EX-CIA LATIN AMERICA CHIEF SAYS INTERVENTION INEVITABLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201140069-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 30, 2010
• Sequence Number: 69
• Publication Date: March 26, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201140069-8
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26 March 1984
EX-CIA LATIN AMERICA CHIEF SAYS INTERVENTION INEVITABLE
MOSCOW., IDAHO
Former CIA Director William Colby Monday defended American covert
activities in foreign nations, saying the alternative at times is to "send in
the Marines."
''The alternative of using a small covert action operation in Guatamela in
1954, in the Ray of Pigs in Cuba, or assisting Guatamelans or Cubans who try to
achieve a change in their government, is to send in the Marines,'.' Colby told a
University of Idaho audience attending a symposium on the CIA's involvement in
Latin America.
'Now you can say we shouldn't send the Marines -- I can understand that but does that mean you can do nothing?'' he asked.
"I think the question is the wisdom of a particular action and not a general
denunciation of the activity,- Colby said.
Colby said the CIA's budget for covert activity is now rebounding toward
its Cold War level.
''There was a tremendous surge of covert action during the 1950s Cold War,
he said. ' 'Roughly half the budget during that period was devoted to covert
action. That declined by the end of the 1960s and early 1970s to about 3 or 4
percent of the total budget.
''Obviously it has gone back (to more covert action) to some degree since
then, because of, for one thing, the change in American attitudes as reflected
by the defeat of the Carter administration and the ascension of the Reagan
administration, which has a different attitude about these things. "
Earlier Monday, a man who once headed the CIA's operations in Latin America
said no president can avoid authorizing clandestine intervention into the
activities of other nations.
''American presidents, generally speaking, are going to elect to use covert
activities to further their goals,'' David Phillips said.
"Obviously, it depends on the president, but any president, I think, will
use it under certain circumstances.
Continued
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201140069-8