NERVE GAS BROUGHT INTO U.S. IN LETELIER PLOT, TOWNLEY SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450044-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 44
• Publication Date: December 13, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26 :CIA-RDP90-009658000302450044-3
~, ~ C ~, APPEARED
t_,x
p~; P1~ GE
THE WASHINGTON POST
13 December 1981
Nerve Gas Brought Into b ~~
In Letelier Plot, Townley Says I
By John M. Goshko ; ... ?
wsr+u~swoposcstauwnyR; :` . -
I1~ichael Vernon 'Toariley: the-
American-born Chileanwagent who
directed -:the: 19?fi. assassination ~o~.,_
former Chilean ambassador Orlando .
Letelier, has told the FBI that at one
point he toad ~a quantity` of?~deadly
nerve gas concealed is a Chanel Na
5 perfume atomizer brought into the
United States for possible use in the
-plot. :r: .,;.,.,. ?, . ;.
Townley also said that anti-Castro
Cuban activists, who? allegedly aided
loco, knew he had the gas and. asked
him for some to use in their activ-
ities. But Townley said that, because
he considered the Cubans "unstable;
he returned the gas to the Chilean
secret police, who had developed it
for possible use against neighboring
Peru and Argentina. - ~w
His declarations about~the gas are.
in a..confidential;. ~ mama r sent , ]ast,
Wednesday to variaas govemaoaent,
agencies by FBI Director William H.
Webster. The Washington Poet has-
obtained acopy of the enema. ~ ` ''`
The FBI says.in the memo that it-
has reached no conclusions about the
truth of Towriley's statements. Fed-~
eral law enforcement. sources Tamil-
iar with the case said privately yes-
terday they have no reason ,to be-
lieve that any nerve gas was used in
this country or that any is still here.
Carlos de Costa Nora, minister.
counselor of the Chilean Embassy
here, said yesterday he had not
heard about the matter before and ~
therefore found it 'very difficult to '
ccimment." He added, however,'The
truth of Mr. Towriley's accusations
has been the subject of dispute in
the past."
`The nerve gas story is a bizarre
and grisly new footnote to the killing
of Letelier and a young American as-
date, Ronni ]{arpen Motl'itt,
whose car was destroyed by a remote
control bomb can Sheridan Circle
g1oAg Embassy Row'aan.,Sept 21,
_....,. ~
;,, It could also become a political is-
sue, kindling for the continuing con-
troversy- aver president Reagan's de-
cision to}.improve US. ties and
renew military ties with the regime
o~ Chilean President Augusto Pino-
chet, despite its history of repression
and its refusal to cooperate with U.S.
investigations of the murder plot.
On Monday, Houve-.Senate con-
ferees are scheduled to try to recon-
cile the different approaches to
Chilean military a~taace taken by
the two brancises of Congress in
their recently passed foreign aid au-
thorization bills The House version
would continuo an existing prohibi-
tion on military help to the Pinochet
government, but the Senate bill
vyrauld permit. resumed aid if the
prea~dent certifies, among other
things, that Chile is not abetting in-
ternational terrorism.
A According to Webster's memo, in-
formation abort the gas-first ass un=
covered by Eugene M Pmpper, the
forrrier? chief federal prosecutor in
the Letelier ~ matter. and" Taylor
Biarich, a writer collaborating with '
piropper on a book about the case.
r: In the course of their research, the
memo says; they discovered several ~I
letters. sent from the United States 1
by Towdey to his superior in the
Chilean secret service, then known '
$s DIVA. In these Townley refers to ~
what the memo calls "a highly secret
DINA undertaking known as `Pro'
]~ Andrce' * and expresses concern ,
that the United States might learn ~
details 'of~ fire project "which would '
tie highly- embarrassing to the
Chilean .government." _
~~ Townley, who ultimately pleaded ?
guilty iri 1978 to a charge of coraspir- ,
acy to murder Letelier, was de- '~
scribed as especially worried that
these deta~7a might be uncovered by
.tracing- his dealings with various ~
Miami and London firms from '
which he purchased chemicals. else- .j
.tropic equipment and gas storage ,I
~~~
Eventually, the memo continues, '
Propper and Branch discovered that
'Project Andrea' imrolved the man-
ufacture of nerve gas by . DINA,
which was to be utilized against Ar-
gentina and Peru in .the event of
hostilities between these onuntries
and Chile.?
According to Dropper and Branch;
Townley, acting for DIVA, manufac=, i
tared and stored a quantity of the I
gas at.a laboratory in his Santiago,;
Chile, home during 1975 and 1976,1
working with a Chilean chemical en- ~
gineer, Eugenio Berrio4 who had the ~
DIVA code name of "Hermes." ~
They said "Townley created a
substance ?mown as isoProPY~th`
ylphosophonofluoridate, a adear hq-
uid organophosphate commonly
known as sarin, which vaporizes oa
being exposed to the atmosphere:
producing droplets that enter the?
body through the akin or hmgs to in-
terdict the neurochemistry. that Per-
mita the respiratory muscles to fare-
tion."
In the version of the story told tQ
the FBI by Dropper and Branch;
Townley carried the perfume. bottle
filled with the nerve gas in his shirt
pocket when he flew to the United ;
States in September, 1976, on .the'
Chilean national airline, LAN-ChilG~
Dropper and Branch gave the FBI'
the names of eight LAN-Chile em-
ployes who allegedly helped Townley
and DIVA transport materials be-;
tween Chile and the United Staten. ' i
The two writers said Townley u1= ~
timately decided not to try to use ,
the gas against Letelier. But, they ',
added, Guillermo Novo Sampol and '.
Virgilio Pablo Paz Romero. two
Cuban terrorists who were accused ,,
of helping Townley plan and carry ',
out the. Letelier murder, were nonce .
that Townley had the gas and had
watched him manufacturing it while
visiting him in Santiago. .... - ~ i
~~' J1~yi7L~
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26 :CIA-RDP90-009658000302450044-3
__
 i ~
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26 :CIA-RDP90-009658000302450044-3
Webster's memo said that, after'
'the FBI :received .this information..
from Dropper and Broach. Toavnley,
who is serving a sentence in a federal
prison, was brought hen far quea-
tioning and "confirmed [thej infor-.
oration regarding the menufact