DIRECTOR CASEY' S ROLE IN IRAN-CONTRA DEALINGS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403850005-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 16, 2010
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: December 5, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403850005-8
RADIO 1'J REPORTS, INC.
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 [phone]
FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS STAFF
PROGRAM ABC World News Tonight
STAnON W J L A- T V
ABC Network
DATE December 5, 1986 6:30 P.M. CITY Washington, D.C.
Director Casey's Role in Iran-Contra Dealings
PETER JENNINGS: Time and again in this affair you hear
the name William Casey, the Director of the CIA. As ABC's Barry
Serafin reports tonight, a great many people would like him to be
more forthcoming. And some of his most ardent critics would like
to see him go.
BARRY SERAFIN: William Casey has said the CIA and the
National Security Council worked as a team on the shipment of
arms to Iran. He has offered conflicting and confusing accounts
of who okayed CIA participation in November 1985 arms shipments,
two months before President Reagan's written approval. And there
have been reports that Iran money diverted to the Contras was
mingled with CIA funds in a secret Swiss bank account.
REP. DICK CHENEY: The fact of having a bank account in
Switzerland is not illegal. It may indeed have been part of a
legitimate Agency operation, which may in fact have been author-
ized. That does not constitute evidence that would lead anybody
to suggest, that would lead me to suggest Bill Casey ought to
leave.
SERAFIN: But a growing chorus thinks Casey should
leave, from Democrats:
REP. DAVE MCCURDY: His credibility, his ability to work
with the Congress, I think, has been severely damaged.
SERAFIN: To Republicans:
SENATOR_.~f .LLC.JIAlU(&RYes, I think he ought to be
replaced. We ought to have a fresh start there.
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SERAFIN: And even some old Reagan hands who admire
Casey think he should step down to take heat off the President.
Casey, himself, has given no sign that he's prepared to
step down. He has weathered controversy before, whether it was
his own financial dealings, a CIA manual on assassination, the
mining of Nicaraguan harbors, or his call earlier this year to
prosecute the press for reporting leaked information.
DIRECTOR WILLIAM CASEY: And if it deals with communi-
cations intelligence, the press is prohibited by law from
publishing it.
SERAFIN: Casey can he gruff with reporters. He often
has a mumbling style of speaking, but those who know him say it's
part of a deliberate public mask.
LYN NOFZIGER: He's a very brilliant mumbler. [Laugh-
ter] He has a first-class mind.
SERAFIN: Friends and foes describe Casey as tough,
shrewd and cunning. He's one of just a handful of government
officials with free and direct access to President Reagan, whose
campaign he managed in 1980. But he has notoriously poor
relations with Congress, made worse now by the arms scandal and
the suspicion that he has held back information.
REP. MCCURDY: I don't think you'll ever know exactly
everything about what Bill Casey does now.
SERAFIN: In short, you don't think he has told you
everything.
REP. MCCURDY: No. No, I don't think he has, nor do I
think he ever will.
SERAFIN: Casey faces many more questions, but he has a
long history as a Washington survivor. And not many people in
this city are ready yet to bet against his survival now.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403850005-8