GADHAFI TARGET OF SECRET U.S. DECEPTION PLAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807560027-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2012
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: October 2, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807560027-0
Gadhafi Target of Secret U.S. Deception Plan
Elaborate Campaign Included Disinformation That Appeared as Fact in American Media
port for the terrorists, according to informed sources.
By Bob Woodward When the administration's secret deception plan was
Washington Post Staff Writer launched in August, officials acknowledged in internal
memos that it might provoke Gadhafi into new terrorist
In August the Reagan administration launched acts. But senior officials decided that the potential ben-
a secret and unusual campaign of deception de- efits of the operation outweighed this risk.
signed to convince Libyan leader Moammar Gad- The objective of the plan was to keep Gadhafi "pre-
hafi that he was about to be attacked again by occupied" and "off balance" and to portray him as "para-
U.S. bombers and perhaps be ousted in a coup, noid and ineffective" so that, as the memo put it, "forces
according to informed sources and documents. within Libya which desire his overthrow will be embold-
The secret plan, adopted at a White House ened to take action."
meeting on Aug. 14, was outlined in a three-page Press Told of New Intelligence on Ten'edsnl ,
memo that John M. Poindexter, the president's
national security affairs adviser, sent to Presi- Poindexter's three-page memo to Reagan outlining
dent Reagan. the plan was drafted in preparation for a National Se-
"One of the key elements" of the new strategy, curity Planning Group (NSPG) meeting convened to
the Poindexter memo said, "is that it combines consider the next steps the administration would take
real and illusionary events-through a disinfor- against Gadhafi. The NSPG is the key Cabinet-level
mation program-with the basic goal of making forum in which Reagan and his top aides discuss and
Gadhafi think [word underlined in the original] make decisions on the most sensitive foreign policy
that there is a high degree of internal opposition matters.
to him within Libya, that his key trusted aides The president, Poindexter and nine other key o&
are disloyal, that the U.S. is about to move cials met at the White House to discuss this plan at 11
against him militarily." a.m. Thursday, Aug. 14. Sources said the basic plan
It was an elaborate plan: "a series of closely was approved and codified in general terms in a formal
coordinated events involving covert, diplomatic, presidential decision document. Details of the plan were
military and public actions," according to Poin- left to Poindexter, the State Department and the Cen-
dexter's memo. Military officers expressed some tral Intelligence Agency.
reservations about the plan, and intelligence Soon after the meeting administration officials told
realists were deeply deapn, , about its potential spe- reporters that the United States had new intelligence
efficacy. The plan was ide latest phase to the indicating that Gadhafi was again stepping up his ter-
ter-
rorist plans, following a four-month lull after the April
administration's policy, first adopted last year, to 14 American bombing raid against Libya.
try to topple Gadhafi, a known instigator of ter- But Poindexter's memo to Reagan just before the
rorist acts targeted by the administration as a Au . 4 meeTainted less alarmin icture: "Al-
threat that has to be removed. t t e can uni ssessmenf
Beginning with an Aug. 25 report in The Will i>3 that Gadhafi is tem raril quiescent in his s rt o
Street Journal, the American news media-in- terrorism he may soon move to a more dive role
eluding The Washington Post-reported as fact Other sources confirmed that there was no signifi-
much of the false information generated by the cant reliable intelligence in mid- u gust to suggest t - t
new plan. Published articles described renewed glans.
__QAdb&fijja-& stepping up his terronst Libyan backing for terrorism and a looming, new But the State Department and the CIA concluded
[!.S.-Libya confrontation. But U.S. intelligence. that it might be an opportune moment to execute the
officials had actually concluded in August that f2! !p against the i an ea er.
Gadhafi was "quiescent" on the terrorist front, A White House planning d tni en t sent to CIA Di
rector William J. Casey before the Aug.
1meeting
according to the Poindexter memo. The only sal : a a is aura of invincibility has "confrontation was the one generated by the his pres ige is badly tarnished and his grip on power
shattered,
administration plan, according to sources and seems recarious.
administration planning papers. ut admuust ation analysts evidently were of two
During September, however, U.S. intelligence minds. The Poindexter memo to Reagan written at the
agencies assem a ence i ya same time sat : ost inte ence estimates cone ii e
begun planning a significant number o erronst that in spite o new tensions an a i s own oc
attacks and some senior s are concern de cession an im it ormance o owin t e p-
that this is in rt a response tota mis tra- ril 14 raid, he is sti vin contra in i va.
tion's latest campaign against Gadhafi. great-
est concern to U.S. officials are reports consid-
ered reliable but still inconclusive that Libya had
a direct hand in the Sept. 5 attack on Pan &NNW
ican World Airways Flight 073 at the Karachi
airport in Pakistan and provided logistical sup-
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Mining Libyan Harbors Weighed, Rejected
Senior administration officials have been frustrated
that Uadhati has been able to remain in wer des ite a
presidentially authorized, year-long CIA effort to oust
him.
Over the summer, the administration considered but
antiorces that the CIA had been sunoorting
proved weak an d disorganized, the sources said. All of
the a orts against Gadhafi were apparently thwarted
bY_hl4 personal security force and a network of inform-
ers in ib and among Libyan exiles.
nfficialq acknowledged in their internal discussions
that the deception plan was risky. "Gadhafi may lash out
against Americans and regional friends with terror and
subversion," said the White House memo sent to Casey.
But the administration concluded that potential benefits
outweighed any dangers. "There are risks," that memo
said. "However, the benefits of a successful policy de-
mand that every appropriate effort be made to achieve
our objectives."
Senior offici*lls said Reagan, Casey and Secretary of _
State rge Shultz are particularly determined to
remove Uadhafi. As om Yte~e r said n its ,.gnst
memo, the purpose of taking additional steps against
Libya was to deter terrorism, moderate Libyan policies
and "bring about a change of leadP hip in t ibya ... .
The administration has concluded that, as the Poin-
dexter memo said, "any alternative leadership to Gad-
hafi would be better for U.S. interests and international
order."
The mid-August plan approved by Reagan did not
specifically call for the planting of false stories in the
U.S. media. A State Department planning memo, how-
ever, did provide that "U.S. government backgrounds
media on 1) three-ring circus in Libya with infighting
among groups jockeying for post-Gadhafi era, 2) threat
of resurgent terrorism .... "
The secret plan also called for "foreign media place-
#
When a report appeared on the front page of The
Wall Street Journal on Aug. 25 stating without quali-
fication that "The U.S. and Libya are on a collision
course again," it was embraced publicly by Poindexter
and White House spokesman Larry Speakes, who called
the article "authoritative." On the basis of those en-
dorsements, other news organizations, including The
Post, carried reports summarizing the information that
initially appeared in the Journal. In subsequent days
administration officials both affirmed and denied that
there was new evidence of Libyan-backed terrorism, or
that a new confrontation was in the offing.
Yesterday, in response to a question to the White
House about stories published in August on Libya, one
official said: "The media deceived itself and the stories
were hyped. There was no intent that the administra-
tion's actions in military exercises and so forth become
public."
The Journal's Aug. 25 story reported as fact various
administration plans that were actually part of the de-
ception plan described in the August memos. The re-
port did not mention deception, the key ingredient in
the plan.
The paper quoted "a senior U.S. official" as saying of
Gadhafi: "There are increasing signs that he's resumed
planning and preparations for terrorist acts." According
to the Poindexter memo to Reagan, there were no such
signs.
Contingency Plans Were Months Old
The Journal wrote: "The Reagan administration is
preparing to teach the mercurial Libyan leader another
lesson. Right now, the Pentagon is completing plans for
a new and larger bombing of Libya in case the president
orders it." In fact, the administration only had contin-
gency plans for new military action that were several
months old, and nothing new was being done, sources
said.
The Journal report said that the administration was
considering action through the African country of Chad
to put pressure on Gadhafi, who has annexed a portion
of Chad with about 6,000 Libyan troops.
According to the Journal, "The deputy commander in
chief of the U.S. European Command, Gen. Richard
Lawson, quietly visited the poverty-stricken desert na-
tion [of Chad] earlier this month to see whether [Chad]
President [Hissene] Habre, with U.S. and French help,
might be able to expel the Libyans."
In August, a State Department planning paper on the
deception plan said: "Lawson's trip to Chad later this
month provides an opportunity for disinformation to
reach Gadhafi that the U.S. and France are developing
contingency plans for a 'Chad Option.' "
Lawson visited Chad on Aug. 12 and 13, but State
Department officials said recently that the United
States never formally had discussions with France
about joint action against the Libyan forces there.
France has tacitly accepted the partition of Chad.
The Chad aspect of the deception plan apparently
grew out of a National Security Council memo dated
Aug. 7, proposing that the United States attempt to
"shame France into asserting itself" in Chad, a former
French colony. The document suggested communicat-
ing through "military-to-military channels and not
through the political channels which failed earlier this
year .... Given the stated desire of some [French]
general officers to cooperate with us against Gadhafi,
we might actively encourage them to sell the proposal
to their civilian leadership."
After the Journal and other news reports appeared
describing the purported U.S. proposal to take joint.
action in Chad, sources said, the French voiced concern
to the State Department. Instead of frightening Gad-
hafi, sources said, the disinformation scuttled possible
cooperation with the French on Chad in the near future.
'Overburden and Spook Libyan Defenses'
The August plan had a high-visibility military com-
ponent. The White House memo to Casey said: "Overt
DOD [Department of Defense] operations will also be.
required to give credibility to rumors that the U.S. in-
tends to take further military action." The memo said
there would be "unilateral and joint exercises designed
to deceive, overburden and 'spook' Libyan defenses."
U.S. and Egyptian forces conducted military exer-
cises, called "Seawind," in the region in August. Sources
said that the exercises were carried out in a particularly
provocative manner, sending aircraft into the Tripoli
Flight Information Region so they would appear on Lib-
yan radar, though the most provocative action, crossing
Gadhafi's self-proclaimed line of death" into the Gulf of
Sidra, was not undertaken.
"There's a fine line between harassment and prov-
ocation," said one source who considered the August
initiatives potentially dangerous.
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The administration plan specified that two U.S. dip-
lomatic missions be given an anti-Libyan spin. One was,
a visit to European capitals by Vernon A. Walters, the
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; the other a vis-
it by Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard L. Armi-
tage last month to Libyan neighbors Algeria and Tunic
sia. Walters' mission, which followed the publication of
the journal report and Speakes' description of it as "au-
thoritative," was billed as a briefing on the new U.S. ev-
idence of Libyan sponsorship of terrorist acts. In fact,
European sources told Washington Post correspondents,
in London and Bonn, Walters offered no such evidence
to the Western allies.
The Armitage trip, according to a planning memo,
would provide a "similar opportunity for disinforma-
tion."
Other portions of the plan included attempts to make
it appear that the United States was flying across the
"line of death" by using deceptive radio communica-
tions. Another aspect of the plan involved deceptive air-
craft carrier operations to mislead Libya about the in-
tent of U.S. forces to operate near its territory.
The CIA undertook placements of false information
in the foreign media. Other covert techniques involving
communications, U.S. aircraft and submarines were
planned.
One planning document said that the false informa-
tion should include articles showing that the Soviet
Union was planning a coup in Libya. It said, "Libyan in-
telligence should be provided photography of Libyan
dissidents meeting with Soviet officials in Paris, Bagh-
dad, etc."
The U.S. intelligence community has been sharply di-
vided over the new tactics against Gadhafi, according to
informed sources. Some Libyan ex its in the CIA are
concern t at the administration's s c o o ica war-
are against a i will backfire, or already has. In this
view, e plan is on n d a i s desire o
be at the center of events, and has likely fueled his ter-
rorist schemes and plans to extend his rule in North Af-
rica beyond Libyan borders.
Taraki and the four hijackers are in Pakistani custody
and are undergoing interrogation. Sources said that
Pakistan is supplying the United States with some in-
formation.
Reagan has publicly promised to take military action
again against Libya, as he did in the April 14 raid, if that
country is directly connected to other terrorist acts
against U.S. installations or targets. The week after the
raid, Reagan said, "If their government continues its
campaign of terror against Americans, we will act
again."
At the Aug. 14 meeting of Reagan and his top nation-
al security affairs advisers, Adm. William J. Crowe Jr.,
the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, voiced concern
about the plan, according to sources, questioning
whether it was an appropriate use of military resources.
He said that there was great danger in saying or imply-
ing that the United States was going to take dramatic
steps, then failing to follow through. Crowe argued that
this would lessen the deterrent value of the April 14
raid and any other ongoing efforts to deter Gadhafi.
Though a variety of reservations was voiced during
the hour-long meeting, sources said that the strong
anti-Gadhafi sentiment in the administration overrode
other considerations.
At one point, according to a source, Reagan made a
joke about the Libyan leader's well-known proclivity for
wearing ostentatious and colorful clothing. The pres-
ident quipped, "Why not invite Gadhafi to San Francis-
co, he likes to dress up so much."
Shultz rejoined: "Why don't we give him AIDS!"
Others at the table laughed.
Staff researcher Barbara Feinman contributed to this
report
Adm. Crowe Voices Concern About Plan
The possibility that Libya did promote the Sept. 5 hi-
jacking of the Pan Am jetliner in Karachi is cited by
some specialists who fear the consequences of the U.S.
deception plan, though there is no evidence that U.S.
actions triggered the hijacking, which is the sort of ter-
rorist act that Gadhafi has organized in the past.
Sources stressed that U.S. intelligence agencies do
not yet have conclusive proof of Libyan involvement in
the Karachi hijacking, but said there are ominous signs
of such complicity. Salman Taraki, an Arab with a Lib-
yan passport, was arrested in Pakistan five days after
the hijacking, and an intelligence report said that he had
claimed he was on a "special mission" for an operative of
the Libyan intelligence service. Taraki apparently was
stranded by accident in Pakistan and unable, as planned,
to leave the country before or after the hijacking that
left 21 persons dead, the sources said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807560027-0