AN INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM CASEY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402680009-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: October 28, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Y Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402680009-6
Terrorism
TIME
28 October 1985
An Interview with William Casey
"I would like to think the interception ... will be a turning point
In a wide-ranging interview
with TIME Correspondent Da-
vid Halevy. CIA Director Wil-
liam Casey expressed somber
but generally optimistic views
on the fight against worldwide terrorism
and other matters. Excerpts:
On capture of the Achille Lariro terror-
ists. We had exact. accurate and timely
intelligence. We knew where to go and
where to act. That is the outcome of the
past five years, during which we have had
more resources and more experience. Not
less important, we have very good rela-
tionships with the rest of the Govern-
ment. The teamwork, the relationships
within the intelligence community, with
the National Security Council and the
White House, are very good. We were all
working round the clock, and it paid off.
On international cooperation against
terrorism. I would like to think that the
interception of the Egyptian plane with
the four terrorists on board will turn out to
be a turning point in getting the civilized
countries to cooperate. We have now in
operation, and working, a worldwide
counterterrorist network. A number of
countries provided help and information
in capturing the ship's hijackers, though I
am not at liberty to tell you which ones.
This year alone, we managed to force the
terrorists to abort 80 other terror opera-
tions that were planned or under way; this
we were able to achieve through the coop-
eration of hundreds of intelligence, securi-
ty and police organizations. We have a lot
to do in establishing the legal framework
for automatic extradition, or in moving
against nations that provide terrorists
with passports and safe haven. Terrorists
are pretty quick learners: they are smart,
sophisticated people, believe me. They
will come back and hit us again.
On terrorist organizations. There is no
one person, there is no one capital in the
world that controls terrorism. There is an
apparatus made up of about 50 major ter-
rorist organizations. Some of them will be
hired by one country to carry out a job,
some by another. But these states also
have their own apparatus: Iran has the
Revolutionary Guards; Libya has its own
gang of thugs. So the entire structure is
very mixed up and highly complicated. It
is very important that sanctions be im-
posed on these states. that they be eco-
nomically squeezed and that their dip-
lomatic apparatus be prevented from fa-
cilitating the movement, cover and sup-
port of terrorists. This is a war without
borders, without clear enemies.
On the Soviet role in terrorism. I don't
think the Soviets are the masterminds of
terrorism or that they control it. But they
have for a long time provided support that
was vital for the terror organizations. For
years, the Soviets have brought young
people from non-Communist countries
into Moscow to be trained in the arts of
conducting wars of national liberation
and inflicting violence. And the training
camps for terrorists are primarily in the
Soviet bloc and the countries they sup-
port: Cuba, Nicaragua, Libya and so on.
Now, in Beirut, there has been a specific
terrorist act against the Soviets them-
selves. So far they have handled it in a
very quiet and cool way. It is too early to
tell whether, because of it. they will
change their basic policy toward the ter-
ror organizations. They have created a
monster, but they got a lot of advantages
out of it. With this and other instruments
of destabilization and subversion, they
managed to convert their continental
power into a worldwide power. In little
more than ten years, they have extended
their reach from South Yemen to Angola,
from Nicaragua to Ethiopia.
On U.S. vs. Soviet intelligence. I happen
to think that in the intelligence arena we
are probably ahead. We had to develop
technical capabilities in order to pene-
trate their closed society. I don't think
they have been notably successful in their
operations in this country. They have had
successes. but most of these were with
people who volunteered to work for them.
They were individuals at low levels within
Government organizations who, after
they left, for money or revenge reasons.
gave information to the Soviets. We don't
think we have moles within our own sys-
tem. Over the past three years, the Soviets
have lost 200 of their intelligence officers,
arrested or expelled from 20 to 25 coun-
tries. A number of their most senior peo-
ple gave up and turned against them.
What rating do you give that combination
of factors? I wouldn't mark it very high.
On Soviet world problems. Five years ago,
ordinary people were joining up with
Communist guerrilla movements and
throwing over governments. Today there
are ordinary people around the world who
have taken up arms to resist Communist-
imposed governments in Afghanistan.
Angola, Ethiopia. Cambodia and Nicara-
gua. That forced them and their allies to
deploy 300,000 of their troops to occupy
other countries. The Soviets spend some
$12 billion a year around the world to as-
sist their allies in military and economic
aid: $4 billion goes to Cuba every year, Af-
ghanistan costs them $4 billion and Viet
Nam, Cambodia, Angola, Ethiopia and
Nicaragua take the rest. Since 1979 they
have lost 750 planes in Afghanistan, main-
ly on the ground. The guerrillas now con-
trol twice as large a portion of Afghanistan
as they did when they started, and the So-
viets are taking a heavy toll. They know
they would have to put an additional
400.000 soldiers into the country in order
to pacify it, and they are slowly increasing
their troops from 100,000 to 200,000. They
are searching for ways to get out, have
some kind of accommodation.
On Soviet goals. Mikhail Gorbachev
would like to come back from the Geneva
summit with some kind of detente. They
need some restrictions on their massive
defense projects, which have become a
burden on their economy. Even so, they
not only have a missile-defense system
that encircles Moscow; they have a pro-
duction line ready to build the compo-
nents to extend that system around the
country, rather rapidly.
On U.S. intelligence preparedness. We
are well protected against another Pearl
Harbor. I am confident we are not likely
to miss any such major preparation. We
have learned the lesson of Iran and estab-
lished a team of people who study the fac-
tors of instability in various countries. We
look at the world on a daily basis. It is
hard work, but we are doing fine. ^
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402680009-6