WHITE HOUSE, CIA WON'T CONFIRM EXISTENCE OF COMMITTEE ON COVERT ACTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000200880069-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 69
• Publication Date: March 9, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/14: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200880069-1
ASSOCIATED PRESS
9 March 1986
WHITE HOUSE, CIA WON'T CONFIRM EXISTENCE OF COMMITTE ON COVERT ACTION
WASHINGTON
A White House official said he could not confirm a published report Sunday
that said the Reagan administration has set up a secret committee to coordinate
U.S. covert military activities around the world.
The committee was activated in recent months in part to make sure the White
HDUSe and State Department, rather than the CIA, have the ultimate control
over U.S. secret diplomacy, the Washington os said in Sundays editions.
White House spokesman Ed Djerejian said Saturday night he had no information
about the alleged committee. "I haven't heard of it before," he said in a
telephone interview.
The committee, sometimes calling itself the "208 Committee" because it meets
in room 208 of the Old Executive Office Building next to the White House, keeps
track of a variety of local conflicts worldwide where U.S. and Soviet interests
clash, the newspaper said.
A spokeswoman Kathy Pherson also said she could not confirm the existence
of the 208 Committee.
The Post said the CIA's annual budget for secret military operations far
exceeds $500 million, a figure higher than at any time since the Vietnam War.
U.S. covert involvement in third-world struggles has been part of the
nation's foreign policy for many years. Such operations under the Reagan
administration have been reported in Afghanistan, Nicaragua and other countries.
The most recent target of the 208 Committee has been the Libyan government of
Col.. Moammar Khadafy, the Post report said.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/14: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200880069-1