FOR TEN YEARS THERE HAS BEEN SOMETING I FELT I NEEDED TO SAY ABOUT THE PART WHICH ONE CIA EMPLOYEE PLAYED IN THE CYPRUS WAR OF 1974

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86M00886R002300120008-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 4, 2008
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: July 20, 1974
• Content Type: LETTER

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DDO' ==c
Chm/NIC' '
.D/Pers
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C/IPD/OIS
ACTION] INFO I DATE
For-necessary action to include
preparation of an acknowledgment-.
for Acting DCI McMahon',s signature.
30,
July 1984
Dote
3637 "".1
.STAT
EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT
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Dear Mr. Casey:
Executive Registry
84-30th
20 July 1984
For ten years there has been something I felt I needed to say about the part
which one CIA employee played in the Cyprus War of 1974. I am saying this in a
most informal letter, which no one but I and those within Agency walls
will ever read.
The FBIS employees at the Mediterranean Bureau along the north coast of
Cyprus were in the direct line of fire between.the two Waring forces in 1974.
Rooms of the bureau were straffed by Turkish aircraft. Shrapnel from an 81 mm
mortar hit the pavement against the building and entered the kitchen and other
rooms of the building. Five-inch antipersonnel shells exploded in our compound
about 40 yards away. A large amount of small arms and other fire hit the sides
of the building. This is not all that unusual in a war situation, but I think it
was a common view that what my wife did during the hotilities was unusual.
My wife was one of the original employees of CIA, and while she worked
she had an excellent rating. She resigned her job because I was made a bureau chief
where she worked. Later in Washington she volunteered to work without pay to get
public television started in the District. Later, after Channel 26 was on sound
footing zgnd she was a salaried employee there, she left, again to work for nothing.
This time she devoted herself to an organization called FLOC, for Love of Children.
It had taken on the task of finding homes for battered and homeless children.
She personally raised money for it from foundations and set up two homes with
eight black children, and some of the foster parents of those children, now in
college, we still hear from today.
When I was assigned to the Cyprus Bureau, I had no one to type classified
material for me, so said if she could be cleared again she would work for
CIA for nothing as long as it needed her. She was cleared and authorized to work,
although my admin officer said that it was not really possible to put her to work
without paying her, but, after all, I was being paid well. She continued to work
for many months until I was able to hire a replacement.
During the war, we had three American employees: one editor, who had already
been on duty all night when the fighting started, an engineer, who had more than
he could do to keep the plant operating technically, and myself, on whom many
demands were made almost constantly. After about a day and a half with almost
no sleep, we could no longer do all the jobs. I told my wife, a trained editor
who knew FBIS copy and the Middle East we were dealing with well, that I was
hiring her to file the traffic to Washington. She sat at an unprotected window
for hours on end, handling the bureau reporting.
Later, unknown to me, she and a Marine went to our home about 300 yards
away during lulls in the fighting to get food from our home so we could feed
those in the bureau and refugees outside. As we got short of food again, this
time without a Marine, she went home and got everything that was left, put
it in our car, and drove back to the bureau. While she was gone, someone had
closed the gate and heavy fire resumed just as she got there. A Marine rescued
her and got her under cover.
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 STAT
Approved For Release 2008/11/04: CIA-RDP86M00886R002300120008-9
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20505
25 March 1975
Your husband has been awarded the CIA Intelligence Star
for his courageous and exemplary performance of duties as chief
of a Foreign Broadcast Information Service field., bureau caught
in the midst of military hostilities.
In making award presentations at Agency headquarters, I
always point out that such special recognition also extends
to the family members who share in the contributions and
hardships peculiar to our service.
Your role was extraordinary even in this illustrious
company. Standing beside your husband, actively participating
fn bureau reporting"on the crisis, and supporting other FBIS
employees and their families through the period of fighting,
evacuation, and resettlement, you have earned our admiration
and set an example in the finest tradition of American
intelligence.
I want you to know that you earned a share of this Star,
and that what you did will always be a source of pride to FBIS,
the CIA and your country.
STAT
STAT
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