OLD SOLDIERS SUPPLY CENTRAL AMERICA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100010002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 28, 2011
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 5, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/04/28: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100010002-0
--j --" Averer^fl MIAMI HERALD
01 PAGE= 5 May 1985
Old soldiers supply
'America
some girth but has lost none of his
tough-talking style from combat
By ANDERS GYLLENHAAL
Herald Stan Writer
FORT WALTON
Harry Aderhholt the brassy
brigadier general, was running an
import shop full of wicker and
vases. Mac McCoskrie, the colonel,
had a failing furniture store down
the street. Doc Fitzpatrick, the
medic, was living idly off his
pension. with an idea.
Then they came up
"We decided we wanted to get
involved in Central America," said
Aderholt, who at 65 has gained
b
they hope, to start supplying the I group Miami. And that car wasp t ui t
social club for about 1,500 soldiers d #.I- t " d d the lieuten-
-
wartime hero-
ics, the Air
Commandos
have no such
doubts.
"Our govern-
ment has opted
out, is what it
is,", said McCos-
krie, 63, who
fought from
Pearl Harbor to
Southeast Asia
Ai
and ran the
r McCoskrie
Force Special
by one of the countries' airlines.
The members take turns traveling
south, they say, to make sure the
supplies arrive.
"We're not talking about going
out and fighting. That's not for
us," said Aderholt, a short, alter-
nately stern and wise-cracking
man who still wears his graying
hair in a close, military crop.
"We're talking about coming up
with programs that can make a
difference in the way these people
look at their governments."
Not everybody is convinced of
the
C1-1 IA - -- --- --
Operations training school before
his CIA background, Aderholt is
retiring. "It means the private constantly as about - and
sector is going to have to pick up denies - any connection with his
with it." old inte i ence contacts.
The Air Commandos' mission is, When Congress was debating
`
'
:
more peaceable than some in its'
- t the Nicaraguan contras aid pack-
members' pasts.
Gen. Aderholt, known as "Hies ~, age that was voted down two
weeks ago, the Congressional'
----
,
ie to is friends, is a former Arms Control and Foreign Policy
st
eatra rite igence Agency a Caucus termed the Air Comman-
memoer and commanded covert dos one of a dozen key private
air operations in Vietnam. Iwo supporters of the rebels.
years ago, a says, he spent a
week flying with the.Salvadoran It was a flattering, but over-
Air Force to test its readiness. For stated, assessment. The comman--
dos are . balding - many wear
their part, most of his fellow bifocals and most of them are long
commandos fought in two or three out of uniform - and their moves
wars and a few conflicts in are not all that crisp these days.
between. At times, transportation has
When Aderholt became presi- been limited to Mac McCoskrie's
f Air Commando Association
d
t
l
o
en
Chevette, lugging and a U-Hau
Salvador and i
Aderholt Inc. a little over a year ago, the
Guatemala, and trailer filled with supplies to
was nothing more than a .. 1
"
supplies, clothes
and food to El
tars in medical
dos were re-
born . and a
group of aging,
retired soldiers
from Florida's
Panhandle
found one more
battle to join.
So far, they say,
they've shipped
millions of dol-
That was how the Air
days. "We're not at to
e
Strip, between walls con meca.
photos of old- planes and corn= ?"1 mandos meet each morning at C 2CLch--who's now in jail, was a
mendations for their office. They work over the, fake, and their money is gone. .
phone, arranging donations ofd Soon after they opened three
antibiotics, vitamins, needles, skin] clinics in Guatemala earlier this
ointment, blankets, soap, clothes year, medical supplies - most of
and food to-be sent to Miami. From which go to refugee Indians left
there, the goods are flown toi homeless by the conflicts of the
Central America, usually for freei region - ran out.
The bulk of what they've
shipped to El Salvador and Guate-
mala, with a value they estimated
at about $7 million, has been
donated by the Detroit-based
town,
office on motel-lined Miracle-' hospital in the jungles-of Central
d with These days, six or seven corn- A It turned out that
t
the president are at odds over
Central America and critics are
troubled by the private flow.
But down. in this Gulf Coast
inside their tiny, paneled,
s
ras. .
Along the way, they've attract-
ed some worried glances from
Washington where Congress and
Nicaraguan antigovernment con
71
who had served in the defunct 'ant colonel.: ,rice - .1 11
combat unit of the same name.
"We were just sitting around Swindled for $2,000.
drinking whiskey," the general Swin said. "So I told them I'd serve, but In their enthusiasm, the com-
we were going to have to get out doe gave $2,000 to a man
there and do something., named Alan Goetpch, who told
them he was an army captain from
Supplies to Miami Alabama working to build a
STAT
CwItimed
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/04/28: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100010002-0
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/04/28: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100010002-0
ONPAOE M71 J-W YORK TIMES
F.B.I. CHIEF HAILS
GAINS ON TERROR
P
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
William H. Webster, Director of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, said
yesterday that by applying "lawful
techniques," the bureau has been "ex-
traordinarily successful" in reducing
incidents of terrorism in the United
States in the last six years. He added,
"Those principles can be applied on the
international stage."
Mr. Webster cited better intelli-
gence, effective law enforcement, in-
creased domestic and international
cooperation and a better-informed pub-
lic as reasons for the decrease. While
there were 100 incidents of domestic
terrorism in the United States in 1978,
he said, that dropped to 13 incidents in
1984 and only 7 last year, when 23 such
incidents were prevented.
He did not indicate what those inci-
dents were or which groups or individu-
als were involved.
The active use of informants, under-
cover agents and court-ordered elec-
tronic surveillance also have contrib-
uted to the bureau's success, especially
in-bringing terrorists to justice.
Mr. Webster made his remarks while
participating in an Americas Bar As-
sociation Convention panel on terror-
ism that brought together Reagan Ad-
ministration officials, national securi-
ty, legal and intelligence experts and
journalists.
Calling terrorism a criminal act, he
said, "The more we increase our abil-
ity to deal with terrorism as a criminal
activity, the more successful we will
be."
In contLW to t decrease in domes
tit acts of terrorism, CharT~en,
head of counterterrojj?M for the ren
n e 9nce Qen o told the Danel
incidents o terrorism worl wide Q
against incidents in the early 1980'3
Attacks Abroad Stepped Up
Mr. Allen said that in the last two
years, terrorist attacks have become
11 more indiscriminate and lethal with
little regard for the fate of innocent
civilians," that Americans are increas-
ingly the targets of terrorist attacks
and that state-supporteed terrorism
"has become virtually institutional-
ized."
He added that there was a tendency
for terrorists to attack "softer, less
protected targets" such as businesses,
12 August 1986
hotels and restaurants, a tendency that
he predicted would increase.
In an effo to combat terrorism, the
C.I.A. and otrther intelligence agencies
have doubled analytical and opera-
tional resources in the last two years,
Mr. Allen said, adding that increased
sharing of intelligence with allies has
increased the agency's ability to track
terrorist operations, disrupt financial
and supply lines and pre-empt terrorist
attacks.
The C.I.A., alone and in conjunction
with allied intelligence organizations,
he said, is also "working actively to
penetrate terrorist networks, mount
operations to sow seeds of suspicion
among the cadres and among the lead-
ers," as well as looking for new techni-
cal capabilities to deal with what he
called "an unconventional target."
Mr. Allen said the selective use of
force "has upped the ante" for state-
in pp ne is had significantly adding that such
raid
since the Americanfica decreased
bombing g raid on
Libya in April.
The raid was praised as a deterrent
to terrorists by a number of other
speakers, including Attorney General
Edwin Meese 3d, who said that terror-
ism can not be combated by "confer-
ences or making rules." He praised
President Reagan for the Libyan raid,
saying, "When someone commits an
impermissible act, you swat him."
"A terrorist is kind of like the offense
in any kind of sports contest,"said Mr.
Meese. The terrorist is successful, he
added, when governments capitulate to
his demands and when he causes such
fear among the populace that "society
is immobilized."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/04/28: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100010002-0