SCOPE OF CIA INVOLVEMENT IN WEAPONS DEAL UNCLEAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970074-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 74
• Publication Date: March 28, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970074-2
BURLINGTON FREE PRESS (VT)R
28 March 1982
~*Why did. the State:
Depasrtment's Office of : .Muni-
Lions Control send Space: Re-
search a letter so easily construed';
as a waiver of all licencingre
quirements for export of the forg
Ines? , .
*How could 16 individuals
working for a firm so obviously
involved in munitions travel back
and forth from South Africa ? un-?
detected by Customs officials? . '
?Finally, why did only two,
company officials --= Bull and
former president Col. Rodgers L.
Gregory get singled out for
punishment when so many other
parties within and without the
federal government were In-
volved.
'A U.S. House subcommittee
investigating the Space Research
affair last week issued a report on
its findings and- attempts to an-
swer saver many of those questions. In
most instances, the answers sug-..
gest a perplexing chain of "mis-
taken actions" and fumbling by
federal agencies. sometimes
caused by apparent lax pro-
cedures. othertimes permitted as
the result of a lack of any prp-
;ciedute to deal. with Tiossible
proprieties altogether.
By SAM HEMINGWAY
it.. Press s toff writer .
The remote compound on
Vermont's border no longer shud-
Oers with the ? sound'- of another
ballistics test. Munitions buyers.
om foreign lands no longer file
past the security gate on their way
to. meetings with Space
Research's band of crack engi-
eers and scientists.
. The legacy of Space Research
Corp. -all that remains from the
flays the firm boasted of break-
Qiroughs in rocket and munitions
technology = is its now infamous
sums-smuggling scheme that pro-
ided howitzer shells, gun barrels
$nd weapons technology to South
Africa but cost the firm its life.
Today the sprawling com=-
pound on Vermont's border with
Canada at North Troy is the prop-
erty of a freewheeling Arab in-
vestor mouthing many of he
same Ideas Space Research found-
er Gerald V. Bull, regarded by
many as the Edward Teller of
munitions, once extolled. Wheth-
er investor Saad Gabr can reignite
Bull's drearln remains to be seen.
One thing is clear, however. No
coynpany will be allowed to oper-
ate 'the 1,200: acre compound
..'.
cji}ite like Space Research did.,.-,'
Questions about the Space Re-
'search case, the largest known .
violation of the United Nations
embargo against arms salee . tQ
? apartheid-ruled South Africa, are
many. : . :
?How did the firm convince the
Army to provide It upwards of
65,000 howitzer shell forgings
without finding out where they
were going?.
? .How were approyals to make
those forgings for Space Research
obtained so gitieltly, -~- In only
four days? ,. .;.. ~::
t . ? But the biggest 0uesuon qt. all
xZL;,How: much: 61 a,. role;'did the.
Centri*1 tnteliigence Agency lay'.
4i the arms smuggling sheme?,
4emairis,titiresolved. Curly, ;the
findings in the 46-page. (epbrt,
:based oti t decal grand jury docu
;tnents and:.interViews with more:,
,thin SO people connected vv th .the
:case,-show the agenOy had ktfowi- j
? .
edge of the affair. %
t In' its concluslon, the :'report
contends, "At the very'Ieayt, this
:episode euggests?,sertOus riegli-
?gence on the p$rtof the Agency.
(CIA). At the most, there Is a
bitty that elements- of the
IA purposefully Waded 1y.S; poI-
lcy." ... ....
The story Of the CIA`s lnvolve
anent in the case -: iluch of it
documentedIn the past during a
series of stories on the case pub-
lished by the Burlington Free
Press - is a complicated one
indeed.
The origins of the Space Re-
search deal can be traced to the
battlefield In Angola In 1975.
Forces supported and financed by
the CIA were warring with Soviet=
backed troops and the fight was
not going well.
? . Encouraged by the CIAO South
African troops had invaded
Angola only to find themselves
outmatched by superior. Soviet-
made artillery pieces, most
notably the 155mm howitzer..
In October 1975 the South
Africans told the CIA's station
.chief In Pretoria they badly
needed the 155mm artillery to
shore up their invasion. The re-
quest was carried to Washington,
but was rejected by the National
Security Council's.. "working
.group". on Angola as a potential
violation of U.S. law.. .
According to the House report,
'the denial did not deter the CIA
from pursuing the matter of full-
fiiling_the South African request.
- Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970074-2