HOUSE LOOSENS RULES ON NICARAGUAN REBEL AID

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040052-3
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
May 4, 2012
Sequence Number: 
52
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
November 19, 1985
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040052-3.pdf80.29 KB
Body: 
'STAY Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release. 2012/_05/0.4 :CIA-RDP90-009658000605040052-3 19 November 19851 HOUSE LOOSENS RULES ON NICARAGUAN REBEL AID BY ROBERT PARRY WASHINGTON The House an Tuesday approved a compromise -bill that allows the Reagan administration to send aircraft and ground -vehicles to Nicaraguan rebels as long as the equipment is not egraipped "to inflict serious bodily harm ar death." The bill, approved 387-21, also would provide sophisticated radios to the rebels. but would continue a ban against the CIA advising or trainir- ~-'--~-t xheir 4-year-old war against Nicaragua's leftist government.. The Senate is expected to give the bill final approval-later this week. It will then go to President Reagan for his signature. l.ast_s~immer, Congress agreed to resume $27 million in non-lethal aid to the s and permitted the CIA to share intelligence with the rebels, but barred additional U.S, support. The bill approved Tuesday clarifies those provisions and slightly loosens constraints on U.S. -aid. ~t allows the CIA to-give the rebels special secure radios and train them in transmitting CIA -supplied intelligence about Nicaraguan government forces to rebel base camps. The.bill also states that the X27 million can be spent to buy "transportation equipment ... so long as no modifications are made ... designed to be used to inflict serious bodily harm or death." Congressional sources said that provision clears the way-for the administration to send planes, helicopters, ambulances and trucks to the. rebels even if-the vehicles are used Later to transport military equipment or troops. Until now, a special State Department office established to distribute that aid has refused to spend the money to buy vehicles for the rebels, using the. funds mostly for food, medicine and clothing. Although supporting the compromise. bill, House Republicans said they hoped Congress would remove all restrictions on U.S. aid to tt~e rebels if Reagan, as expected, proposes a resumption of direct, military assistance early next year. Denouncing. the Nicaraguan government as a Soviet satellite, Rep. Dick Cheney, R-Wyo., a House Intelli ence Committee member, urged Congress to "remove the restrictions Wh1Ch hobb~e the president in protecting U.S, interests in Central America." But Rep. Ted Weiss, D-N.Y., said he feared that repeated steps toward easing limits on Nicaraguan rebel aid are "taking us closer and closer to direct military involvement." verall, the debate of the 1986 intelligence authorization bill was much less heated than previous battles over Reagan's policy of using the CIA to train and supply the rebels. The CIA backed the guerrillas covertly from 1981 until 1984, when Congress cut off the assistance. The intelligence authorization bill also sets levels for worldwide U.S. sending on the CIA and other intelligence agencies, but those figures are kept secret. Rep. i_oufs Stokes, D-Ohio, said that in the new bill,. the substantial growth in intelligence spending that has occurred during the 198Ds is "substantially slowed." Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/04 :CIA-RDP90-009658000605040052-3