BLURRING ITS TRAIL, THE CIA STEPS UP COVERT ACTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807500039-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 39
• Publication Date: March 21, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807500039-3
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807500039-3
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807500039-3
LOS ANGELES TIMES
21 MARCH 1982
urri-1012, ts Tj c il. th""C . .
By DAYID WISE
jASEINGTON-'.Umted States-, does not -t -The 1947 law establishing the CIA does not specifical- .?1
/condone the assassination of foreign leaders," ly authorize covert operations. In fact, when Congress
President Reagan'.s press secretary, Larry set uR the CIA, it thought it was creating an agency to
Speaker.. declared several months ago, "and we do not collect and evaluate intelligence information. But the
condone the overthrow of foreign governments by the same law also authorized the. CIA to perform."other
U.S. government" functions" for the President, and the phrase has been
Last -week: Washington . was .abuzi- with-,'reports, used as the legal basis for.covert operations. The CIA is
-which were not denied by. the White House, that the divided into two parts-intelligence, which analyzes in-
President-had approved a number of covert operations formation, and operations, which conducts espionage
designed; to !'destabilize" the Sandinista government of and other covert action.. Unlike the analysts, the covert
,Nicaragua::One published report said that the Central operators seek to manipulate events, not merely to re.
Intelligence Agency had been given $19 million to build port on them.
a 500-man paramilitary force to operate against Nicara- , Under, Reagan,.although the fact has largely escaped
gua from Honduras. Another report said that the Rea-- public notice, the White House. committee that is;sup-
gan Administration was- covertly funneling, aid to posed to approve covert operations has itself vanished'
moderate political and economic forces inside Nicara- into the mists of the national security bureaucracy.
t..: .
gun, Over the years, the panel has had various names-the
Despite?Speakes' disclaimer; the United States under SpecialGroup, 303 Committee, Forty Committee. and
Reagan-and under every chief executive since World :_ unde President Carter, the Special Coordination Corn-
War II has' engatged irr a. niuiiber of c overE operations mittee. Carter's : executive order -on- intelligence de-
around theglobe. Indeed, if Speakes'statementthatthe , scribed:the dutiesof the SCCand-listed itsmembers "-
United States does not overthrow other governments But when the Reagan executive order-was published
was to be taken literally, it would be big news, marking last year the SCC had disappeared. The order contained
.a. rn orchange in:Ameridrt foreign policy.no mention of the committee or of any successor panel "
-
Althoughrthere have been somerevlsions in the laws` _ A White House official who declined . to be-identified r .
and ground'rules'governing covert operations, the CIA said .the SCC had. been'replaced by, not;.one..but three :
is still iree;ta conduct such operations rf the President National SecurityCouncil -committ_ees,_the ;'senior in = t
approves theme And by all'ac counts, the pace.of covert terdepartmental groups known-. as 'SIGSO, P!, One group
r
;action icin g under?thetReagan Aminist
ation. deals-with foreign.policy, another with military policy
Aside fron Nicaragua, it.is- ndebr believed here that .. and.thethirdwith intelli ence .t;3--
Iran and Cambodia. Ana?sometunes, secrec..operauvns
Studies, be
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do indeedoverthrow foreign governments. In.i953, ---` -?
CLL. was. bwtrnmental in., - & h the Mohammed Mos Neves that the senior interdepartmentzl group'for Intel
knowas SIG I; may be the panel jthat ap
ance
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sadegh regime is Iran an, restoring the shah to the proves: covert operations ' When .that panel,:meets, its
_'. throne. & ue-fouowing-year the CIAO plotted the over
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Covert-operations, by-c#efini on, are supposed to be u.. _ _ ____.: r
to ?murmur "plausible de.: shared by a spokesman for the House Intelligence Com-
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appears nowhere in thelawbuf the executive order on President' It includes diplomatic and military officials
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ermits the CIA to conduct "special activities." - three principal aides., Edwin Meese_III; James A..Baker
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,licly~~ the ihachinery for approving cover t: operations.,Bnt; as
coNTEVUIVl
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807500039-3
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807500039-3
congressional source well versed in intelligence matters
said.. "They're obscuring the paper trail. Are there rec-
ords of the committee's actions? What committee?"
Although the idea gains currency that there are re-
strictions on CIA covert operations as a result of legisla-
tive and other reforms, in fact the intelligence agency.
and the President are largely free to act as they wish.
Since 1974, however, under the Hughes-Ryan Amend-
ment, no funds may be spent for covert operations with-
out a presidential "finding" that the operation is "im-
portant to the national security." Until that time, Pres-
idents have been able to disclaim knowledge of such
operations.
In 1980, Congress reduced from eight to two the num-
berof committees on Capitol Hill to which the President
must report on covert operations. Now, only the Senate
and House Intelligence committees are briefed. In
theory, the Administration must report on such opera-
tions in advance, but a loophole in the law permits the
President to report to Congress after the fact if he
wishes: And if the President decides it is "essential" to
limit prior notice, he. can tell only. eight people in Con-
gress-the committee leaders of both parties and key.
congressional leaders..
There are three other qualifiers on covert operations,
in addition to the requirement that they be approved by
the President. Recent presidential executive orders on
intelligence rule out assassination of foreign leaders.
The Clark Amendment, passed in 1976, prohibits covert
operations in Angola (where the CIA spent more than
$31 million in.an unsuccessful operation in 1975), and
the United States is party to : treaties that would, in
theory, rule out the use of biological weapons in CIA
Last year, reports of a covert operation in Africa led
-to awritten protest to the President by the House Intel-
ligence Committee. At' first it was reported that the
operation was designed to overthrow Libya's dictator I
Moansmar Kadafi, possibly by assassination. Finally it
turned out that the plan involved Mauritius, an island in
the Indian Ocean. The covert operation was designed to
aid the island's government against opposition forces
backed by Kadafi. The episode was a classic example of
the mystery and confusion that can envelop those most
David Wise is the author of "Spectrum, a novel about a
struggle for power inside the CIA:
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807500039-3