CIA TIED TO CONTRA AID AFTER BAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504550005-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: May 20, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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WASHINGTON POST MAY 20 Z
I
r'AC is A I
CIA Tied to Contra Aid After Ban
Owen, -North's Latin-Contact, Says Agency Gave Military Assistance
By y Dan Morgan and Walter Pincus
r
e . Oven, who served as
tpetn- ationa urity Council aide
Oliver L. North Jr.'s main contact
with the Nicaraguan rebels, yester-
day provided the first detailed tes-
timony that CIA personnel in Cen-
tral American and Washington as
the contras kith arily after
Congress had banned such aid.
~..-_ ..A i'...1 A.
fore the House and Senate select
committees investigating the Iran-
contra affair, Owen described how
the Central Intelligence Agency had
provided military maps. helped lo-
cate a site for a clandestine air base
in Costa Rica, and attempted to
help transfer munitions from one
contra faction to another.
He also said that Tomas Castillo
an alias for the CIA station In
Costa Rica, had helped get weapons
and food for contras inside Nicara-
gua. Castillo also was regularly in
touch with North andlj.S. Atnbss-"'
odor to Costa Rica Lewis Tambe as
der with Nicaragua, known as the
"southern front," Owen testified.
Sen. David L. Boren (D-Okla.),
s Senate confirm W kun Webster as new CIA director. 94.1. Ptige A3
chairman of the Senate Select Conn
mittee on Intelligence, noted that
Owen's testimony conradicted what
the CIA's Central American task
form chief had told his panel hat
December.
Since the Iran-contra operations
were fast disclosed last November
and North was fired from the NSC
staff, CIA officials have maintained
that they withdrew d" k sssiatattoe
to the contras as required by law
'ter October 1984 and
private efforts to support the reo-
els.
When acting CIA Director Rob-
ert M. Gates appeared bef1
See owls, A12. COL t
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OWEN, From At
Senate intelligence committee for
confirmation hearings last Feb. 17,
he said, "It was out of caution to
avoid crossing the bounds of the
permissible that CIA officers at all
levels were urged to avoid involve-
ment with matters concerning pri-
vate efforts to support the contras."
Gates said that this approach had
been spelled out in a cable to the
field soon after Congress passed the
Boland Amendment, which ended
direct and indirect assistance by the
CIA and other agencies involved in
intelligence.
Echoing testimony given last
week by former national security
adviser Robert C. McFarlane,
Owen described a close relationship
between the late CIA Director Wil-
liam J. Casey and North. North ap-
peared to be "under the wing" of
Casey, Owen said. Pressed for ex-
amples, Owen said that on several
occasions he was present when
North talked to Casey on the tele-
phone or received a visit from him.
A CIA spokesman last night said
the agency is cooperating with the
congressional investigation but
would have no comment on individ-
ual testimony.
Owen, who described himself as
the "eyes and ears" of North, first
worked for contra leader Adolfo
Calero. Later, through a nonprofit
company he set up. Owen was paid
by the State Department under its
program of "humanitarian" aid to
the contras.
From early 1984 until the middle
of 1986, Owen said he provided in-
telligence on the contras to North,
carried money to rebel leaders and
generally acted as a liaison between
the NSC and the contra fighters in
the jungles.
As the first witness who was en-
gaged with the contras on the
ground in Central America over an
extended period. Owen repeatedly
voiced his emotional attachment to
the rebel soldiers. He also voiced
his suspicion and occasioifal con-
tempt for their political leaders. In
March 1988, he wrote a report to
"BG, the initials for North's pseu-
donym, "Blood and Guts," after a
trip to Central America:
"I care and beligve in he boys
and girls, men and Women who are
fighting, bleeding and d g. But
the reality (as 1) see it is ere are
few of the so-called leade of the
movement who really ca about
the boys in the field. T S WAR
HAS BECOME A BUS, TO
MANY OF THEM: T RE IS
STILL A BELIEF THE RINES
ARE GOING TO HAVE 0 IN-
VADE. SO LET'S GET ET SO
WE WILL AUTOMATIC LY BE
THE ONES PUT lN'TO ER."
Owen added, referring t the ex-
pected resumption of U.S. to the
contras, 'If the $100 milli is ap-
proved and things go on a they
have these last five years, will be
like pouring money dow a sink-
Yesterday Owen stood y that
assessment, but said he oped a
recent reshuffling of th contra
leadership would change t nga for
the better.
He also added new detail to tes-
timony he gave Thursday out his
handling of cash on behalf f North
Yesterday, Owen said th4 he had
made three trips to New rk City
beginning in the fall of 198 to pick
up money and return it t either
North or retired Air For major
On the first trip in th fall of
1985, Owen sai, he was t d to go
to a corner Chinese 1:m,arks on the
lower West Side of Manha an and
say he had been sent by meone
named "Mooey." A person walked
behind the counter, "rolled up his
pant leg and pulled out a wad of
hundred dollar bills" totaling
$9,500.
He then returned to Washington
and gave the money, folded up in a
newspaper, to Secord, who was at
the Sheraton-Carlton Hotel.
Asked what the reason for the
money transfer was, Owen said,
"Obviously they were short of dash
and must have needed it. It was a
bank holiday."
He later said he did not know
what the source of the money was.
At the time. Secord and North were
in the process of establishing a pri-
vate, U.S.-run airlift to carry mu-
nitions, weapons and other supplies
to the contras.
Last Thursday, Owen described
how North had given him thousands
of dollars in blank traveler's checks
from his safe in the Old Executive
Office Building and told him to con-
vert them to cash and give the mon-
ey to various contra leaders. Owen
said he believed some of the trav-
elers checks originally came from
contra leader Calero. Beginning in
mid-1984, Calero controlled a hank
account that received millions of
dollars from Saudi Arabia to sup-
port the contra effort.
Under questioning from Neil Eg-
gleston, House deputy majority
counsel, Owen disclosed that North
had kept a ledger of all transactions
involving traveler's checks, but said
he had no knowledge of what hap-
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pened to the ledger in which this
was done. Eggleston said the ledger
had not been located in North's of-
fice.
Owen said repeatedly that he did
not believe North had ever used the
travelers checks for his own ben-
efit. But Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-
Utah) questioned Owen about sev-
eral such checks that North had
cashed in food stores and gas sta-
tions in the Washington area, and
one for $100 cashed "at a tire store
here in this area ... for two snow
tires."
Owen did say that North had giv-
en him $1,000 in traveler's checks
at the time of his wedding.
Owen frequently expressed his
personal admiration for North and
said that he had been unfairly made
into a "villain," but would yet end up
as a "hero."
He was particularly critical of the
White House for releasirg informa-
tion about an incident in North's
past requiring hospitalization for
psychological observation and for
calling him a "cowboy."
Asked by Sen. William S. Cohen
(R-Maine) about reports that North
shredded documents pertinent to
the Iran-contra operation, Owen
said, "I believe that if he shredded
documents he would have done it. to
protect the president because he
felt obligated." On half a dozen oc-
casions, Owen said, North told him
he would be the "fall guy" if the op-
eration were disclosed and repeated
that again on Nov.. 25, the day
North was fired from the NSC staff.
Fe quoted North as saying, "gill
:.esey knows it, and others know it,
avid I'm ready to take that respon-
sibility."
Owen is the first witness to tes-
tify under a grant of limited immu-
nity from the congressional select
committees, having initially invoked
the Fifth Amendment against self-
incrimination. A clue as to why he
sought immunity was given yester-
day when the committees ques-
tioned him about a provision of his
company's consulting contract with
the State Department.
The provision specifically says
that during the term of the con-
tract, Owen may not perform any
services relating to the handling of
arms and ammunition. Yesterday
Owen testified at length about at
least once instance in which he su-
pervised, at North's direction, an
attempted shipment of lethal ma-
terials from Honduras to El I-
vador.
North, he said, told him to say e
was doing it on his own time if au a-
tioned-a position Owen took a-
terday with the committees.
The CIA role in the support of
the contras is expected to beco a
key concern of the committees o r
the next few weeks as more fa is
emerge about the agency's r
Castillo, the former CIA Costa
can station chief, is expected to t s-
tify in the next two weekar Acco
ing to congressional sources, he s
told investigators that he acted t
the direction of his immediate
periors in the chain of command.
Yesterday, Sen. Boren noted t t
the CIA's Central American t k
force chief, who has been identif d
as Alan Fiers, told the Senate int I-
ligence committee last Decem r
that he turned down requests fr
North in 1985 to prepare irate i-
gence for delivery to the contr .
Fiers, sources said, has deni
knowledge of Castillo's activit a
with the contras.
From October 1984 until Decem-
ber 1985, Congress stopped all
funding for intelligence activities in
support of the contras. This specif-
ically covered the CIA, which had
been the agency in charge of devel-
oping the contra program since
1981.
Owen said, "I know that one of
the sets of maps (of military sites
inside Nicaragua) was provided by a
CIA courier." He added that he was
present during one telephone con-
versation between North and the
task force chief.
Investigators also introduced into
the record a Feb. 27, 1986, Owen
report to North in which Owen said
that the agency was giving orders
concerning the handling of 'lethal
supplies."
Owen also reported involvement
by the CIA operation in Honduras.
He told of asking a local CIA official
to request the release of munitions
from one contra faction so they
could be transported to the south-
ern front.
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THE IRAN?CON1'RA HEARINGS
The Testimony of Robert W. Owen
"The i 'cup that provided that plane had been referred to NHAO [Nicaragua
Humanita an Aid Office] by the CIA and, In my mind, it was stupidity to use a plans
that at on time had been used-or at least targeted as having been used to carry
drug and also it was stupidity to use people who had a criminal record."
E cetpts from testimony by former State Vepartmenr
cousnltant Robert W. Owen in response to House select
committee deputy chief counsel W. Neil Eggleston
In the fall, September and October of
1905, did you have occaslos to take trips up to
New York at the Instructloe$ of [Lt.] Col. Oliver
(L.j North?
The first time I went, it was not at the instruction
of Col. North. but, yes, I took three trips to New
York.
And the first time, did there come a time
when you went up on a bank holiday?
Yes, on Sept. 16. 1 believed was Rosh Hashanah
and the banks were closed, and I was asked to go up
there then.
And you were asked to go by Col. North?
No, Col. North gave me a phone number to call and
a person to ask for. And that person was Mr. "Kopp,'
who obviously was Mr. Iretired Air Force major gen-
eral Richard V.J Secord.
Did you know at the time he was Mr. Secord?
I had a very good idea, yes.
And ... you, I take It, then had a conversa?
lion with $ecord?
Yes, sir, I did. He gave me instructions, the address
and in essence a code to use when I went and ap-
proached the person.
Where did yes go?
I flew up to New York and I took a cab down to the
Lower West Side, and I was instructed to go to a cor-
ner Chinese market.
... Did you give a code name?
I asked for the person, I don't remember his name.
and then I said that--I used the code name saying this remember, I
tthhinkait sent me, and I'm was something like,"dmoI oey" tor something
along those lines.
Did that person thou, gWo you auythllr$?
Yea, he did. He walked behind the counter, I be-
heve he rolled up his pant lei and pulled out a wad of
hundred dollar bills.
Did he give a part of this wad to you?
He gave the whole wad to me. and he asked me if I
wanted to count it. I didn't know how much I was sup-
posed to be getting, but I decided I better count it
anyways.
And how many hundred dollar bills did he
give you?
There were 95; it was $9,500. (Owen further tes-
tified that he returned to Washington and gave Secord
the $9,500, then traveled twice to New York to ob-
tain additional cash for North and Secord.J
Now did you got the money on those occa-
sions?
I went to a bank which was I think in the mid-40s in
Manhattan, and I went up to the sixth floor-
unfortunately. I don't remember the name of the
bank-(and 11 asked for a person whose name I had
been given and told him that I was expected to pick up
an envelope, and they provided me with an envelope
each time.
.. V<
filled wit
were simply handed the envelope
cash or whatever was In It?
Yes, an I can't necessarily testify that it was cash
because I idn't know, but it certainly felt the same
shape an ize.
And those two occasions after getting the
And, o
MYeie from the bank, the person at the
bank, w it did you do with the envelopes?
[ retu ed to Washington and on these two occa-
sions, I b 'eve, I took the envelopes to Col. North in
his office
y'7
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The following is in response to Sen. David L. Boren
(D-Okla.):
... Did you ever tell Mr. JRobertl Duemling
(head of the State Department's Nicaragua Hu?
manitarlan Aid Office) that you were asked by
Col. North to be his eyes and ears as a consul-
tant to NHAOI ... ? Did you over tell him that
you were involved ... on the side, as You Put it
.. , In arranging shipments of arms, drawing up
wish lists of arms, of munitions ... ?
... No, I did not.
... What
motion to t
time In whic
for the gave
motion .. ? .
rier to take i
ly provided?
1 once aske
material had
check on that.
... Your
about whet
arse In way
delivered m
various co"
February an
indication t
North was g
for thgt pur
I was in his
made phone
Did you a
task force c
No. I did n
...The?
senate Into
It" that
during this
dellvas7- to
positilon to
1 can't con
Tied.
eosiversatt
North whil
I believe
bout carrying intelligence infer.
contras ... during a period of
obviously, It Intelligence Infor?
Mont to supply
ow do you fool about being a cou?
f titan appropriate means? gal-
Col. North about that, and he said the
en declassified. I guess you'd have to
astlmony ralees some questions
CIA personnel assisted the con-
prohibited by the law. When you
photo$ from Col. Nor" to
s and o
19*4 and
April of 1811, did you have any
at CIA ersonnel know that lag to us l
e CIA preps ed materials
so?
ffice on several occasions ... when he
Its to what I believed was the CIA.
meet or talk directly to the CIA
ht about such materials?
sk force chief testified before the
igence committee in December
turned down requests from North
he centres. Would you .i. . eeIn for
a
contradict that]?
radict it. I can only tell you what I car-
here was at least one telephone
with the task force chief and Col.
you were In his office?
Yes, sir.
What ab
nicatlons
a senior C
know what
I know ho
communicat'
...Did4
tang milital
In rilmero
rae?
They did i
..f Haw
North over
. . I've
stayed away
... I be
used that
talked abs
rough-lool
of your co
that mlgh+
. The
referred to
stupidity t(
used, or at
drugs, and
a criminal i
at the delivery of a secure GOMMG'
to
vice, known as the K1.43, by you
A Official in Costa Ries? Did you
iso he made of that device?
was going to use it to keep in secure
ins with Col.:Iorth and with the others.
IA personnel ever assist you In get-
y supplies moved from a warehouse
'a [air basal to Aquacate in Hoedu-
of assist me ....
you had any conversations with Col.
the last two or throe months?
had several .. We both studiously
from ?discussing pending issues] ....
I
eve you talked been used to *bout
drugs . . . b You
lad
pt some of the crew being a Pretty
Ing bunch .... What was the nature
-ern about Involvement of people
have bad ties to drug-running?
roup that provided that plane had been
HAO by the CIA and, in my mind, it was
use a plane that at one time had been
ast targeted as having been used to carry
~so it was stupidity to use people who had
cord.
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Robert W. Owen, a former consultant t
made these points during his testimonyy
ON THE CIA
IN Owen described how the Central Into
Costa Rica. He also said that the CIA st
helped get weapons and food for rebels i
&?
i
H
ou
te
in, regular contact with then-Wh
ambassador to Costa Rica.
the US
.
Investigators introduced a 1986 letter
North as BG," for Blood and Guts. In it,
giving orders about the handling at, le
ON MONEY
? Owen described several trips to Now
including one in 1985 in which h* recei
sock. Owen said he turned the cash over
retired Air Force major general Richard
Washington.
the State Department,
terday:
igence Agency provided
a clandestine air field in
tion chief in Costa Rica
side Nicaragua and was
Owen that referred to
Owens said the CIA was
supplies."
rk City to pick up cash,
d $9,500 in $100 bills
k the money out of his
n a folded newspaper to
V. Secord in downtown
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ON THE CONTRAS
? While expressing an emotional attachr
Owen also was sharply critical of their f
1986, Owen wrote North, "There are fe,
of the movement who really care about t
WAR HAS BECOME A BUSINESS TO MA
$100 million [in U.S. aid) Is approved
nave these last five years, it will be lik,
sinkhole."
ON NORTH
? North told Owen last November that
"the !ail guy" if the secret network to aid
Owen said. He quoted North as saying
Casey knows it, and others know It, and
spons+oillty,"
ON THE 'RED TIDE'
^ Owen ended his testimony with a poet
gallant fighters." The poem noted, "We
strike back at those whose intent is to ei
the red tide that threatens to overwhelm
ant to the rebel soldiers,
Ilitlcal leaders. In March
of the so-called leaders
e boys in the field. THIS
iY OF THEM If the
)d things go on as they
pouring money down a
he expected to become
the contras was exposed,
"(then-CIA director) gill
m ready to take that re-
i praising North and our
have a burning desire to
slave us, to try and stern
U S.?
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