CIA DIRECTLY OVERSAW ATTACK IN OCTOBER ON NICARAGUA OIL FACILITY
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020011-8
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
1
Document Creation Date:
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date:
January 25, 2012
Sequence Number:
11
Case Number:
Publication Date:
April 18, 1984
Content Type:
OPEN SOURCE
File:
Attachment | Size |
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CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020011-8.pdf | 91.96 KB |
Body:
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020011-8
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WASHINGTON POST
18 April 1984
QA Directly Oversa
`v
Attack in October an
Nicaragua Oil Facility
By Charles R. Babcock
Wa hington PwtStatf Writer
CIA officers aboard a "mother ship" off
the coast of Nicaragua directly supervised
commando raids from speedboats that heavi-
ly damaged Nicaraguan port facilities last
fall, months before they supervised the con-
troversial mining of the country's harbors in
January, administration and congressional
sources said yesterday.
The CIA leased the ship last summer, ac-
cording to the sources, and American agents
aboard it furnished the speedboats, guns and
ammunition and directed the raid by anti-
government rebels in the port city of Corinto
last Oct. 10. The CIA officers stayed on the
ship in international waters beyond the 12-
mile limit, while CIA-trained Latin comman-
dos piloted the speedboats into the harbor
and shot up an oil terminal, the sources said.
The raid heavily damaged oil storage,
tanks and forced thousands of inhabitants to
flee. At the time, the Nicaraguan govern-
ment charged that the "criminal attack" was
part of a CIA plan, but the U.S.-supported
"contras" of the Honduras-based Nicaraguan
Democratic Front (FDN) claimed credit for
the raid.
A senior White House official confirmed
that CIA agents supervised the attack, say-
ing their role was necessary because "they
[CIA officers] had the speedboats."
The Associated Press quoted a source as
saying the CIA had directed a series of such
raids on Nicaraguan ports, including one on
oil and pipeline facilities at Puerto Sandino
on Sept. 8.
A CIA spokesman declined to comment
yesterday, except to say that Congress had
been informed of its covert operations as
required by the intelligence oversight laws.
But, as in the case of the mining, congres-
sional sources said the House and Senate
intelligence committees were not told of the
direct involvement of Americans in the port
raids until recently.
CIA Director William J. Casey alreay
under fire from congressmen for his alleged
lack of candor in informing intelligence com-
mittees of the details of the Reagan admin-
'
istration
s supposedly secret war against Nic-
aragua. That controversy has threatened
congressional support for continued funding
of the rebels fighting Nicaragua's Marxist
Sandinista government.
- One congressional source said staff mem-
bers of the House intelligence committee
first "got wind of the mother ship about mid-
October," but didn't get a full briefing on
.either the ship's role in the raid or the min.
ing until Jan. 31 and then only after persis-
tent questioning from members,
But another source said that some House
committee members didn't know until yes-
terday that the CIA had directed the raid, as
well as the mining.
"We were directly misled," he said. "They
led us to believe it was the contras, but as it turns
out it was CIA personnel on the mother ship, di-
recting the operations, picking the targets and the
whole business."
A Senate committee source said the agency had
told the committee in general terms last summer
that it was training the anti-Sandinista forces in
laying mines, but not that Americans would be
directly supervising their actions. "When you get
agency officers directly involved, that's really a
high-stakes game," he said.
The Senate committee staff learned about the
U.S.-directed raids from House staffers and then
began asking questions on the "mother ship" at an
April 2 briefing, one source said.
A few days earlier, in answer to a query about
mining by Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-RI.), the rank-
ing minority member of the Foreign Relations
Committee, the CIA's legislative liaison, Clair
George, sent minority staff director Gary J.
Schmitt a two-sentence letter that said "unilater-
ally controlled Latino assets" were involved.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020011-8