REAGAN FIRES KENNEDY AFTER HE REFUSES TO QUIT AS U.S. ATTORNEY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303200016-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: April 6, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/29 :CIA-RDP90-005528000303200016-8
SAN DIEGO U~tIOV (CA)
6 April 1982
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' By I3IrNJAh1IN SHORE
Copley News Se+vice
and BELL OTT
5faf1 Wnter, Tna San Diego tr
that he had been fired. Associates ~p-
plauded Isis refusal to resign. Tears
glistened in the eyes of his secretar-
es
y
.
Tire 51-year-old Kennedy, who had ~;
been chief federal prosecutor in San
Diego since December, said he had
ologize for
to a
nothin
.
p
g
Controversy had swirled around
Kennedy since he confirmed to The
San Diego Union lviarch 26.that the
CIA had helped prevent prosecution.
of intelligence operative Miguel Vas-
sar Haro? for his. role in a~. ring that
stole ~B million in cars from dealers ?
in San Uiego and Orange counties,
and Smuggled the veh(cles into Mgxi-.
co. ..
ennedy's cominents were pub- F~
ii3hed in The Union as part of a story?~
detailing N?assar's involvement iri the
car-theft clog, which 'the F13I ';
s;nashed last?Suo~met.' ;
Until January, Nassar had served
as chief of R'lexico's Directorate pf;f
r ederal Security, that country's, top
counterespionage ~ and. antiterrorist
agency.
Administration officials said Vas-
sar had provided information about'
the activities of guerrilla leaders
from El Salvador and Gltatemala..l
The officials said that under Vassar,
the biexican national police passed
on sensitive information about Soviet
and Cuban assistance to guerrillas rn i
El Salvador. ~ 1
The Mexican attorney general's I
office insisted, however, that Vassar I
was neither involved in a stolen-car .
ring nor was he a CIA operative.
Ivassar's current whereabouts. were I
unknown. `
Kennedy's confirmation of Nas- ;
sac's links to the U.S. intelligence
community came at a time when
Reagan administration officials !rave
told Congress that the CIA's forei;;n
sources arc drying up because the
United States i~ perceived as being
unable to keep intelligence secrets.
Both the' House and the Senate
have passed separate bills that would
make disclosure of U.S. intelligence
agents a felony. The legislation is
now before a conference committee
and has not become law.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release
~~Bi?ill, the- JusticeDepartment spck~-
-inan,_said in Washington, D.,C., that Renre-
,~y:was called and told he had been firecl by
~,'hite House Personnel Director )~ Pendle-
toa Jones. - ` , .
."Attorney General' William French
Smith said ihe.action was taken because
.Kennedy. had -male improper cor>?rrents
about a..pending criminal case. The com-
menu were highly pre~adicial to the inter=~
-gists of the United States," Brill said in a
statement. -
.. The dismissal was 2ffec`.ive at the close
of business yesterday,. Brill said. He added:
~..~ "We feel that he was given every opoor-
Funity to fully explain his conduct. Here in
~lAashington, he had conversations with the
-deputy attorney general, Edward A..
;Schmults, r'Lssociate Attorney General Ru-
~dolph Giuliani; and two other depai?trnent
officials. -
':~~.-"Kennedy was given"an opportunity to~
resign and he refused. The deputy attorney
general {Schrnults} 2nd the associate attor- _
ney general (Giuliani} and the other two
. department officials all recommended to
~_the attorney general that Kennedy be dis-
mused." _
?.-:. Brill said the attorney general "studied
..the matter carefully and then he.recom-
mended to the President that Rennedy be
dismissed" Kennedy, a presidential ap-
pointee, could be fired only by i4ir. Reagan.
Kennedy was summoned to the ration's
capital last lllonday. Asked T;hy it had
taken a week to fire Rennedy after those
meetia;s, frill replied: "'these are sensi-
tive, delicate matters . "
~- Brill said "it hasn't been resolved yep'
whether there will be a formal follow-up
letter to Kennedy from Jones, the White
House personnel director. Brill said 6e
doubted whether the government would
take further action against Kennedy.
During the Carter administration, two
2010/07/29 :CIA-RDP90-005528000303200016-8 n in Phila-