FORMER CIA AGENT IMPLICATED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210052-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 52
• Publication Date: November 16, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210052-0
COy4PUT22WORLD
ARTIOf- APPEA.R 16 NOVEMBER 1981
ON PAGE"
Electronics Unde vor d
Former CIA Agent Implicated in
pec
a
o
The amazing case of Ed Wilson and Frank Terpil -
the two former Central Intelligence Agency agents ac
cused of shipping explosives to Libya - has led to'
criminal investigations on three continents, a congres-
siorial inquiry and a purge of senior U.S. intelligence
officials in the last three years.
But that may be only the beginning. _ i
Allegations of corruption in the traditionally top-se-.I
cret procurement of computers and other sophisticat-,
ed electronics by U.S. intelligence agencies have been
brought to light recently by new press and govern-
ment inquiries. Such contracts are worth tens of mil-
lions of dollars each year to U .S. manufacturers.
The federal indictment of Wilson, Terpil and one
other defendant has focused on their alleged role in
supplying C-4 plastique explosives and miiiiary fuel
thickener (the basic ingredient in napalm) to Libya's
Muammar Qaddafi. Missing from the government's
indictment, however, is the fact that Wilson was em-
ployed by the U.S. government long after he left the
CIA.
Interviews with former Wilson associates and a
check of government records reveal that between 1971
and 1976 Wilson was a top procurement officer for a
secret naval intelligence group known as Task Force
157. Former Task Force 157 agents now allege that
Wilson used his position on the task force both to en-
-rich himself and to lay the ground-
work for his later'career as an export
"consultant" specializing in military
technology.
Along the way, according to Kevin
Mulcahy, a former Wilson business
associate, Wilson made a 'small for-
tune in kickbacks from companies
for which he arranged government
contracts both . in. the U.S. and
abroad. Mulcahy, a former CIA com-
puter and electronics specialist hired-,
by Wilson for his technical expertise,'
also told a Washington, D.C., grand
jury that one of Wilson's best custom-
ers was Control Data Corp., the
mainframe manufacturer. .
A spokesman for CDC denied that.
-charge. Wilson himself is presently a
fugitive in Libya and could not be
reached for comment.
By Christopher Simpson
S
i
l t
C'W
'Foreign In.!
What exactly
According to e
from former nat
cers; it was a "human source toreign
intelligence unit" staffed by "clan-
.destine intelligence Case Officers."
Task Force 157s tasks ranged from
systematically infiltrating interna-
tional maritime unions to collecting
intelligence on Soviet nuclear bomb
shipments. It was involved in almost
every major intelligence operation in
the last 15 years, according to in-
formed sources, from the bloody
overthrow-of the.. Allende govern-
ment in Chile- to Hendry Kissinger's
secret trip to Peking in 1971. One im-.
portant function of the.group -vas
providing secure communications
channels and data processing sup-
port for clandestine operations.
Most Task Force 157 agents worked
for front companies - called "pro-
prietaries" - of the Naval Intelli-
gence Command. These companies
were often "nonexistent- corporate
entities ... created by federal offi-
cials under the guidance of U.S.
Navy auditors," according to former
Task Force. 157 Agent Gerald Walters.
Two such proprietaries of particular
interest to the computer industry
were Pierce Morgan Associates, , a".
now-defunct "computer -systems
consulting" firm whose offices in Al-
exandria, Va., provided 'cover for
Task Force 157 agents, -and Consul-
tants International, Inc., a Washing-
at Task Force -157 headquarters, ac-
cording to eyewitnesses. His Navy
assignment included the creation of .!
a network of corporations, many of
which he personally controlled, to
provide cover for sensitive .Task
-Force 157 purchases and agertb: Pur-
continued
ilson's Navy job
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210052-0
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