A SCARY LOOK AT WORLD TRAFFIC IN ARMAMENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200770008-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 8
• Content Type: NEWSPAPER CLIPPING

1960
1rl Jul
STAT
Approved For Release 200O~W1NC,I ND 1350
`A BOOK FOR TODAY
%r'y; \ ?,`s,"i?;^,/` D? ~i,,,vl~f ll V lL ,~~ 1 r, ~4.~ 1J r~W?~1y~MWI in ' AY ragm ./Y~yCrs
' ir'''u L:.~ L,., ~ ~ ~ Iduot ' :.:a..,.wY.r.l .r. ,.w/.'-,.i.... ~ .,.._
ith t1
i
fi
ll
1
s ;
y w
ca
, , The footnote for that para.1 cope speci
By Oiv\ArEi.L~ 1 il111 refers the reader to' ptohttin.
TTI ; 11':15 BUtitX:;SS. The In- fi "There arc no agreements i
three Hells stories in the, among nations to control the',
tctna,10na1 Trade In Anna. %~taSi7ilhglen Post and one in t~
meats. By George Thayer. ,the New York Times. proliferation of these arms. ;
Simon & Schuster. 417: One can just lhcar the- cdi There are no conferences or
pages. $6.05 toriils based on that kind of d' cessions under way, or
This is the kind of book that paragraph: ". as George -even planned, to brink toms
can throw a :food scare into 'Thayer has revealed in his au- order to this field. There is not }
anyone who takes the time to thoritative book, The War even "Pell demand for action;.
think ,bout it. Business., to ' few people discuss the subject. tal~in ll'l;atis particularly scary is This is not meant as a criti-Lvor
about atomicas been and i og
,
has a
h
p
o
nut so much' the threat froth.. cis"' of Thayer, w
f
o a n p odBring is beingdone]by these 1'mun ;''
- done the international trade in ar- p u ently
o
w
nlanlents-scary as that may ,'together what can be known or' dune weapons.
be-but the way a book ?like surmised or what has been re- 12 Thayer's book at least
this takes 'gossip, rumor and ported about the international gets people to worrying about
journalistic reports and gives arms trade and has woven it: the spread of conventional,
them a kind of legitimacy they together into a balanced, read-;weapons his efforts will not
do not possess on their own able account. But it is meant' have been in van1.:1.9;.. -ii.w.s
then,, between the hard covers painted with a oorau u. ua,-.
of a book. ....__ One of the most fascinating',
Take one paragraph, almost portions of the book is the
at random: chapter Thayer devotes, to'.
"While it was sal T eptitiously Samuel Cummings, founder
tug
____.
suppo:tang .,..
iagainst the guerrillas by al- . International Armament Cor-,
now known as inter-'
n 26 bombers
tion
, pota
,
lowing it to buy
d States was and still arms but long familiar to resi
t
'
e
uni
the
is supporting t; e guerrillas dents of the Washington area:
themselves, a fact that is not as Interarmco, Cummings'!
widely known. In Angola, for .warehouses on the Alexandria,
with the antitank
it has been support- waterfront
,
instance,ing Holden Roberto. In Moz- . guns lined up out in the yard,
amoique, also a Portuguese have for years been one of the i
colony, it has been supporting more intriguing of the area's,
a rebel group led by a pro- tourist attractions.
West nationalist named Ed- But even the dealings of this.
uardo Mondlane. Both men "largest private dealer in sur-
were educated in the United plus military weapons on the;
States and have been looked international in a r k g t" 'are
upon with discreet favor by ,vastly overshadowed by the
Washington officials. They . dealings of the major powers,
both have received a small particularly the United States
amount of financial aid from and the Soviet Union.
U.S. sources. Several African Thayer is most critical of
experts have told me that the the role of the U.S. govern-'i
oney has come and still meat which, he argues,. has
comes from both private and not adjusted to the changes
government funds. One au- which have occurred in the ;
thority claims that the CIA 'world since the chilliest clays
has been directly involved ' of the Cold War and has con-
with these rebels but he could tinued to peddle arms on a
not prove it. The United States vast scale. `i
has realized-as, surprisingly, Whether ?this is true or,~
do many P?o r t u g u e s C not-and there are those with. leaders-tint someday both in the government who would
territories must he given their argue strongly that it is not-
freedom and, until then, it is'the relatively free flow of
in the U.S.'s interest to keep arms throughout the world is
potential leaders from turning indeed a problem.
away from the west." "It is a fact of life today
As support for this charge'tnat no one wants to control:
i that the U.S. is backing both the trade in conventional
sides in the conflict in Angola arms-riflos, pistols,, machine
and ~Sozam, :iquc, Thayer re-:guns, tan'k's, artillery, fighter,
fers to the export to Portugal 'planes and bombers, warships, '
,of B-26 bomber s-a case with .tactical missiles and conven-
which I am familiar and in' tional explosives," Thayer
which, I am completely ;:on-'.warns, ,No organization, ei-?
?virced, the planes were smug-; Cher national or international, !
gled without the approval off, has?created asiy,macWnery to,
the U.S. government-and to.
"several African ex errs" and'
proye0 For Release 2006/11/2'1
CIA- RDP$$-.01-35Ol QOb'20~3 7.t}008-2