COVERT AID SALVAGE TRY UNDER WAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270048-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 28, 2011
• Sequence Number: 48
• Publication Date: April 16, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270048-3
ARTICLE APPEARED
J )Ii PAGE___
WASHINGTON POST
16 April 1984
Cuban uniforms and been in-
tegrated into many. units of
the regular Sandinista army.
The president' cited s im=
liar, but slightly` lower, fig-
ures on the Soviet-Cuban
presence in Nicaragua in a
radio address Saturday in
By Charles R. Babcock which he said, "We cannot
Covert Aid
Salvage Try
Under Way
and Bob Woodward turn our backs on this crisis'
At our doorstep."
The Reagan administra- :--Others in and out of the admira-
tion is trying to salvage fal- 1stration are skeptical of the CIA fig-
tering congressional and pub- ures. One congressional source famil-
lic support for its secret war iar with the intelligence estimates
against Nicaragua by at- said yesterday, "My fear is that in
tempting to focus new atten- the effort to save, the program they.,
tion on the size of the Soviet ! iyill overstate their case and under-
and Cuban military buildup )nine the truth, which is that there
in Central America and play- has been a very substantial buildup"
ing down the controversy by Soviets and Cubans.
over U.S.-directed mining of - This source noted that the Soviets
'Nicaraguan harbors have sent new- generations of air de-
In an effort to rescue Tense missiles, planes and maritime
lion in funuig equipment to Cuba.
vent o orations CIA Director _ Sen. David F. Durenberger (R-
lliam Casey told" the Minn.), a member of the Senate in-
Senate last week that` the telligence committee who has sup-
controversial CLA=directed ported the administration's requests
mining of Nicaraguann,har
hors was not. un nnte al for covert funding, said yesterday
~- ~~ that he questioned the Soviet-Cuban
Reagan ghn and progra inmto, President troop numbers being used by admin-
ficials enpg oT istration officials.
stronger s also began ` giving "The Sandinistas are supposed to
stronger emphasis s cific be .moving 'Cubans out," he said.
figures about the scope of the "There are probably substantially
threat they see in the region., fewer there than there were six
IA officials have said months ago."
that their intelligence collec- "
tion s ows: Durenberger also criticized the ad-
0 The Soviet Union is ministration for making no real at-
spending between $4 billion tempt "to sell" Congress or the pub-
and $4.5 billion each year in lic on the Kissinger commission's
Cuba and $250 million to recommendations to fund long-term
$300 million elsewhere in economic growth in the region.
Central America. "The really frustrating thing is the
? The Soviets have about,,' president has got to lift this out of
10,000 personnel. in Cuba; " mining and covert operations, and
8,000'of these are technicians lift it into the larger context and get
and 2,000'are military. About it out to the American people," he
100 Soviets are'-in Nicaragua. said.
? The Cubans have be. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), an
tween 7,000 and 10,000 per- intelligence committee member who
sonnel in Nicaragua, of voted against the $21 million in co-
whom between 2,500 and vert aid, said yesterday that the ad-
3,500 are military. Casey has ministration has been trying "to sub-
said that the Cuban military stitute a covert operation for a for-
personnel in Nicaragua have eign policy." He said on ABC-TV's
shaved their Castro-style "This Week With David Brinkley"
beards, discarded- their that
sh"there is no real ort of sending in U.S. troopsu
Administration' officials mad
themselves available to reporter
over the weekend as part of the new
public relations offensive; and for-
mer secretary of state Henry A.
Kissinger and U.N.' Ambassador
Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, also appearing
on ABC, urged the president to be
more forceful in telling the public
about the importance of U.S. _ inter-
ests in Central America.
Kissinger criticized Reagan for let-
ting the debate "degenerate into $50
million increments" and added that,.
"at the present level of effort, pro-
duced in large part by our domestic
division, [the policy] is a recipe for
disaster."
Kirkpatrick echoed the need for
more aid to head off what might be-
come a "really major threat" to U.S.
national security. She said the big-'
gest threat was'not combat troops on
U.S. borders.
"It is in fact nuclear missiles, it's
chemical weapons, which are another
really important threat looming on
the horizon," Kirkpatrick said. She
said she did not have evidence that
the Soviets,planned to use chemical
weapons in Central America but said
there had been no warning that they
would use them in Southeast Asia,
as the administration has alleged.'
Casey told U.S. News & World
Report in an interview published
today, "I think that people in -the
long run are less concerned about
reports of mining Nicaraguan har-
out t e danger
of creating a wave of immigration
into this country if Central America
or any part of it fall under Soviet-
uban domination."
. Last week's mining controversy
clearly damaged the administration's
support in Congress for the covert
war, however. Sources said for in-
stance, that Casey acknowledged to
a group of senators last Tuesda
that the mining was not an integral
part of the U.S. effort in opposing
Nicaragua. This distressed some in-
telligence committee members who
had voted the week before to ap-
prove $21 million in additional fund-
ing for covert operations in Central
America without realizing the extent
of the, U.S. role in the mining.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270048-3
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270048-3
"He seemed to say we had cgmm-
mitted an act of war for the ell of
it," said one person who attended
the briefing.
"He said, in effect that in the
overall scheme of things the mining
wasn't all that important. I couldn't
believe what I was hearing," uren-
berger said.
Later that day the Senate voted
84 to 12 to condemn the mining.
Casey and his deputy, John N.
McMahon. visited Sen. Daniel Pat-
rick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) late Friday
trying to shore up support for the
covert funding. Casey also called sev-
eral GOP senators Friday, trying to
pacate some who had called for
McMahon's resignation after reading
in that ~~da ~'s Washin tcin Post that
_hehad opposed the covert opera-
tions. McMahon issued a denial, but
congressional sources said he had-
lobbied discreetly against the funds.
A senior administration official
outside the intelligence community
said that Casey's influence with the
resident remained high desk the
controversy over the minim;.
Amon Reagan's circle of national
security misers, this official said
"Caste can still get the presidents
ear, particularly on some project at
appe s tote president's natural
anti-communism." Overall, the offi-
cial said, any senior national security
adviser generally is successful in the
administration if he proposes action.
"Those who wanted to get us into
Lebanon won." he said. adding
"Casey was not in favor of sending
troops, but when he was in favor of
more action, in withdrawing -even if
it was a contra fiction oft current
administration policy-he was lis-
tened to .... It is a very action-
ori-ented group. Proposals to invade
Grenada, get in and then out of Leb-
anon, open a covert war in Nicara-
gua, even get rid of [former secretary
of state] Al. Haig, all seem to win
out."
Proposals for long-range consis-
tency in policy tend to get ignored,
he said.
One CIA official familiar with
Casey t in ing say a twee
"Whatever you ink f Casey. he
truly believes that there is a roblem
down there in Central America. An
there is .... If this doesn't work
z there will be U.. troops down
_Lh sraoonn ,
Intelligence reports point to a fall
offensive by the Salvadoran rebels
who are being assisted by Nicaragua.
Casey is known to believe that
every U.S. action sends a message to
the Soviets and Cubans. He strongly
favored the U.S. invasion of Grenada
last October because he felt that it
sent the message "that we might
strike in Nicaragua," a source said.
After the Grenada invasion, CIA in-
telligence showe that the arms flow
to Salvadoran rebels declined some-
what. It is now back up.
Casey, the source said, acce ids the
overall CIA an ysis t at t i1 a Soviets
are cautious in the Western Hemi-
sphere and tat their short-term ac-
tions are meant merely to divert
U.S. attention. Casey reportedly has
said, "The real battle around is the i
Middle East and its strategic posi-
tion and those niLflelds."
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270048-3