CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000600200024-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 15, 2005
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: June 24, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN

Approved For Release $669AD2/k4~IAT-f-bbM4f000600200024-7
SALT LAKE CITY
CIA
By RALPH WAKLEY
The No. 2 man in the Central Intelligence Agency said Friday the two
biggest problems facing the CIA are Soviet intervention jr Latin America and
communist theft of Western technology.
Referring to Central America as ''our own back yard,'' Deputy CIA Director
John McMahon said the Soviet Union is already in control of Cuba and Nicaragua
" and trying to dominate Central America.' '
McMahon told the 1,500 delegates to the U.S. Reserve Officers Association's
national convention Central America could become another Southeast Asia when it
comes to communist domination.
He said the Soviets hope to line up El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa
Rica and Mexico the way ''they gained control of South Vietnam, Laos and
Cambodia and now threaten Thailand.''
But the career CIA agent, who has been with the organization for 32 years,
said the Soviets and their. communist surrogates '' working in Latin America may
be-their own worst enemy.
''The communist moves in Central America. have been so flagrant and open that
anyone with common sense will have to come to the right conclusion about what
they are doing,' I fie claimed.
In the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries, McMahon said they have been
able to make a "large-scale jump' technologically through " illegal technology
transfers.''
He said the Soviets now have computers, guidance systems, radar equipment and
laser range finders that are equal to the best in the United States and NATO,
".and they stole them from us. "
''Don't pass that off lightly. It is a real counterintellegence problem. And
we've had trouble convincing our allies in Western Europe that they were being
robbed,'' McMahon said.
He claimed the CIA had been ''hung out to dry in the mid 1970.s.'' But
McMahon said, under the Reagan administration, ''We are almost starting from
scratch. But we are on the way back to address these problems which face us
worldwide. ' '
McMahon said the CIA's other major concerns are instability in the Mideast
caused by ''the radical Shiite (Moslem) sect,'' terrorism, and the way other
Western nations compete economically with the United States.
He said the Shiite movement has taken control of Iran and is threatening
lraq, Kuwait and Oman. And he said it has increased the instability in the
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The deputy director said the CIA and United States have been ''stunned by
the tide of terrorism in the world, such as the recent bombing of the U.S.
Errbassy in Beirut, and because it's no longer handled by large-scale
organizations.
" I'm envious of their (terrorist organ izations security,'' he said,
indicating it is now virtually impossible to infiltrate one man into a terrorist
group and discover more than just one phase of their operations.
a
On Western trade, McMahon said, " Our friends are as much a problem as our
enemies. Japan and Western Europe now compete for the world's markets. They use
the might of their governments to back their companies and subsidize production.
''And they use their diplomatic might to persuade other countries to buy
their products,'' he said.
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