C.I.A. CHIEF TELLS OF ATTEMPT TO AID SALVADOR VOTE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000707170014-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: July 30, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000707170014-6
ARTICLE APPS'
OZ PAGE
NEW YORK TINTS
30 JULY 1982
C.I.A. Chief Tells of Attempt
to Aid Salvador Vote
By PHILIP TAUBMAN
spent! to The New Yak Timm
WASHINGTON, July 29 - The Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency tried to sup
port the election process in El Salvador
earlier this year by supplying invisible
ink used to stamp the wrists of voters to
peevent them from voting more than
once, William J. Casey, the Director of
Central Intelligence, said today.
In addition, according to Mr. Casey,
the C.I.A. shared intelligence informa-
tion with the Salvadorans about planned
arms shipments and guerrilla military
tactics, including specific plans by in-
surgent forces to attack Salvadoran
towns on the eve of the election March
28.
Mr. Casey, in an unusual step, lifted
some of the secrecy surrounding
American intelligence operations in
Central America in an effort to refute a
published charge that the C.I.A. "med.
died" in the Salvadoran elections.
The charge was made by Robert E.
White, a former American Ambassador
to El Salvador, in an article published
Ion the Times on page of The New York
y.
Other Moves Reported Weighed
The Reagan Administration also con-
sidered sending funds covertly to Jose
Napoleon Duarte, the former Salvado-
ran junta President, who toured the
country to get out the vote, and to the'
Christian Democratic Party, to under-~
write their campaign expenses, accord.
ing to an intelligence source familiar
with the discussions.
It could not be determined whether
such aid was actually approved. Mr.
Casey said he would not comment on
whether such discussions took place.
Deane R. Hinton, the present Ameri.
can Ambassador in El Salvador, report.
edly opposed any involvement by the
! C.I.A. in the election, fearing even a
limited role, if it were revealed, might
heighten anti-American feeling. Mr.
Hinton did not return a call to the em-
bassy in San Salvador today.
In an interview and a letter to the edi.
for of The Times, which is being pub.
lished Friday, Mr. Casey reported that
the C.I.A. provided the Salvadoran Gov
ernment with "information and caps-i
bilities" that helped block the flow of
arms to guerrilla forces from Cuba and
Nicaragua.
This aid, he said, included sensing de-
vices, metal detectors and other intelli-
gence equipment used to track the clan-
destine movement of arms and people.
For the election itself, Mr. Casey
said, the C.I.A. provided the invisible
ink that election authorities stamped on
the wrist of each voter to prevent people
from voting more than once. He said the
intelligence agency also supplied ultra-
violet light devices that illuminated th
ink and that were used at polls to check
if voters had already cast their ballot.
Mr. Casey said the C.I.A. provided
the ink and ultraviolet detection lights
because "the authorities in El Salvado
had a problem they didn't know how-to
cope with."
In the letter to the editor, he wrote;
that the assistance was given to meet
"a genuine concern on the part of both
the United States and El Salvador Gov-
ernments that the election be held, and
that people not be intimidated from vot-
ing.11
Salvadorans Sought Aid-
Other Administration officials said
the ink and ultraviolet lights of the type
sent to El Salvador are commercially
manufactured and could have been sup
plied openly by the American Govern-
ment. Mr.. Casey said he was not famil-
iar with the details of the operation, but]
contended that the C.I.A. supplied the
equipment because it was asked to do so
by the Salvadorans.
1. He added that the intelligence opera-
tions in El Salvador were part of a
larger package of C.I.A. covert
opera.
tions in Central America approved by
President Reagan last November.
The sequence of events that led to Mr.
Casey's comments today began with a
column published in The Wall Street
Journal an July 16. The article, by Su.
zanne_Garment, quoted Mr: Casey as
having said that,the C.LA. was activeln
clandestine operations. of a benign rtes.
ture, including the ..furnishing of com.
munications equipment to - cotmtries.
facing pressure from Soviet-backed
! forces. "For instance, we helped in the
El Salvador election, '.he was quoted as
havitggsaid.
I.:: In his Op-Edpagearticle Tuesday,
IMr. White picked up the comment, writ-
that Mr.. Casey had "bragged.that
the Central Intelligence Agency .had
.meddled in the election.".
Mr. _ Casey said` today. that Mr.
'Whites comments had prompted him
to provide details of the C.IA's opera-
tions to prove that the agency had not
meddled in El Salvador. He acemsed
Mr. White of '`placing a false interpm
tation" on The Wall StreetJournal arti-
cle.
Mr. Casey said that despite the sensi-
tive and secret nature of covert opera-
tions, he had originally mentioned the
IEl Salvador activities to The Wall
Street Journal "to describe the purpose
of the kind of special activities that go
on these days as opposed to the kind of
things people conjure up when they
think of the Bay of Pigs."
Be was referring to the failed 1961 in-
vision of Cuba organized and run by the
C.I.A. in an effort to overthrow Fidel
Castro, the Cuban leader.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000707170014-6