TODAY'S FOCUS: WHEN REBELS WANT GUNS, WHAT'S AN AMERICAN TO DO?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000605700078-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 78
• Publication Date: October 18, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605700078-0
ASSOCIATED PRESS
18 October 1985
TODAY'S FOCUS: WHEN REBELS WANT GUNS, WHAT'S AN AMERICAN T
BY ALAN FRAM
WASHINGTON
Dominick Spadea says he is not sure how Afghanistan's anti-Soviet rebels
found out about the submachine pistol his company makes.
He does know that the guerrillas dangled big money before his 5-year-old
firm: a potential $10 million contract.
So when the deal developed snags, Spadea approached the staff of Sen. Frank
Lautenberg, D-N.J.
It was a complex problem that ultimately included the Central
Intelligence Agency, the State Department, the Senate Foreign RPlatinnc end
Intelligence committees, a gun lobbyist and an organization representin,gthe
Afghan insurgents.
The predicament thrust the unwitting Spadea and his Jersey Arms Works of
Westmont, N.J., into the knotty terrain of covert American aid and
ovie - merican- a is ani relations.
"I'm a businessman and I want to make a sale," said Spadea. "There are many
ideologies and political considerations in this, and I want to avoid that. All
we want to do is find out if our government will approve a bonafide sale to the
rebels."
Spadea says he simply wanted to sell thousands of the concealable machine
guns he manufactures directly to the anti-communist Afghan fighters.
In August, the State Department following government policy that bars overt
military aid to the rebels - told him no.
The guerrillas, who have been fighting the Soviets since their 1979 invasion
of Afghanistan, receive covert military aid from the United States and other
countries, most of it clandestinely funneled through neighboring Pakistan.
Government officials will not publicly discuss that assistance, or even
acknowledge that it exists. But it is a system that sources say involves
hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
"To ask for an overt program is to ask Pakistan to declare war on
Afghanistan," said Paul Young, aide to Sen. Gordon Humphrey, R-N.H., who has
sought increased assistance to the rebels. "Right now, we deny we have a covert
program and Pakistan denies that they are helping."
Spadea had other concerns.
His firm developed the S-7 Avenger submachine pistol, a .45-caliber,
lightweight weapon that can empty its 30-round clip in two seconds. It retails
for $369.
But because they are considered machine guns, it has been hard to sell them
in the United States, where automatic weapons are tightly regulated.
Hence, he sought customers overseas.
Late this summer, he says he heard that the Afghan resistance movement wanted
to purchase thousands of the guns. continwd
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605700078-0