CIA CHIEF FIRES TWO OFFICERS FOR ROLES IN IRAN-CONTRA CASE, DISCIPLINES OTHERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000707060001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2011
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 17, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000707060001-4
The New York Times
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Date 17 Dar_ '2_
CIA Chief Fires Two Officers for Roles
In Iran-Contra Case, Disciplines Others
By JmiN WALCOTT
Stuff Reporter of Tttt: Wm.t. STRI:r-T JOH"RN. I
WASHINGTON - Central Intelligence
Agency Director William Webster has fired
two CIA officers and disciplined several se-
nior officials for their roles in the Iran-
Contra affair, intelligence sources said.
Bill Baker, a CIA spokesman, said the
agency doesn't comment on administrative
actions "until and unless they're an-
nounced." But administration intelligence
officials said Mr. Webster fired the former
CIA station chief in Costa Rica and the
chief of the large CIA base at Aguacate,
Honduras.
In addition, intelligence sources said the
CIA director has reprimanded Duane
"Dewey" Clarridge, the director of the
agency's Counterterrorism Center, and
Alan Fiers, head of the CIA's Central
America Task Force.
The sources said Mr. Webster dismissed
Mr. Clarridge from his post in the ter-
rorism unit, and suggested he take early
retirement. The CIA director also repri-
manded and demoted Mr. Fiers.
Mr. Webster waited to take action
against officers who had been implicated
in the Iran-Contra affair until he had di-
gested a report he commissioned on the
CIA's actions by his special counsel, Wash-
ington lawyer Russell Bruemmer.
The report was completed two weeks
ago, a CIA official said, and Mr. Webster
took action this week.
Intelligence sources said Mr. Clarridge
was disciplined because he provided in-
complete or misleading testimony to con-
gressional investigators probing the ad-
ministration's secret arms deliveries to
Iran and the transfer of profits from the
arms sales to the Nicaraguan rebels.
In addition, Mr. Clarridge was repri-
manded for traveling to South Africa to
seek aid for the rebels, or Contras, without
informing the State Department.
Intelligence sources, however, said Mr.
Clarridge was sent to South Africa by the
late CIA director William Casey and that
State Department Latin America policy
makers were aware of his mission.
Mr. Fiers served with former National
Security Council aide Lt. Col. Oliver North
on the administration's Restricted Inter-
agency Group, which supervised U.S. po-
licy toward Nicaragua while CIA field offi-
cers in Costa Rica and Honduras were as-
sisting a supposedly private Contra aid
network directed by Col. North.
u Intelligience officials said the field offi-
cers reported to Mr. Fiers that they were
cooperating with Col. North's operation
while a congressional ban on U.S. military
aid to the Contras was in force. 1(
The sources also asserted that CIA op-
eration director Clair George was aware of
the agency's role in assisting Col. North.
Mr. George will retire at the end of this
month.
Mr. Webster has resisted pressure from
the House and Senate intelligence commit-
tees, which want to impose new restric-
tions on covert operations. But intelligence
sources say Mr. Webster also has tried to
avoid disrupting the agency or sending
morale there into a tailspin with wholesale
firings, demotions and transfers.
It isn't clear, however, whether the dis-
ciplinary actions Mr. Webster has taken
this week will mollify the CIA's congres-
sional critics.
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000707060001-4