EX-CIA AGENT COMPARES COVERT OPERATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000201100019-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 17, 2010
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: October 2, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/17: CIA-RDP91-00587R000201100019-0
GREENVILLE MORNING NEWS (SC)
2 October 1985
Ex-CIA agent compares covert operations
By Terry Crepar
Newsufwr"W
CLEMSON - The CIA's involvement
in Central America is similar to conduct
10 years ago that helped push the United
States government to tighten control'
over the agency, a former CIA agent said
Tuesday.
In an interview prior to his speech
Tuesday night at Clemson University, for-
mer CIA case officer and author John
Stockwell said the is repeating cov-
ert actions in Nicaraag~hat it took dur-
ing the 1975 civil war An Angola.
"The CIA is using the same blueprint,
the same covert action in Nicaragua,"
Stockwell said.
Stockwell, who headed the CIA's An-
gola task force during the civil war there,
said that, as in Angola, the CIA is sup-
porting two factions in Nicaragua and, as
in Angola, it has built an air force and
navy in the Central American country.
Stockwell was recruited by the CIA in
1964, where he remained until 1977. A
year later he wrote In Search of
Enemies, in which he accused the CIA of
misleading the United States government
concerning the CIA's role in the civil war
in Angola.
In his book, Stockwell charges the CIA
used American military advisers in An-
gola without informing the White House
or the State Department. He also accused
the CIA of recruiting mercenaries to fight
for U.S.-supported factions.there.
The federal government sued Stock-
well in 1980 for violating a secrecy agree-
ment he signed when he joined the CIA.
,The lawsuit was settled that year, with
Stockwell agreeing to hand over subse-
quent profits from the book to the govern-
ment.
Stockwell, who was a Marine Corps
officer prior to joining the CIA, said Tues-
day that actions by presidents Ford and
Carter, and Congressional measures lur-
ing the late 1970s to make the CIA more
accountable to the federal government
have failed.
"Those restrictions - the new rules
and guidelines, the oversight by the Sen-
ate - have been simply brushed aside,"
he said.
Stockwell said the Reagan administra-
tion has "stonewalled" attempts by Con-
gress to investigate reports that National
Security Council officials directed rebel
activities in Nicaragua after Congress
ordered the activity to be stopped.
"The White House and the CIA won't
give Congress the documentation," Stock-
well said.
"As a result, you have a president who
has upped the CIA's budget, upped its
manpower and set it 'back to full histori-
cal function,' to use his (Reagan's)
words," Stockwell said.
Stockwell said the current CIA should
be dismantled and replaced with an intel-
ligence gathering agency that. is "ac-
countable to the people."
Stockwell is touring th country,
speaking on what he calls "the secret ,
wars of the CIA."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/17: CIA-RDP91-00587R000201100019-0