OPEN U.S. AID TO REBEL GROUPS IS URGED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302490047-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 26, 2010
• Sequence Number: 47
• Publication Date: April 1, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

.1,3 7 1(,t Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302490047-4 STAT
ON P.AC7. - #. a I NEW YORK T IVIES
1 April 1986
Open U.S. Aid to Rebel Croups Is Urge
By STEPHEN ENGELBERQ
? Spedal to TM New York TlmM
WASHINGTON, March 31 - The
chairman. of. the. House intelligence
,committee called today for an end to
co%rert United States support for jnsur-
gents in Afghanistan and Angola.
The- statement, by Representative
Lire Hamilton, Democrat of Indiana,
.came after it was disclosed over the
weekend that the Administration had
decided to send portable antiaircraft
~rtjssiles to rebels in the two countries.
Representative Hamilton called for
an open aid program that could be
voted on by fhb entire Congress.
The Untied 'States has given the Af-
ghan rebels hundreds of millions of dol-
lars in weapons obtained from foreign
sources. The approach preserves what
officials call "plausible deniability,"
.meaning that American involvement
can be officially denied.
In a change of policy, the Adminis-
tration decided to send the antiaircraft
missiles, known a Stingers, to Afghan
and Angolan rebels, according to- in-
formed sources.
Aid Provided Through C.I.A
The American aid has been provided
through the Central Intelligence
Agency and has been treated as a cov-
ert operation that can be debated only
by the intelligence committees of the
Senate and the House of Representa-
tives, meeting in secret session.
Representative Hamilton, who has
offered a bill requiring aid to the Ango-
lan rebels to be open, said the full Con-
gress should have a voice on major
decisions.
"I don't think it is wise to proceed on Congress can cut oft support for a
these highly controversial foreign covert program by passing a bill to im-
policy decisions without the support of pose restrictions. Representative
the Congress," he said. "This is not a Hamilton said he would consider such
covert action in the ordinary under- an approach to Angola if his bill requir-
standing of the term, this is a war. That ing open acknowledgment of American
is the question: 'Should the United aid were not adopted.
States enter into support of one side of American-Afghan Action, a group
the war in Angola?' It is a far cry from favoring aid tthe Afghan rebels, to-
the sorts of situations Congress had in day welcomed the decision to dispatch
mind when it set up the procedure for
" I several hundred Stinger missiles. But
handlin
covert actions
g
.
'We Are Playing Games'
Mr. Hamilton scoffed at the argu-
ment that American interests were
served by the ability to deny formal
American involvement.
"We are playing games with our-
selves," he said. "It is a contradiction
in terms. The President has talked
about this, the press writes about it. To
say that we can deny we are doing it is
a gross deception, it does not fool any-
body."
Mr. Hamilton, who is also a senior
member of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, Said the covert nature of
the aid to the rebels tended to squelch
public discussion.
Members of intelligence committees
are barred from discussing the sub-
stance of closed meetings. Mr. Hamil-
ton thus would not discuss the Stinger
decision today, even though informed
sources said his committee had been
notified.
President Reagan has authority to
initiate covert programs without ap-
proval, but is required to notify the in-
telligence committees. Objections
raised by committee members have
sometimes caused the Administration
to withdraw or alter covert plans.
Andrew L. Eiva, the group's executive
director, said more missiles would be
needed to turn the military tide
He said that as many as four Stinger
missiles were needed to shoot down one
Soviet helicopter gunship.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302490047-4