CASEY LIGHTING A FIRE UNDER THE BUT PROBLEMS PERSIST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100010007-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: November 15, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100010007-5
ARTICLE APPS. D LOS AN;~_;L .S Ti I
ON PAGE /6 15 November 1981
~~a~~~ Lighting a Fire Under Ui'
bud Pr~blems Per
By ROBERT C. TOTH,
Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON-Despite an ar-
rcgant manner and a tendency to
mumble. CIA Director William J.
.Casey has come a long way, even
~h;s critics concede, in restoring mo-
rale at the once badly shattered
Central Intelligence Agency.
And spending for U.S._ Intel-.'
ligence activities has been in-
11 r eased 10%, even though Ameri-
can agents overseas have not exact=
1y been "unleashed'' as President
~'tcagan promised during the 1980
erection campaign.
U.S. agents conducted about 10
undercover operations In the final
year of Jimmy Carter's Administra-
Lion. the same number as are now in
progress.
"There is certainly more enthusi-
'asm for (intelligence) operations
now," one official said. "But they
are limited by budget constraints.
congressional oversight and the fact
that this Administration does not
yet have a coheren L. foreign policy
which covert operations would be
used to support.
"When they get their policy act
tngethcr. this official predicted.
"there will probably be more opera-
tions. The Carter 'Administration
needed a moral rationale for such !
things. Until Afghanistan. they had,
none and there .were virtually no
clandestine activities for : the .first
three Carter years.
Excuses Not Needed
"They saw the Soviet invasion as!
immoral. so gun-running (of So- I
vict-made arms from Egypt) to the i
Afghan rebels was justified. These
(Reagan) people don't need such
excuses." the official said. ' . .
But even as Casey and Reagan.1
have moved to reinvigorate the na-
tion's intelligence agencies, new
problems have cropped up and some !
lingering, old problems have taken +
on new twists. For instance:
-The sordid "gun for hire" ex-
ploits of such ~formcr,Central Intel- i
ligence agents as Edwin P. Wilson,
who Is accused of exporting terror-
ist equipment to Libya. have raised
questions about the activities of CIA
men once they leave the agency. !
especially. those ?"''^ I av Vtvs
d C
A
S
5
revived speculation about Russian
"moles" inside U.S. intelligence
agencies.
-The leaking of U.S. secrets to
the press, although greatly reduced,
has yet to be stopped.
The most recent case of leaked
secrets found White House "hard-
liners" pitted against CIA "liber-
als," reversing past patterns, amid
almost comic confusion.'
The case involved a CIA plan, app.
.proved by the White House. to pro :.
vide several hundred thousand dol-
lars to political activists in Maurita=
nia, an Arab country in northwest
ern Africa. to Counter money fun-
neled to Mauritania by Libya. It was
laid before the. House and Senate .
Intelligence committees in June.
House Democrats objected to the
operation and wrote a rare letter of
protest to Reagan. whereupon' the
proposal was killed.
Existence of the letter was leaked' :
a month latee.by White House offi=
cials. sources said. In an: attempt to
embarrass CIA leaders, including
Casey and Deputy CIA Director
Bobby R. Inman, who opposed ef-
forts Co give the ? CIA ? domestic
spying authority.
' The White House officials. led by
Richard V Allen; national security'
adviser to the :President,'; have
pushed' for a "stronger", executive..
order to the intelligence agencies to I
satisfy the "unleashing" promises i'
made in the campaign and to im-
prove U.S. counterintelligence ca- it
pabilities. ' .
The comic aspects then began. A.
Democrat on the House Intelligence
Committee, based an second-hand
knowledge, told a reporter the CIA
plan.was aimed at' overthrowing,
perhaps even assassinating. Libya's
Moammar Kadafi. A White House
official told a reporter. wrongly,
that the target country was Mauri-
tius, which is a black southeast
African country. The correct coun-.
try then was identified to calm the
infuriated citizens of Mauritius.
"We shot ourselves ift the foot
with three countries over. a plan
that was never approved." one in-
teliigence officer complained. "The I
KGB must still be.laughing."
order
;cigs,
sough
made.
officia
,thorit
ated
on th
better
fears abc
prospective gain.
Moreover, the FBI's counterfn-1
teliigence division "does not need
any unleashing." a senior FBI offi-
cial said. "We have all the scope and
range of authority we need to per-
form our mission." He also implied
that he thought the FBI did not
need any help from the CIA in its
work. ?
Among congressmen on record
against such moves are- all ? the
members of_the Senate Intelligence
Committee, both Republicans and
Democrats. As Sen. Malcolm Wal- ,
lop (R-Wyo.). put it. Reagan will
be "pilloried" if he exposes "law
abiding Americans' to CIA scruti-
ny."
Concerns of Congress.
, At least one more draft of a Rea-
gan executive order for the CIA.
which Is.intended to replace the
.1978 order issued by Carter, is being
written "to?reflect the concerns of
Congress."- according to senior in-
telligence officials. Its release is ex-
pected within a few'weeks
Casey must take some blame for
the controversy. - Although ? he: -backed the intelligence communi-
ty's view against the White House
in the end. he long failed to heed
warnings that Congress was not
prepared to loosen the reins very'
much on intelligence activities. ?
This was.part of Casey's larger
failure to take Congress seriously
during his first six months on 'the
Job. congressional and other sources
said. He usually sent Inman, a con-
gressional favorite and highly re-!
spected professional intelligence of-
fiber; to explain his policies to the'
lawmakers, .
"It was a mistake to rely inn !
_:__~, _-oh.,,
anitize
opy
pproved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100010007-5