THE C.I.A. RIDES AGAIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201800011-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: March 6, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/14: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201800011-0
011 (tA(x~ 11L141 A.%i J_V
6 March 1982
:?DESTABILIZING'N.ICARAGUA.
RIDES AGL&ll
SAUL LANDAU A i`ID
CRAIG NELSON
Q. Mr. President, have you approved of cov-
ert activity to destabilize the present government
of Nicaragua?
A. Well, rio, we're supporting them, the-oh;
wait a minute, wait a minute, Pin sorry, I was
thinking El Salvador, because of the previous,
when you said Nicaragua. Here again, this is
something upon which with national security
interests, I just=I will not comment.
President Reagan's press conference,
February 18
is
A covert operation directed by the Central In-
telligence Agency against the Sandinist govern-
ment in Nicaragua is now under way. According,
`to two people present at secret briefings held
last November and December, Assistant Secre=
tary of State for Inter-American Affairs Thomas
Enders told members of the Senate. and House
Select Committees on Intelligence that- the
C.I.A. is secretly providing training, .money and,
weapons for former members of Gen. Anastasio
Somoza's National Guard who are now carrying
out armed incursions into Nicaragua from bases
in- Honduras. The funds are being funneled
,through friendly Latin American countries.
Reagan Administration ambassador. at large
,Vernon Walters has negotiated . with the govern
ment?of. Argentina and with elements in the
security forces of Venezuela,: Colombia and
Chile to cooperate with the C.LA, in destabiliz-
ing the Nicaraguan government, and to act as
U.S. surrogates in actions in other Central
American 'countries. (The Washington Post
reported on C.I.A: plans fora S19 million covert
operation against Nicaragua _ir a front-page
STAT
story. on February-14.) Other sources in both Congress and
the executive branch confirmed that Enders reported to.
members of the-select committees;'in compliance with what
the Administration considers to be the requirements of the,
Huo 4,
amendment to the 1976 foreign aid_act.*
The Assistant Secretary told the Congressmen that the aim
of the C.LA.'s covert action is to incite unrest in Nicaragua
using former Somoza guardsmen, dissident elements and
ethnic minorities in. Nicaragua and exile groups in the
United States.- Nicaraguan officials say that the former
guardsmen's, attacks, are intended to provoke retaliatory
measures. by the Nicaraguan Army, thus creating a pretext
for foreign military intervention.'`
Veteran- C.I.A. official Nestor. Sanchez, who is now
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. for Inter-American'
Affairs, has been placed in charge of the clandestine opera-
tions for the Caribbean basin; according to sources in the
Defense Department. Enders commands the entire Central
American and Caribbean policy team.
Other covert operations are also planned against Cuba
and. Grenada,'. and against 'guerrilla forces in El Salvador
and Guatemala.: Several.. members of Congress' "under-:
stood" from their secret briefings that U.S. personnel would
not be involved in combat. A?photograph of a U.S. colonel .
carrying an,M-16 near a combat zone in.El Salvador that
was'rec ntly published in American newspapers appeared to
contradict -the Administration's guarantees to, Congress Ati
The number of Congressmen present at the briefings is not known The 1
Republican members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence are..j
Barry Goldwater (chairman), Arizona; Jake Garn, Utah; John Chafee,`
Rhode Island; Richard Lugar, Indiana; Malcolm Wallop, Wyoming; Dave:;
Durenberg; Minnesota; William Roth'Jr. Delaware; Harrison Schmitt
New Mexico. The Democratic membersare Daniel Patrick Moynihan, New.;
York; Walter Huddleston, Kentucky; Joseph Biden Jr., Delaware; Daniel
.Inouye,. Hawaii;-Henry Jackson,"Washington; Patrick Leahy, Vermont;;)
Lloyd Bentsen, Texas. The Democratic members of the House Select Com-.11
mittee on Inteliigcrrce are Edward Boland (chairman), lviassachusetts; .
Clement Zabiocki, Wisconsin; Charles Rose, North Carolina; Romani;..
Mazzoli, Kentucky; Norman Mineta, California; Wyche Fowler
Georgia; Lee Hamilton, Indiana; Albert Gore Jr., Tennessee; Bob Stump,
Arizona. The Republican members are JJ Kenneth Robinson, Virginia
John Ashbrook, Ohio; Robert McClory, Illinois; G William Whitehurst :,j
Virginia, C.W. Bill Young Florida
...{
Saul Landau is a senior fellow of the-Institute for Policy
Studies and co-author, with John binges, of Assassination
on. Embassy Row (Pantheon).. Craig Nelson is a research
associate -with 1P.S .,th; r - - - ter x -t4 x ?j
~'Q11r~~y-C1.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/14: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201800011-0