SUGGESTED REPLY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73B00296R000300070023-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 16, 2001
• Sequence Number: 23
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2002/01/02 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000300070023-7
SUGGESTED REPLY
In a letter to the editor, published in The Branding Iron of
April 23, 1971, Mr. Allen Ginsberg asks my comments on some allegations
contained in a recent issue of .arnparts Magazine which, in Mr. G:.rsberg's
words, allege "that our government's Central Intelligence Agency Las been for
decades subsidizing the main opium traffickers of 83 per cent of tr_ world's
illegal supply in Indochina, " and "that the CIA did actually subsidize main
opium traffickers in Indochina as part of our political policy. "
Having thoroughly investigated these allegations, I can stat :cate-
goricalky that they are completely unfounded. As recently as 14 Apr l of
this year, the Director of Central Intelligence stated in an address t,~ the
American Society of Newspaper Editors:
"There is the arrant nonsense, for example, that
the Central Intelligence Agency is somehow involved in
the world drug traffic. We are not. As fathers, we
are as concerned about the lives of our children and
grandchildren as are all of you. As an Agency, in fact,
we are heavily engaged in tracing the foreign roots of
the drug traffic for the Bureau of Narcotics and
Dangerous Drugs. We hope we are helping with a
solution; we know we are not contributing to the
problem. "
The Central Intelligence Agency is directly accountable to tine
President, through the National Security Council which is privy to all of
its activities; it is subject to the scrutiny of the Office of Managemuit and
Budget, which oversees its expenditures; to the President's Foreign
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Intelligence Advisory Board, made up of distinguished private ci:i.:ens;
and to four Committees of the Congress, to whom it reports on all its
activities. To suppose that in these circumstances the Agency could conduct
the activities alleged in the Ramparts article without the knowledge or
approval of any of these authorities to which it is responsible, or that any
of these authorities would sanction such activity, is the ultimate in absurdity.
Turning to some of the more specific allegations in the R;;mparts
article, it is worth noting that:
..i. So far as opium entering the U. S. is conccrne.A, '?cc:eut
studies indicate that perhaps only about 5% of the illegal =r..ports
come from all of Southeast Asia, the remainder originating
mainly in the Middle East.
b. Roland Paul, a former investigator for the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee who made a study of the area last year,
writes in the April issue of Foreign Affairs that "in pass-. n it
may be interesting to note that because of their long association
with the American agency (CIA), the hill tribes have shifted their
agricultural emphasis from opium to rice, a conclusion which
can be solidly documented from other authoritative sources.
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c. In fact efforts of American agencies to discourag opium
growing among these hill tribes has produced a North Vie,-i amese
propaganda campaign encouraging and applauding the raisiz.g of
opium poppies. This campaign contrasts the Communist-controlled
areas where the population can "make our living as we w,sh" by
raising opium to the lot of those under "imperialist domination"
who are restrained from doing so. (In view of his concera perhaps
Mr. Ginsberg would like to raise the matter with the authorities in
Hanoi. )
In sum, I can assure you that the allegations in question a e completely
false and that no U. S. Government agency operating in Southeast: Asia has
approved, supported, or condoned illegal drug production or.tra-=f c. On
the contrary, these U. S. Government agencies are all cooperati-zg in efforts
to discourage opium production and distribution and these effort,,. aave had
at least some success.
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