FORMER GREEN BERETS FOUND TO SELL THEIR SKILLS TO UNFRIENDLY REGIMES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303090022-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: December 9, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303090022-4
ire 1 YORK TINES
,~, ~A ?? ?. 'D 9 DECEMBER 1981
0 'T P='r'
to Sell p
For er Green Beret Found
thul
e rSkiiis to Un endly: egi esj
ByPHII.IPTAUBMAN
special to1Le:iwYcctTtm~r .
WASHINGTON. Dec- 8 - Many for-
mer Green Berets, men specially
trained by tleArmy to be masters of the
lethal arts, sell their skills to unfriendly
governments and- repressive regimes,
according to Fede''al.Uaw enforcement.
officials and formes members of the
force. '1-
These operatins, concentrated in Af-
rica, the Middle East and South Amer-
ica, are said by these sources to have in-
volved dozens of the thousands of for-
mer Army Special Forces veterans, bet.
terktuown as Green Berets. '
_L hese sauces said that in many cases
men were recruited by fellow veterans
who contended that their missions had
been sanctioned by the Central Intelli-
These sources provided details about
the operations involving Special Forces
veterans in Nicaragua and in Chile.
They also cited, without providing de-
tails, other overseas operations that em-
ployed former Green Berets in Egypt,
Zaire; Honduras, Mexico and Argeati-
.:,'Ihe sources said that some of these
operations, like Mr. Wilson's terrorist
m, ?
sal
Be
ge
B.
tw
so
do
training project in Libya, were contrary Be
to American foreign policy interests be- m
cause they involved providing special- m
Tied military expertise to unfriendly " it you want to know what kind or cov-
goernmentsor to repressiveregL-nes. ert operations are going on around the
united States laws, however, do not ( world, the best place to find out is in
prohibit such activities unless the Fayetteville," said Luke F_ Thompson,
Americans involved become mercenary a former Green Beret who, while on ac-
gence Agency. In most cases, such con- soldiers, that is, formally enlist in a
tentioru were apparently false, but for. I military service of a foreign nation, Jus.
mer Green Berets, accustomed to han-\, ticeDepartrnentofficials said.
dlingsensitive andoften unco tveritional Joseph W. Reap Jr.; a State Depart-
;.covert tasks for the C.I.A. while on ac- rent press officer, declined to comment
tive duly, assumed that the jobs had on the mercenary activities of former
been approved by the GovernraeriL Green Berets and referred a caller to the
JusticeDepartment.
Libyrm OperatiooNot Unique , , A press officer there, John Russell,
The activities of t ormer Green Berets said: "We have investigated- activities
have recently been a subject of in. of former Green Berets before and
creased Federal scrutiny because of dis- found some flaws in the mercenary
more than a dozen Special We found we couldn't go ahead
closures that Pia with prosecution. If there is any viola.
Forces veterans woTited in Libya train. lion of mercenary laws, we'll make
iAg terrorists in an operation organized every effort to look into it and enforce
by Edwin P. Witson,.,a former C.I.A. it "
agent Mr. Wilson has been indicted on The Army, according to a spokesman
-charges of illegally shipping explosives I for the Special Forces, makes no effort
to Libya for the in training terrorists to caution active-duty Green Berets
and is believed to be living there. . about becoming involved in question-
Iaanother instance, the sources said, able activities when they retire. The
former Green Berets were recruited to' n, ssman, Lieut. Col. Harold Isaac.
said that the only caution they re.
,ISO
assassinate opponents of ;the Nicara-i1ceive about applying their skills when
guan Garernmeri-.., Still others !-the It they leave the military is a warning not
.sources said, trained mean intelli- to disclose classified material about
genceagents in martial tecaaiques.
Additional public attention has been
focused on the issue by the case of Eu-
gene A. Tafoya, a Special Forces vet-
eran who worked for Mr. Wilson in
Libya. Mr. Tafoys was convicted last
week of assault in the shooting of a
Libyan student in Fort Collins, Cola, in
October 1980. As part of his defense, he
contended that be had been working for
Federal Officials and former Green
Berets suggest that the Libyan opera.
tion run by Mr. Wilson was not antique in
its use of men who had once served in
unorthodox demolition work.
'We Assume' a Career
"We don't talk in terms of getting out
of the Army," said Colonel Isaacson,
who is based at Special Forces head-
quarters at Fort Bragg, N.C. We as-
sume the men who make it through our
training program are going to make a
career in the Special,Forces." -
He added that the* Special Forces,
while embarrassed by the activities of
some former members; could do noth-
ing to control how they apply their ex-
pertise In weapons, explosives and com-
munications.
_..... :..
Live duty, worked for Mr. Wilson in
Libya. "Fayetteville is headquarters
for intrigue. It makes Washington look
like a finishing school.' - .
' A Federal law enforcement official
familiar with the activities of Special
Forces veterans said that Fayetteville
i and Honolulu were "switchboards" for
clandestine operations.
in 1978, for example, according to the
Federal, Army and Green Beret
sources, a group of former Green Berets
and former Navy unconventional-war-
I fare specialists living in Fayetteville
were recruited to work in Nicaragua for
Anastasio Somoza Debayle, who was
then President, handling counterterror-
ist jobs, including assassinations of.
Sornozaopponents.
The four men- were killed late in 1978
in a plane crash in Nicaragua, accord-
ing to former colleaeues. Details of their
mission, however, were recorded in
notes kept by friends, who made these f
documents available and who agreed to
be interviewed on the condition that
they not be identified.
According to these sources, the-four were recruited by a top aide to Mr.
Somoza to handle counterterrorist
operations, including the infiltration
and sabotage of opposition groups. The,
men also told their friends that they had
selected for assassination a senior offi.
cial in Cuban intelligence who was
working in Nicaragua and a Mexican
businessman supporting opponents of
Mr. Somoza.
The friends of the four do not know
whether the assassinations were actu.
ally attempted, and if so, whether they
?' '"` Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303090022-4 )