katangan rebels and from
"agents" of other governments that
amount to a "preponderance of evidence"
that Cuba was involved.
Sources Are Questioned
The Administration has also reportedly
said that it has satellite photographs that
show Cuban camps in the vicinity of the Katangan camps.in northern Angola.
But some members of Congress who
asked not to be.identified said today that
the source of evidence suppliedby Admi-
ral Turner was open to question.
?At the instigation of. Senator George
McGovern, Democrat of South Dakota;
the committee called for an inquiry into
the discrepancy between Mr. Carter's
comments and the denials of President
Fidel Castro.
Yesterday, Representative Edward P.
Boland of Massachusetts, Chairman of
the House Intelligence Committee, said
he and his committee were "satisfied"
that Mr. Carter's assertions about the
Cuban involvement were "correct.",, He
and some members of his committee had
received a two-hour briefing from Admi-
ral Turner. His committee also was given
documentation.
The issue of whether the Foriegn Rela-
tions Committee should have access to
the intelligence material is controversial.
Some members of the committee and its
staff argue that without access to such
documentation, it is difficult to assess
independently testimony given by Admin-
istration witnesses. '. But the -Administra-
i, tion contention is that the intelligence
';committees were created to guard against
unauthorized disclosure of information
and to provide a sophisticated panel to
assess intelligence activities.
POPIZEUG