U.S. APPROVES COVERT PLAN IN NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00049R001202830017-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 18, 2006
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: March 10, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN

~Af~~r`dt~ For Release 20>>}6~05~-I:IR6~f~PP?~600049R001202830017-3
~~______ 10 March .1982
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By Patrick E. Tyler
and Bob EVoodward
tVashington Post Staff tVrlters - -
President Reagan has authorised
covert operations against the Central
American nation of Nicaragua,
which, administration officials have
chazged, is serving as the military
command center and supply line to
guerrillas in El Salvador.
According to informed adminis-
tration officials, the president has
ruled out the use of U.S. military
forces in direct anti-Nicaraguan op-
erations. But the authorized, covert
plan directs the CIA to begin to
build and .fund a paramilitary .force
of up to 500 Latin Americans, who
are to operate .out of carr-manda
camps spread along the Nicaraguan-
Honduran border.
The officials stressed that it will
take months for the paramilitary
force to be recruited, trained and
positioned to begin operations. They
did not say precisely when the cross-
border operations are_ scheduled to
begin.
As part of this plan, the comman-
dos eventually would attempt to de-
stroy vital Nicaraguan targets, such
as power plants and bridges, in an
effort to disrupt the economy and
divert the .attention and the re-
sources of the government. CIA
strategists believe these covert op-
erations inside Nicaragua will slow
the flow of arms to El Salvador and
disrupt what they claim is a Saviet-
and Cutian-controlled government. in
Nicaragua.
Operating, under a ~~19 million
CIA budget, the planned 500-man
force could be increased in size if
necessary, officials said. The CIA
force would be supplemented by an?
other Latin American commando
force of up to I,000 men-some of
whom currenth? are undergoing
training by Argentine militazy offi-
cials.
This is the plan for CIA .covert
operations first reported in The
Washington Post on Feb. 14 as part
of the Reagan administration's strat-
egy in the region. At the time, it
could not been de~ermired whether
the president had authorized the
CIA's plan to build a paramilitary
force against Nicaragua.
Several informed sources now say
that the president did formally au-
thorize the proposal, but the precise
timing of his authorization could not
be determined.. It may have occurred
late last year.
The covert action proposal was
developed by the CIA and first
presented in detail to President Rea-
gan by CIA Director William J.
Casey at the Nov. 16 meeting of the
National Security Council. It was
supported by Secretary of State Al-
exander M. Haig Jr. and Defense
Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, ac-
cording to knowledgeable officials.
Administration officials familiar
with the CIA covert program
stressed that the decision to focus on
economic targets was based on a de-
sire to disrupt the Nicaraguan arms
supply line t4 El Salvador in a man-
ner that is relatively inexpensive and
least threatening to the civilian pop-
ulation.
"If you blow up a dam, you cause
a lot of trouble, but you're not kil-
ling people," one high-level official
said.
In his Feb. 18 press conference,
Reagan was asked if the United
States was planning covert opera-
tions in Nicaragua, but he declined
to comment.
Nicaragua currently is ruled by
the Sandinista National Liberation
Front, whose guerrilla forces over-
threw the government of dictator
Anastasio Somoza in July 1979.
Honduras has a close military re-
lationship with the United States,
and Honduran officials fear that the
political upheaval in El Salvador and
Nicaragua will spill into their coun-
try. As a separate part of the U.S.
strategy in the region, the U.S. mil-
itary currently is engaged in two op-
erations in neighboring Honduras to
indirectly support anti-Nicaraguan
efforts, informed administration of-
ficials said.
According to highh? cla;~ifed
NSC records, the initial CIA pruw~-
al in November called for "support
and conduct of political and pa.?a-
military operations against ti-:e
Cuban presence and Ctioan-Sat'.:ii-
nista support structure in licarag::a
and elsewhere in Central America."
The CIA, in seeking presidential au-
thorization for the S19 million para-
military force, emphasized that "the
program should not be confined tt,
that funding level or to the 500-man
force described," the records show.
Covert operations under the CIA
proposal,. according to the NSC
records, are intended to:
? "Build popular support in Cen?
tral America and Nicaragua for an
opposition front that would be na-
tionalistic, anti-Cuban and anti~
Somoza.
? "Support the' opposition front
through formation and training of
action teams to collect intelligence
and engage in paramilitary and po-
litical operations in Nicaragua and
elsewhere. -
? "Work primarily through non?
Americans" to achieve these covert
objectives, but in some cases the CIA
might "take unilateral pazamilitazy
action-possibly using U.S. person-
nel-against special Cuban targets."
After the initial presentation, the
CIA proposal was turned over to the
national security planning group, a
subcommittee of the I`iSC, as a draft
"presidential finding," which states
the need for specific covert opera-
tions. Under national security stat-
utes, no funds can be expended for
covert actions, "until the president
finds that each such operation is im-
portant to the national security of
the L`nited States."
Senior U.S. defense and intelli-
gence officials have said in recent
weeks that without a slott?dotan in
the azms supply to EI Salvador by
air, land and sea routes from Nica-
ragua, the position of government
- -forces in the tear-torn countn? could
deteriorate rapidl~?, po?entiall~
prompting an escalation of Salvador-
an requests for L'.S. militar~? as~ist-
ance. Such requests are likel~? to rur.
into strong congressional and public
resistance.
Approved For Release 2006/05/25 :CIA-RDP84B00049R001202830017-3~,G'~~ ~~`~~`~~
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