HELMS INVESTIGATION/CHILE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620006-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: August 6, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620006-4
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620006-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620006-4
RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 [phone]
STAT
PROGRAM Morning Edition STATION WAMU Radio
NPR Network
DATE August 6, 1986 8:10 AM CITY Washington DC
SUBJECT Helms Investigation/Chile
DAVID MOLPUS: National Public Radio has learned new
details of allegations that Republican Senator Jesse Helms of
North Carolina, or his staff disclosed U.S. intelligence
information to the Chilean government. The allegded leak
involved information about the death in Santiago of Rodrigo
Rojas, a Chilean born U.S resident.
Witnesses say Rojas was set on fire and burned to death
by members of the Chilean Arms Forces.
NPR's Jim Angle has our report.
JIM ANGLE: An administration source told NPR that an
official of the Chilean government has confirmed to U.S.
officials that Chile learned of U.S. intelligence information on
Rojas' death from Helms or a member of his staff.
The Chilean official told the U.S. Embassy in Santiago
that Chilean officials received a called from Helms describing
the information that had been obtained by the Central
Intelligence Agency. But the source cautioned that it was not
clear whether the call came from Helms himself, or someone
representing Helms.
The center of a current FBI investigation is Christopher
Manion, an aide to Helms on the Senate Foreign Relations staff.
According to a knowledgeable Administration source, who spoke on
the condition he not be identified, Helms saw a reference to the
Rojas death in the National Intelligence Daily, a roundup of
intelligence information distributed largely within the Admini-
stration. As the chairman of the Subcommittee on Western Hemi-
sphere Affairs, Helms has access to intelligence information on
OFFICES IN: WASHINGTON D.C. ? NEW YORK ? LOS ANGELES ? CHICAGO ? DETROIT ? AND OTHER PRINCIPAL CITIES
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After seeing a reference to the Rojas death, Helms'
office requested and received a briefing from the Central
Intelligence Agency. Christopher Manion was the individual who
received that briefing.
In it, Manion learned that the CIA had obtained the
results of an internal investigation by the Chilean government
into Rojas' death. That report, according to the Administration
official, concluded that Rojas had be quote, "deliberately killed
by the army". T fined the results of the internal
investigat ns_LQt from interceptive ions as ear TTer
reported but from the source in the Ch iIean governmen rtfit
off , r , _ ~t _ . ,.fear-+h -4. -,....p .t 1i 1. 1'_- _c.o u, l d o n 1 y.. h m.x Le
source of the information. But that investigation is going
forward at the request of the Senate Select Committee on Intel-
ligence, which arranged the CIA briefing for Helms' office.
And officials have said the allegded leak is threatening
the CIA sources and methods for gathering intelligence on Chile.
Helms has been sharply critical of the Administration's
statements on Chile, and that the U.S. ambassador's attendence at
the funeral for Rojas. The Chilean government has officially
denied the charges that Rojas was set on fire by the army but one
officer is under investigation for not getting Rojas to a
hospital.
An administration official said the internal investi-
gation by Chilean authorities confirmed witnesses' accounts that
the army had set Rojas and his companion on fire, and the source
said the highest levels of the Chilean government know the
conclusions of the report, including the Commander-in-Chief of
the Army and President Pinochet, himself.
Senator Helms has vigorously denied that he or anyone on
his staff disclosed any intelligence information to the Chileans.
And he has accused Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams
of making false and malicious allegations. Abrams told the
Washington Post through a spokesman, that there was no indication
that Helms was personally responsible for any breach of security
or even that he was aware of it, but that said Abrams is way you
investigate.
I'm Jim Angle in Washington.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620006-4