CHILEAN WAS SOURCE IN HELMS INQUIRY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: August 7, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
Iq
Next 3 Page(s) In Document Denied
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90BO1390R000100080035-3
THE WASHINGTON POST THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1986 A13
Chilean Was source in helms Inquiry
Santiago Aide Complained to, U.S..Envoy of `Spies' Stealing Secrets Ij
By Joanne Omang
Washington Pont Staff Writer
A Chilean government official
was the source for administration
charges that someone in the office
of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) leaked
sensitive intelligence information to
Chile, a State Department official
said yesterday.
The Chilean complained to U.S.
Ambassador Harry G. Barnes on
July 16 that "spies" were stealing
Chilean military secrets and, when
Barnes asked what he meant, the
Chilean said Helms' office had told
him so, the U.S. official said.
Helms called the account "a con-
coction," adding yesterday, "There
is no such Chilean official unless
he's lying through, his teeth."
Barnes "would have no credibility in
any court of law,"? Helms said.
Sources close to the event said
the issue involved a classifit?ci
Chilean armed forces report bla:- i-
ing Chilean soldiers for the burning
death July 6 of a young antigovern-
ment demonstrator.
Knowing that the United States
had the report enabled the Chileans
to shut down a U.S. intelligence-
gathering operation. that had been
very productive, the sources said.
An FBI investigation into the al-
leged leak began July 18 at the re-
quest of the Senate Select Commit-
tee on Intelligence and has focused
on Christopher Manion, a commit-
tee staff aide to Helms, as a possi-
ble suspect, the sources said.
Manion and Helms have denied
involvement, and Helms yesterday
accused "a coalition of the media,
the Marxists and the State Depart-
ment" of seeking to destabilize
Chile through a disinformation cam-
paign.
The existence of a written
Chilean military document was first
reported yesterday by National
Public Radio.
According to The Washington
Post's sources, the Central Intel-
ligence Agency cited the internal
study in its congressional briefings
as evidence that the Chilean gov-
ernment knew its soldiers had
doused demonstrator Rodrigo Rojas
de Negri, 19, a Washington resi-
dent who was visiting his native
Chile, with gasoline and set him
afire in Santiago on July 2. He died
*utr days later.
Manion was among those who
received a CIA briefing on ' he Rojas
case, but Helms did not, a a intel-
ligence community source said.
Barnes heard from the- indignant
Chilean official "within hours" of
Manion's briefing, the State De-
partment official said.
The official stressed that that did
not necessarily mean it was Manion
who made contact with Santiago.
In an interview, Helms chal-
lenged the State Department to
produce evidence against his office.
"There is none; it's a hoax," de-
signed to discredit him because of
his firm opposition to department
policies, he said.
The military report blaming
Chilean soldiers may not exist ei-
ther, he said, adding, "The CIA say-
ing it doesn't make it true."
One intelligence official said CIA
details of the report in its briefings
"are almost a road map to how we
got the information." The tech-
niques in question had been used to
monitor army support for Chilean
President Augusto Pinochet, among
other things, and have been closed
down. "That's why we were upset,"
the official said.
A Chilean Embassy spokesman
here reiterated Chile's position that
it has received no intelligence leaks.
A Chilean official noted that the af-
fair has at least documented CIA co-
vert-intelligence activity in Chile and
said "this of course has to have an
impact" on U.S.-Chilean relations.
That could include monitoring
U.S. Embassy personnel, visa de-
lays or difficulty in obtaining inter-
views, the official said.
In a speech yesterday in G!een-
ville, N.C., Helms said the '.-,t ate
Department has targeted hie n, in
part because he had reveale,i $2
million in CIA aid to President Jose
Napoleon Duarte of El Salvador in
1984. "I blew the whistle on them,"
Helms said.
Helms visited Chile the week af-
ter Rojas died and endorsed Pino-
chet's claim that Rojas had acciden-
tally set himself afire with a device
he had been carrying. Helms crit-
icized Barnes for attending Rojas'
funeral and defended Chile's prog-
ress towird democracy, which the
State Department has been trying
to accelerate.
The State Department, not for
the first time, was furious at Helms,
but this time one of its officials went
public. Elliott Abrams, assistant
secretary of state for inter-Amer-
ican affairs, publicly called Helms'
remarks "indefensible."
Later, Abrams "mentioned" to
Sen. David F. Durenberger (R-
Minn.), chairman of the intel:,ge:we
committee, the departmew', :!i~
may about !ht leaked
and the suspi,;.JL1 that 1lehus'
was involved, according to an Ab-
rams spokesman. That led to the
chairman's request for a probe.
In the interview, Helens said oth-
er committee members told hint
they were "indignant" that they had
not been consulted about an inves-
tigation request.
He noted that Morton I. Abra-
mowitz, director of the State De-
partment's Bureau of Investigation
and Research and familiar with in-
telligence activity, "doesn't like me
either because I blew the whistle on
him selling Taiwan down the river."
Helms has t,pposed Abramowitz's
nomination ti be assistant secre-
tary of that bureau. Heln% i said,
"You havc th,. makings 4 a nice
little conspiracy down them [in the
State Departntentl against a sen-
ator who has dared to call their
hand about the private agenda of
the bureaucracy" to undermine
President Reagan's policies.
In a speech prepared for delivery
today, Helms says Barnes and Ab-
rants are working to "support the
violent communist left" and have
left democratic forces in Chile "high
and dry."
A Spokesman for Abrams reiter-
ated U.S. praise for Barnes and sup-
port for "transition to democratic
rule in Chile by the most effective
means." Helms is "simply wrong" in
his other charges, the spokesman
said.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
 i
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90BO1390R000100080035-3
Controversial Methods of Helms Aides
Could Backfire on Conservative Senator
cal blow to Sen. Helms. Even fellow con-
V, By RotERT S. GREENBERGE:R servatives would object to compromising
t\ Staff Reporter of THE WALL Smi-:l.:'I JOURNAL U.S. intelligence.
WASHINGTON - Most congressional Sen. Helms isn't likely to rein in his
staffers stay in the shadows and focus the staff, though. "It's one of the ways he op-
spotlight on their boss. But aid's to Sen. erates," says Norman Ornstein, a political
Jesse Helms never shy away from the scientist at the American Enterprise Insti-
limelight, or from controversy. tute, a conservative think tank. "Helms
In May, Deborah DeMoss, an aide to has tried to greatly expand his reach by
p the North Carolina Republican, blasted the giving the staff carte blanche."
t) U.S. ambassador to El Salvador in the Unlike many other lawmakers, Sen.
newspapers when she thought he was Helms appears to have little interest in
blocking an investigation she was conduct- using his staff to design legislation.
ing in the region. Last November, in a Rather, he hires aides who reflect his own
highly publicized incident, two Helms aides ideological zeal. Their mission is to make a
served a subpoena to a Russian ship cap- point, rather than to write bills. That isn't
tain by hiding it in a carton of cigarettes surprising since Sen. Helms usually is so
they offered him. And in a move highly un- much at odds with most of his Senate col-
usual for the gentlemanly Senate, some leagues that his ability to influence specific
Helms staffers irritated other Capitol Hill legislation is limited.
aides by spreading the word that their boss When the Senate Foreign Relations
might try to unseat Sen. Richard Lugar Committee met last week to consider legis-
(R., Ind.) as chairman of the Foreign Re- lation to impose sanctions against South
lations Committee.. Africa, for instance, Sen. Helms offered an
Now there are signs that this free-lane- amendment that would have congratulated
ing by staffers may damage Sen. Helms. Pretoria's white minority government for
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is making progress in dismantling apartheid.
looking into allegations that at least one The proposal was overwhelmingly rejected
Helms aide, Christopher Manion, may by the committee, which subsequently ap-
have been involved in passing on classified proved a sanctions bill.
information to Chilean officials. Like their boss, Helms aides relish cam-
Disclosing such information to Chilean paigns against State Department officials.
authorities may have seriously jeopardized During her trip to El Salvador, for in-
a U.S. intelligence-gathering source in stance, Ms. DeMoss told a Salvadoran
that country. The FBI hasn't reached any newspaper in an on-the-record interview
conclusions in the case, but if it were to that Ambassador Edwin Corr was trying to
find that Mr. Manion, Ms. DeMoss or other hinder her probe. "We believe tht Corr
Helms staffers had a hand in passing on wants to hide certain things," she said.
the information, it would be a severe politi- Since then, Sen. Helms has led a lonely
crusade to block a routine promotion for
Mr. Corr.
Ms. DeMoss won't comment on the inci-
dent, except to say that Sen. Helms didn't
object to what she did. Indeed, the senator
did something similar last month during a
trip to Chile when he publicly accused the
U.S. ambassador there of trying "to under-
mine the efforts of the government of Chile
to impede a taking of power by the Com-
munists."
Staff advice also influenced Sen.
Helms's decision to continue supporting
Roberto D'Aubuisson, a dismissed army
major who was a presidential candidate in
El Salvador, long after many U.S. conser-
vatives had abandoned him. Mr. D'Aubuis-
son, who lost the election, was accused of
having ties to right-wing death squads.
Sen. Helms's aides have a long tradition
of involvement in such controversies, and
the lawmaker has always stuck by them.
In 1979, the British government com-
plained that two Helms aides, James Lu-
cier and John Carbaugh, were interfering
in negotiations in London to end the civil
war then being fought in white-ruled Rho-
desia. (Mr. Carbaugh has since left the
senator's staff).
British diplomats claimed that the two
staffers were there to bolster Rhodesian of-
ficials, who ultimately ceded power to
what became black-ruled Zimbabwe. Sen.
Helms said his aides were there because
"I don't trust the State Department "
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
HELMS PROBE: One possible indication of why the
FBI is investigating whether Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C.,
tipped off Chile that Washington had one of its sensitive mil-
itary reports: A top Chilean official reportedly told U.S. Am-
bassador Harry Barnes that Helms or his staff was the
source of the leak. Helms says the State Department just
wants to Intimidate him, but people "are a heck of a lot
smarter than those yo-yos In the State Department."
A FtuG 8l0
c.fje 1fl_d_0f)inqtV1t Unto
'THURSDAY, AUGUST 7,1986 / PAGE 5A
Helms rprobe
as intimidation tactic
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) -'Sen.
.Jesse Helms yesterday accused the
federal government of investigating
a foreign policy aide in retaliation
for Mr. Helms' disclosure that the
U.S. government financed a pres-
idential candidate in El Salvador.
"Two years ago, I caught the CIA
and the State Department with their
hands in the cookie jar," Mr. I lelms,
a North Carolina Republican, said at
the Farmers Warehouse tobacco
market here.
"They were sending $2 million of
taxpayers' money to the president of
El Salvador, and I blew the whistle
on them;' he said. " We spent three or
four days making sure our facts
were straight, and then I went on the
Senate floor and said we must not do
that to any country."
Administration officials Tbesday
said the FBI is investigating allega-
tions that Christopher Manion, a
Latin American specialist on the
Senate Foreign Relations Commit-
tee, leaked U.S. intelligence informa-
tion to Chilean officials.
Mr. Manion, brother of federal ap-
peals court judge Daniel Manion,
has denied allegations that he dis-
closed information on secret U.S.
intelligence-gathering capabilities
to the government of Chile.
The alleged leak involved U.S.
ability to monitor internal?t rnmuni-
cations of the Chilean ailed forces,
according to the officials, who de-
manded anonymity.
Through the network, the United
States reportedly learned details of
the July 6 burning death of a
Chilean-born American resident at
an anti-government demonstration,
the officials said.
"That's nothing except the State
Department trying to silence me and
intimidate me. One day, they're go-
ing to learn they can't do that," Mr.
Helms said.
Mr. Helms said the State Depart-
ment was trying to discredit him be-
cause it doesn't like his strong stands
against communism. "We can't con-
tinue down the slippery slope of
kicking our friends in the teeth;' he
said.
In May 1984, Mr. 1-felms accused
the Reagan administration of using
a "covert plan to funnel U.S. govern-
ment funds and other assistance" to
Jose Napoleon Duarte's campaign,
thus buying the election for El Sal-
vador's president.
"In other words, the State Depart-
ment and the CIA bought the elec-
tion for Duarte;" Mr. Helms said in
1984.
A coterie of U.S. officials favored
Mr. Duarte and had malice toward
his challenge[; Roberto d'Aubuisson,
"who openly espoused the principles
of the Republican Party in the U.S.;'
Mr. Helms said.
Mr. Helms had called for the res-
ignation of the U.S. ambassdor to El
Salvador, Thomas R. Pickering, on
grounds that the ambassador tried
to advance Mr. Duarte's candidacy.
Mr: Helms said Mr. Manion was
not a member of his staff but that he
had recommended that Mr. Manion
be hired. "Christopher Manion is one
of the most honest people I have ever
met. He has never shaded the truth;'
the senator said.
Mr. Manion works on the panel's
subcommittee on Western Hemi-
sphere affairs, which Mr. Helms
heads.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
 L~ Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000100080035-3
WASHINGTON POST
5 August 1986
Helms, Aide Probed on Security Leak Intelli
ence Panel Sou
ht FBI I
i
`'
g
g
nqu
ry;
By Joanne Omang
w'UhMg10I Pic iuii Wr,Itr
The FBI, at the the
Senate -select Committee on rntpl.
ligence, is investigating "a pnrPnrt2I
violation' of national security se-
crets by either an aide to Sen. Jesse
Helms or the senator him-
self regarding U.S. intelligence.
gring ca i t in Chile. com-
mittee o icials said Yesterday
.
AState Department-spokesman
quoted Elliott Abrams, assistant
secretary of state for inter-Amer-
ican affairs, as saying there was no
indication Helms was personally
rity, or even that he was aware o
it, but that's why you investigate."
Two sources close to the pro
said it has focused principally
Christopher Manion, Helms' aide
partment to investigate aril that the
results would be turned over to the
Senate Select Committee on Ethics.
The Justice Department refused to
comment.
An intelligence committee
spokesman said the statement had
been issued in response to a report
a p, 'rg.HelmLand Chile.
aid the alleged security leak
volved a U.S. ability to monitor i -
ternal communications of the
Chilean armed forces, through
which officials had reportedly
learned unreported details of the
July 6 burning death of a Washing.
ton resident. Rodrigo Rojas, 19, in
an antigovernment demonstration.
Government troops have been ac-
cused of Rojas' murder.
The technology had also allowed
unspecified contact with the grow-
ing opposition to President Augusto
Pinochet within the Chilean armed
forces, the sources said. The FBA/
an its inquiry July 18,
bQu tZ added. //
The sources added that Helms had
Helms heatedI denied -- the
charge, to i_e orters it was "a
smear campaign by t e -state De-
ence A enc . e accus Abrams-
of "a de i rate falsehood" in spark.
ing the probe. Manion, the brother
of Daniel A. Manion. recently con-
firmed as a federal appeals court
judge, could not be reached for
comment last night.
In a formal statement, Sens. Da-
vid R. Durenberger (R-Minn.) and
Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), respec.
tively chairman and vice chairman
of the intelligence committee, said
the committee had "received infor.
mation that there had been a poten-
tial violation" of the law that bars
disclosure of classified information
held by a senator or Senate em-
ploye or officer.
Abrams' spokesman said Abrams
had "mentioned" the alleged secu.
rity violation to Durenberger dur-
ing "a chance encounter at a social
event."
Without mentioning Helms or
Chile, the statement said the com-
mittee had asked the Justice De.
Pinochet the week after Rojas'
death, taking along his wife and per-
sonal aides Deborah DeMoss,
James Lucier and Clifford A.
Kiracofe Jr. Manion, who was not
on the trip, has traveled to Chile
many times in the past. One staff
member said the five-day visit was
financed by the Chilean National
Agriculture Society and not by U.S.
taxpayers.
"None of us [on the trips, includ.
ing the senator, had access to any
classified information on Chile.
There was no hearing, no briefing,
no documents, no nothing. We had
nothing to leak, period," the staff
member said.
Helms made a surprise visit to
the Senate press gallery yesterday
to deny he had leaked anything to
the Chileans. "It was Elliott Ab-
rams" who started the probe,
Helms said. "He crept up here in
the dead of night and made those
charges .... I am saying Elliott
Abrams committed a deliberate
falsehood, knowing it to be a lie."
Abrams' spokesman said Abrams
had neither lied nor leaked anything
to the news media.
Helms said the State Department
an t e wan to si ence me
they want to intimidate me, they
want to arses me a its of
o.
ing tc wor , e has ong c im
that i e nt ct- in in mis-
sions by him and his staf have ro-
duced better in ormation t n ip-
lomats or a ents norms arn,
and that the ee t reatene is
criticisms o t eir pe ormance.
s it a smear campaign. Of
course it is. If they can't beat you
into the ground, they smear you
into the ground," Helms said. "I
don't know anything about any co-
vert mission and Elliott Abrams
knows that."
Intelligence sources said CIA Di-
-- s
y . .au V=n
i^qer y the report security
direct) with Helms by ordering his
own investigation.
They said Secretary of St
ate
George P. Shultz had been "furious"
when Helms praised Pinochet's
government during his visit there
and criticized U.S. Ambassador
Harry G. Barnes Jr. for attending
Rojas' funeral.
Abrams told a House subcommit.
tee hearing that Helms' remarks
were "indefensible" and said later
that Helms was "completely iso-
lated" in his defense of Pinochet. He
had previously criticized Helms'
charges that the governments of
Mexico and Panama are involved in
corruption and drug traffic.
Staff writers Mary Thornton and
Patrick # Tyler contributed to this
repor&
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
THE NEW YORK TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST.6, 1986
Aide to Helms
elms Is Focus of Inquiry
On a Disclosure of Data to Chile
WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (AP)' - The
Justice Department investigation of a
reported unauthorized disclosure of se-
cret information to the Chilean Govern-
ment is focusing on an aide to Senator
Jesse Helms, Reagan Administration
officials said today.
The State Department and the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency say they have
evidence that Christopher Manion,
brother of a newly confirmed Federal
appeals judge, Daniel Manion, dis
PThe reported disclosure involved the
United States' ability to monitor Inter-
nal communications of the Chile
armed forces, through which o is
had apparently learned
detatir
of the
United States resident at an anti-Gov-
ernment demonstration.
Mr. Manion was hired as a staff
member on the Senate Foreign Rela-
tions Committee on Mr. Helms's
'recommendation and works for the
.Senator on the panel's Subcommittee
'on Western Hemisphere Affairs. Mr.
Helms is chairman of the subcommit-
tee.
[ABC news reported that Mr. Man-
ion denied being the source of.the in-
formation.]
Bob Dole, the Kansas Republican
who is the Senate majority leader, said
today that Senator Helms had assured
him "he had no information, no knowl-
edge" about the matter.
Mr. Helms, a Republican from North
=Carolina, has been angered by allega-
tions that he and his staff passed along
information to the Chilean Govern-
ment. He said Monday that the accusa-
tions were made by Elliott Abrams,
Assistant Secretary. of State for Latin
American Affairs. "They don't like the
=fact that I am opposed to their little
agenda down there, which is to sell out
the friends of the United States and
cozy up to the adversaries of the United
States," Mr. Helms said.
A State Department spokesman,
Charles Redman, denied Mr. Helms's
charge, saying, "Elliott committed no
falsehood."
Two other officials, who asked not to
be identified, said the committee
learned of the purported violation not
from Mr. Abrams but from the C.I.A.
A senior State Department official,
also speaking on condition of anonymi-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90BO1390R000100080035-3
 1
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90BO1390R000100080035-3
Helms calls leak charges
against aide `ridiculous'
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Sen. Jesse Helms yesterday said
charges that one of his aides leaked
classified intelligence information
to the government of Chile, were "ri-
diculous."
Mr. Helms said he met with
Christopher Manion, an aide on the
Foreign Relations Committee, to dis-
cuss allegations that Mr. Manion was
the subject of an FBI leak investiga-
tion.
"All I wanted to know, and I told
him to look me in the eye, I said,'Did
you in any way pass along anything,
to anybody in Chile, or anyone con-
nected with Chile?"' Mr. Helms said.
"He said, 'No sir.'
"Chris has never shaded the truth
with me once;' said Mr. Helms,
North Carolina Republican. "He
says it's ridiculous, which it is:"
Mr. Manion could not be reached
for comment.
Administration sources said the
investigation involves the disclosure
of a U.S. intelligence-gathering op-
eration in Chile.
One official called the compro-
mise a "serious" disclosure of intel-
ligence methods that revealed U.S.
electronic evesdropping on Chile's
military forces.
"I gave Chris only one instruction
[Monday] night and I didn't need to
do that;' Mr. Helms told reporters.
"And that was, tell the truth and don't
shade it."
The North Carolina Republican
repeated allegations that the leak
stories were part of a CIA and State
Department smear campaign.
"They figured they might get to'
Helms ay"aid~if,
me through Chris Manion," Mr.
Helms said. "The whole establish-
ment, they wake up salivating, 'How
can we get at of Helms today."'
He said the CIA and State Depart-
ment are "mad about my challeng-
ing them on their agenda"
As chairman of the Foreign Af-
fairs subcommittee on Western
Hemsiphere affairs, Mr. Helms has
been an outspoken critic of State De-
partment policies and has blocked or
slowed a number of ambassadorial
nominations.
Mr. Helms earlier accused Assis-
tant Secretary of State Elliot Ab-
rams, one of the few senior State
Department officials regarded as a
political hardliner, of providing false
information about the Chilean leak
to the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence.
The committee asked the Justice
Department to investigate the alle-
gations.
Mr. Abrams has denied he was the
source of the allegations against Mr.
Helms and his committee.
Manion looked -him in the eye, denied X secrets
3y Adell _Crowe burning of Rodrigo Rojas a tab'llshment they awake up
Chilean-born, Washington salivating,'How can we get at
aid Tuesday his aide Christo- Helms Tuesday called the for comment But his brother
>her Manion looked him in investigation no more than a Daniel Iytanion ~- who War
he eye and denied passing , State Department ' attempt- to ro!ly won:? Senate :;approval
That was proof enough: Helms has angered the ad- . peals" court seat'-- said,
ruth with me on ccession of right wing for will be known that my broth-
But th as ce Depart- e leaders, Including Chit a .d dn't do anything"
Went to know if Man- President Augusta= ?Ino- s wt hristopher Haitian was
qp4eak ed now the U.S. moni- diet, and
using his influential not along when Helms visited
motions. post to hold up nominations, said details of the meeting
It was through su `"They figured they might! never were discussed with,
'0 tha is als here get to me through Chris Man Manion:'
earn o the July 6 fatal ion," he said. "The whole,es, . .The Justice Department
UPI
MANION. Not with Helms on
July trip to Chile
refused comment, but news
reports `Monday, citing ad-
ministration sources, said
Manion was at a confidential
Senate briefing at which the
information was discussed.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
HELMS PROBE: One possible indication of why the
bassador Harry Barnes that Helms or his staff was the
source of the leak. Helms says the State Department just
wants to Intimidate him, but people "are a heck of a lot
smarter than those yo-yos in the State Department."
000 je Wagfjatgtott 0,i,uc
'THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1986 / PAGE 5A
helms derides probe
as intimidation tactic
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) - Sen.
Jesse Helms yesterday accused the
federal government of investigating
a foreign policy aide in retaliation
for Mr. Helms' disclosure that the
U.S. government financed a pres-
idential candidate in El Salvador.
"Two years ago, I caught the CIA
and the State Department with their
hands in the cookie jar," Mr. Helms,
a North Carolina Republican, said at
the Farmers Warehouse tobacco
market here.
"They were sending $2 million of
taxpayers' money to the president of
El Salvador, and I blew the whistle
on them;' he said. "We spent three or
four days making sure our facts
were straight, and then I went on the
Senate floor and said we must not do
that to any country."
Administration officials Tuesday
said the FBI is investigating allega-
tions that Christopher Manion, a
Latin American specialist on the
Senate Foreign Relations Commit-
tee, leaked U.S. intelligence informa-
tion to Chilean officials.
Mr. Manion, brother of federal ap-
peals court judge Daniel Manion,
has denied allegations that he dis-
closed infdrmation on secret U.S.
intelligence-gathering capabilities
the aov rnn1s+nt Z.Qbjil_
The alleged leak involve
cations of the Chilean armed forces,
according to the officials, who de-
manded anonymity
rough the network, the United
States reportedly learned details of
the July 6 burning death of a
Chilean-born American resident at
an anti-government demonstration,
the officials said.
"That's nothing except the State
Department trying to silence me and
intimidate me. One day, they're go-
ing to learn they can't do that:' Mr.
Helms said.
Mr. Helms said the State Depart-
ment was trying to discredit him be-
cause it doesn't like his strong stands
against communism. "We can't con-
tinue down the slippery slope of
kicking our friends in the teeth;' he
said.
In May 1984, Mr. Helms accused
the Reagan administration of using
a "covert plan to funnel U.S. govern-
ment funds and other assistance- to
Jose Napoleon Duarte's campaign,
thus buying the election for El Sal-
vador's president.
"In other words, the State Depart-
ment and the CIA bought the elec-
tion for Duarte," Mr. Helms said in
1984.
A coterie of U.S. officials favored
Mr. Duarte and had malice toward
his challenger, Roberto d'Aubuisson,
"who openly espoused the principles
of the Republican Party in the U.S.;'
Mr. Helms said.
Mr. Helms had called for the res-
ignation of the U.S. ambassdor to El
Salvador, Thomas R. Pickering, on
grounds that the ambassador tried
/ Mr. Helms said Mr. Manion was'
not a member of his staff but that he
had recommended that Mr. Manion
or 7e st honest people I have ever
met. He has never shaded the truth;'
subcommittee on Western L-lemi-
sphere affairs, which Mr. Helms
heads.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100080035-3