CASEY LIGHTING A FIRE UNDER THE BUT PROBLEMS PERSIST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100070004-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: November 15, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

i
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP9O-01208ROO0100070004-2
ARTICLE APPEAR D
ON PAGE /6
LOS ANGLES T I
15 November 1981
Rd
,asey Lighting a Fire Under ff
By ROBERT C. TOTH, . - -
Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON-Despite an ar-
rogant manner and a tendency to
mumble. CIA Director William J.
Casey has come along way, even
his critics concede, in restoring mo-
rale at the once badly shattered
Central Intelligence Agency. '
And spending for U.S.; intel-.11
ligence activities has been in-'
creased 10io, even though Ameri-
pan agents overseas have not exact-
ly been "unleashed" as President
t.cagan promised during the .1950
erection campaign.
U.S. agents conducted about 10
indercover operations in the final
year of Jimmy Carter's Adrninistra-
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
tnrethcr," 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 thcrc_wcre virtually no
clandestine activities for`the.first;
three Carter years. Excuses Not Needed
"They saw the Soviet invasion zs
immoral. so gun-running (of So-
viet-made arms from Egypt) to the i
blem- i-NitJ
butrro S.r
;cies,
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-
al's," 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 leakedr..
'
a month later.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 fo give th`e - CIA . domestic
spying authority.
t The White House officials, led by
Richard Y.'Alltn; national security'
adviser::' to the President; have
pushed for a "stronger", executive. .
order to the intelligence agbncies to
satisfy the "unleashing" promises l.'
made in the campaign and to im-
prove U.S. counterintelligence ca-( .pabilities. . - .
The comic aspects then began: A-
Democrat on the House Intelligence
Afghan rebels was justified. These; 'Committee, based on second-hand
(Reagan). people don't need such' knowledge, told a reporter the CIA
excuses." the official said. plan.'was aimed at overthrowing,
But even as Casey and Reagan. perhaps even assassinating. Libya's
have moved to reinvigorate the na- Moammar Kadafi. A White House
Lion's intelligence agencies, new official told a reporter, wrongly.:
problems have cropped up and some that the target country was Mauri-
lingering, old problems have taken tius, which is a black southeast.
on new twists. For instance: African country. The correct coun-.
-The sordid "gun for hire" ex- try then was identified to calm the
ploits of such' former Central Intel- infuriated citizens of Mauritius.
ligence-agents as Edwin P. Wilson, ''We shot ourselves in the foot
who is accused of exporting terror- . with three countries over' a plan
it equipment to Libya have raised -that was never. approved." one in-
soug
mad
offici
thori
telligence officer. complained. "The facer: to explain his p
questions about the activities of CIA oiicies to the-'
i KGB must stillbe laughing." lawmakers. ' - .
men once they leave the agency. 1
especially. those who use expertise "It was a mistake to rely too
II4 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 CIA-RDP9O-01208ROO0100070004-2
lob; congressional and other sources
said. He usually sent Inman, a con-
gressional favorite and highly re-
.. ated
on th
bctte
getti
spyin
fears
Moreover, the FBI's counterfn-i
telligence 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
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'wceks
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 Caseys larger!
failure to take Congress seriously
during his first six months on the