CHAIRMAN AIMS TO MAKE PANEL MORE PROFESSIONAL

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00552R000201670087-2
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
2
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
July 19, 2010
Sequence Number: 
87
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
January 12, 1985
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00552R000201670087-2.pdf127.2 KB
Body: 
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201670087-2 .L ICLE APPEARED ON PAGE --// 12 January 198 Chair .an Aims to Make Panel More Professional Probe of Atrocity Charges May Come Later By Joanne Omang Washington Post Staff Writer Investigations into charges that Nicaraguan rebels commit atroci- ties or that U.S. aid to rebels in Af- ghanistan is vanishing might come "later on," but the new Senate in- telligence committee will have sev- eral other things to do first, Chair- man David F. 'Durenberger (R- Minn.) said yesterday. Tops on his priority list is "pro- fessionaiizing" the committee's nine acw members and the staff so as to take them out of the newspapers and away from rehashing past mis- takes, and to put them into control- ling future acts of the intelligence community, Durenberger said. "If we spend the next two years investigating Afghanistan and the 'contras' [in Nicaragua] we aren't going to get . the .job done that we are expected to do," Durenberger said in an interview. "These are on the list of things we'll explore later on ... but the idea that all of us will 'be in the headline business overturning wrong is not my idea of what the committee ought to be." Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the panel's vice chairman, called last month for a probe of charges that rebels who have been fighting Nic- aragua's leftist Sandinista govern- ment with U.S. aid for three years have engaged in murder, rape, tor- ture and other atrocities against Nicaraguan civilians. Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey (R- N.H.) has set up an ad hoc task force of senators and House mem- bers to evaluate the way U.S. policy in Afghanistan is being imple- mented. Humphrey 'has expressed ,concern about reports that as much as 90 percent of covert U.S. aid to rebels fighting the Soviet occupa- tion of Afghanistan disappears be- fore it reaches the guerrillas. An aide said Humphrey had hoped that either the intelligence or Foreign Relations committees would look into those reports. He said as much as $400 million may be involved. "Since the com- mittees are reluctant, we will do it through the task force," the aide said. Hearings are planned later this month. Durenberger said he is hopeful that other intelligence committee Republicans will support his oppo- sition to renewed Central Intelli- gence Agency aid to the Nicaraguan "contras.' ~.The program is helping to destroy the [congressional] over- sight process" by undermining pub- lic confidence in the legitimacy of covert operations, he said. "As long as that little poison remains, we're going to have troubles." However, Durenberger added, probing the rebels' behavior is an- other matter. "I'm not real anxious to spend a lot of time being conned by a lot of Nicaragua propagandists" charging rebel atrocities "when I can't get at the human-rights vio- lations by the Sandinistas," he said. Durenberger added that docu- menting atrocities probably would be possible but would chart no new. waters. "I deplore it, but I predicted it three years ago when this pro- gram started," he said. He acknowledged that Reagan administration officials have asked for alternative proposals for pres- suring the Sandinistas to make. po- litical concessions. "I said to [for- mer national security affairs adviser William P.] Clark three years ago I wasn't hired to come up with the ideas-that's your responsibility," Durenberger said. He has repeatedly made clear his opposition to the Sandinista govern- ment, suggesting last .month that the administration consider ways to apply military pressure in an overt manner. Several members of Con- gress have said they may propose withdrawing diplomatic recognition from Nicaragua and passing a law to permit open backing for the resis- tance forces. "You have to draft a policy that implements U.S. law," Durenberger said. "If the administration doesn't give us any alternative to the CIA program, there will be serious prob- lems." Law prohibits the United States from seeking the overthrow, of any government with which it maintains diplomatic relations, and ,.bans spending to overthrow the govern- ment of Nicaragua. Durenberger said that, contrary to rumor, he expects to retain most of the intelligence committee's staff and to permit each one to be the "designee" of a committee member. But he said some of the nine new senators will have to accept staff aides as their designees, because "the staff is going to be much more professional and much less honed by the members than it has been." He said he will expect staff mem- bers to labor for the committee 90 percent of their time and keep their senators informed on current issues the other 10 percent, devoting no time to speechwriting, casework or floor statements not related to in- telligence activities. He also said-he opposes a pending recommendation from a select com- .mittee on Senate reorganization to consolidate the House and Senate intelligence committees. STAT STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201670087-2 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201670087-2 "You wouldn't consider a joint ethics committee. That's like intel- ligence-they're both superspecial- ly nonpartisan; you bend over back- wards to take politics out," he said. Durenberger was quoted in a re- cent interview with the Minneapolis Star and Tribune as saying that CIA Director William J. Casey is a "2 on a scale of 10." But the chairman said yesterday he would not ask for Casey's resignation. "Nope. I told him I didn't hire him and I wasn't going to try to get him fired," Durenberger said. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201670087-2