EX-CIA ANALYST DISPUTES U.S. AIDES ON NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450007-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: June 13, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450007-4 STAT
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE_12:4_1
By Don Obardorfer
and John M. Goshko ?
Washington Post Staff Writers
A former ? CIA analyst charged
yesterday that the Reagan admin-
istration is misleading Congress and
the public about Nicaraguan activity
in El Salvador. He was contradicted
immediately by Secretary of State
George P. 'Shultz and CIA Director
William J. Casey. ?
David C. MacMichael, who
worked. on Central American intel-
ligence estimates as a CIA contract
employe from 1981 to 1983, said the
administration lacks credible evi-
dence of a substantial flow of arms
? from Nicaragua to El Salvadoran
guerrillas since the spring of 1981.
WASHINGTON POST
13 June 1984
Ex-CIA Analyst Disputes
ES. Aides on Nicaragua
-
The existence of a continumg
cross-border flow of arms, ? which
President Reagan described last
month as 'a flood" of Soviet weap-
onry, has been a central feature of
the justification for the U.S. "secret
war" against the Nicaraguan govern-
ment that began late in -1981.
MacMichael said he questioned
the lack of *recent intelligence to
back up U.S. claims of a massive
NicaragUa-to-El 'Salvador arms flow
during an interagency meeting in
September, 1981, and in subsequent
memoranda to his superiors at the
CIA. ,
In an interview with The Wash-
ington Post, MacMichael said that
although he had a top-secret clear-
ance and other authorizations to see
highly confidential data, colleagueil
' and senior officials of the agency
; could produce only vague and out-
dated responses to his questions.
7 Rather than showing communist
` origins or Nicaraguan complicity,
MacMialiel said, weapons captured
: from Salvadoran guerrillas "in the
last year or so have originated with
Salvadoran government sources."
Shultz, questioned at a luncheon
meeting with diplomatic correspon-
dents, said, "It is inconceivable that
an informed, honest person" could
deny the arms supply from Nicara-
gua to El Salvadoran guerrillas. "The
evidence is everywhere. I've looked
? at a lot qf it and I think it is totally
, and absolutely convincing that the
direction and the supply of the guer-
rillas in El Salvador comes from Nic-
aragua."
At another point Shultz expressed
astonishment at being questioned so
persistently on this point, and sug-
gested that MacMichael "must be
living in some other world."
Casey told an American Stock
, Exchange meeting here, in response
to a question, that. MacMichael's
charges were "just one man's , opin-
ion." Casey acknowledged that Mac-
Michael 'had been a contract em-
ploye of the CIA but insisted "there
is ample 'evidence" that "the activ-
ities and the ability of the guerrillas
in El Salvador to threaten the Sal-
vadoran government springs in large
measure from the support 'that is
_provided them from Nicaragua,
Cuba and so on."
Neither Shultz nor Casey provid-
ed evidence to refute MacMichael's
r, challenge. The State Department,
l'which has been asked repeatedly by
reporiers in recent months to. make
public its evidence that the illicit
e?arms are flowing, has, not provided
such information.. -,
Shultz said publication of another
administration "White Paper" on
external support for the El Salvador
guerrillas is not being planned but
that "I'll go 'back and examine the
issue" of making public the admin-
istration's data.
MacMichael, 56, said he joined
the GIA in March, 1981, under a
two-year contract to be an "esti-
mates officer" for the National In-
telligence Council, which produces
national and interagency intelligence
estimates, and that he spent more
than half his time on Central Amer-
ica.
His contract was not renewed
when it ran out last March. MacMi-
chael, an ex-Marine with experience
? as an analyst in Southeast Asia, said
a superior told him he was "not a
' match" with the CIA.
After leaving CIA employ, he
made trips to Nicaragua in August-
September, 1983, and March-April,
1984, "to see for myself' because he
was bothered by the lack of informa-
tion within the government and a.
seeming lack of interest in finding
out, MacMichael said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450007-4