CIA STATION CHIEF SUSPENDED FOR PART IN SUPPLYING CONTRAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040009-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: January 25, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040009-1
WASHINGTON POST
25 January 1987
CIA
Station
Chief
Suspended for Part
In Supplying Contras
Agent in Costa Rica Termed North 's Conduit
STAT
By Robert Parry
Associated-Press ~R
The Central Intelligence Agency
has suspended its station chief in
Costa Rica after learning that he
failed to disclose fully his participa-
tion in a secret network flying mil-
itary supplies to the Nicaraguan
contras, U.S. intelligence sources
said yesterday.
The suspension of the station
chief, who used the pseudonym
Tomas Castillo, follows his recall
earlier this month and two CIA in-
vestigations that cleared him of il-
legal actions.
The sources, who spoke on the
condition they remain anonymous,
said Castillo was suspended within
the past few days when CIA officials
were notified, apparently by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation,
that documents belonging to fired
White House aide Lt. Col. Oliver L.
North showed Castillo more deeply
involved in the resupply network
than he had admitted.
The development suggests that
during a two-year congressional ban
on U.S. military aid to the contras,
the CIA assisted North in managing
a contra air resupply mission based
at El Salvador's Ilopango military
airfield.
One source said Castillo claimed
he had the "tacit approval" of Clair
E. George, the CIA's deputy direc-
tor for clandestine activities, in act-
ing as a channel for North's mes-
sages to the aid network.
CIA spokesmen were not imme-
diately available for comment, but
they have repeatedly denied that
the spy agency violated the ban.
Earlier this month, Castillo was
cleared by the internal investiga-
tions, which concluded he had
passed along messages between
North and the supply network on an
occasional, informal basis, the
sources said.
But after the investigations were
completed, evidence' from North's
White House documents showed
that North considered Castillo his
"primary formal channel of commu-
nications" to the arms resupply op-
eration, said one source.
Another source said Castillo was
confronted with the new evidence
last week and "admitted he had lied"
about the extent of his participation
in North's activities.
North, a Marine lieutenant col-
onel and an aide on President Rea-
gan's National Security Council,
was fired Nov. 25 after the Justice
Department found that he had di-
verted profits from Iranian arms
sales to assist the contras.
Under the suspension, Castillo
will continue to be paid but will be
given no assignments and could face
disciplinary action once the new
evidence is evaluated, one source
said.
Castillo, in 1984, was one of sev-
eral CIA officials reprimanded in
connection with the publication of a
psychological operations manual
that counseled the contras on "the
selective use of violence" to "neu-
tralize" Nicaraguan officials.
.Despite the reprimand, he was
promoted to station chief in Costa
Rica, where the contras were try-
ing to organize a "southern front" in
their war against Nicaragua's leftist
Sandinista .government.
One source said it was inconceiv.
able that North could have used
Castillo as a conduit for messages
to the rebel resupply operation
without the knowledge of his CIA
superiors.
But another source said North's
contact with Castillo was generally
by phone and thus bypassed normal
CIA channels.
The source, however, said
George, one of the agency's top
officials, was in regular contact with
North and knew about many of his
activities. "George was [North's)
primary point of contact" at the
agency, talking to North once or
twice a day, the source said.
The two investigations earlier
this month that cleared Castillo
were carried out by the CIA's in-
spector general and the president's
Intelligence Oversight Board.
The sources said the inquiries
found that Castillo had passed on
messages for North on seven occa-
sions. The internal investigations
concluded that Castillo violated no
law but may have used poor judg-
ment.
From 1981 to 1984, the CIA co-
vertly trained and supplied contra
forces. Castillo was a principal aide
to Duane Clarridge, the CIA officer
.to, Duane Clarridge, the CIA officer
in charge of organizing the rebels
nto
an effective force, sources said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040009-1