MCFARLANE SAYS HILL KNEW ABOUT MINING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403960021-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: April 13, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000403960021-8
ARTICLE LF
Du PAGE
WASHINGTON TIMES
13 April 1984
McFarlane says Hill
knew about mining
By Barnard L. Collier
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - "Every
important detail" of United States
secret warfare in El Salvador and
Nicaragua - including the mining
of Nicaraguan harbors - was
"shared in full by the proper con-
gressional oversight committees,"
insists President Reagan's assis-
tant for national security affairs,
Robert C. McFarlane.
Mr. McFarlane said he "cannot
amount for" Sen. -Barry Gold
waster's contention that he was kept
i norant about te CIA-sponsore
harbormtntngs.
HHe tol-d'a large audience at the
Naval Academy Foreign Affairs
Conference that disclosure of
secret plans to specified congres-
sional committees "as ... provided
by law," was "faithfully" accom-
plished.
He did not eo so far as to sav that
Sen. Goldwater R-Ariz.. who is
chairman of the Senate Select Com-
mittee on Intelligence, was made
personally aware of the CIA's min-
ing activities.
.He said, however, that Sen. Pat-
rick J. Leahy, D-Vt., had disclosed
on National Public Television that
he had been made aware of the
minings and who was responsible
for them before the information
became public.
A spokesman for Sen. Leahy said
yesier day the senator had missed a
CIA briefin in late March and
requested anot er to catch up.
He was given a private briefing
and in that session "he asked the
right question," and received the
reply that the harbors of Nicaragua
were being mined.
The senator, the spokesman said,
"assumed the other senators had
been told, too."
In response to accusations from
congressmen and others that U.S.
assistance in the laying of mines
amounted to "terrorism," Mr.
McFarlane contended that the har-
bor mining is different.
"It is not like .a terrorist," he
explained, "because the Nicara-
guans knew the- mines were -there
for months. They announced-it. So
it is not like a terrorist act where it
is a suprise." ...
He went on to defend the secret
war in. Central -America because
"there are instances short of war
when American interests are
affected and where short of war,
which we do not want, we act"
He said he-did not believe Con-
gress and the people of the United
States "would stand for" a declared
war in Central America. -
"Should we specifically declare
war if we disagree with a country in
Central America?" he asked rhe-
torically. "No, we shouldn't. Then
the question is: 'When an American
interest is affected, such as our
interest with El Salvador, should we
under any concept take an action
short of declared war?"'
He said that U. S. actions in Cen-
tralAmerica, both secret and open,
are based on a world-wide strategy
of dealing with the "expansion of
power" by the Soviet Union.
The strategy, which he says Pres-
ident Reagan "thought about for a
long time" and adopted in the sec-
ond year of his presidency, goes
beyond the previous but "obsoles-
cent" policy of "containment"
Containment was an approach to
dealing with the Soviet Union that
emphasized diplomatic, military
and trade relations with nations
surrounding the Soviet Union's
borders to forge a ring of friendly
buffer nations to hold Soviet power
in check.
Mr. McFarlane argued that the
idea no longer works because the
Soviets are now militarily strong
and adventurous enough to leap-
frog the buffer states and jump any-
where in the world that suits their
own strategies.
The new Reagan strategy, known
as "beyond containment" or
"credible deterrence and peaceful
competition," demands that where-
ever the Soviets or their friends
turn up to threaten U. S. interests,
they be met by some form of U.S.
counter-threat. This can be mili-
tary, economic, or both, depending
on the circumstances.
"We will provide American assis-
tance and American power," he
said. "We will respond or deter by
air and by sea. We will deal with
violence if it will occur."
He said that Central America is
a place where the new strategy is
being tested.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000403960021-8