SELLING A POLICY TO PUBLIC

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201580014-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: March 15, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/09: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201580014-2
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE_AL-zeja
NEW YORK TIMES
15 MARCH 1982
STAT
Even critic.s of the Administration's
Selling a Policy to Public nal involvement exists. "I don't think
policy were persuaded that some that anyone anyone disputes that there is some
foreign involvement in El Salvador,"
said Senator Paul E. Tsongas, Demo-
crat of Massachussetts. "The question
is bow much and how significant it is."
That question was apparently not re-
solved by the Administration's'cam-
?
. By PHILIP TAUBMAN paign. Critics, for example, pointed out
that the photographs showing a major
Special telbeNewYorialmes _ _ military buildup in Nicaragua did not
WASHINGTON, March 14? For the By, that, he said, he meant opposition prove that Nicaragua was aiding the
last two weeks, the Reagan Administra- was primarily coming flow organtz' a- salvadoran guerrillas.
don has conducted what senior officials, tions and individaals whose main inter- Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Demo- -
acknowledge has been an intense public est was to prevent further conflict. crat of Connecticut, a leading critic of
relations campaign designed to dispel hiissing from this perspective, oft- Administration policy, said that "to
. doubts about its policies in dais said, was an understanding of na- suggest that Nicaragua is the only
Central America. ' The ef- tional security consideratioris. "We source of support for Salvadoran guer-
NeWS fort, which has relied heav- failed' to 'Make our case convincingly rrillas is ritliculous.'a He said that the
, Analysis , ily on the use -.of intern-, even in Congress," another senior Ad- guerrillas received ? substantial
ge:oce information, has ministration official said. "We decided amounts of arms and ammunition from
/. produced mixed results. a ? .to go back to square one, lay out the evi- sources within El Salvador, including
Until Friday, officials thought they dence we have and hope wecould build disloyal army trcops. .
were making significant - headway. -the kind of broad-based support that has , Nicaragua's Ambassador in Wash.
Some members of Congress, including been lacking." 'Ington, Francisco Faillos Navarro, re-
several influential committee chair- Thecampaign focused on Congress: 'aponding to the intelligence made pub.
men, came away from private intelli- Senior intelligence officials, led by Wil- lic about his country, charged in an in-
; gence briefings saying they were con- ham J. Casey, the Director of Central terview broadcast by the Cable News
vinced that the Administration had Intelligence, started briefing Congres- Network today that the military buildup
strong evidence to support its charges monal committees about what the Ad- was forced because the "Reagan Ad.
of Soviet and Cuban involvement, in ministration considers to be Cuban, ministration is threatening us all the
Central America and of Nicaraguan aid Soviet and Nicaraguan interference in time with the possibility of a military
to guerrillas in El Salvador. - ? El Salvador. " intervention."
The public was given a glimpse of the According to members' of Congress aaS till other critics argued that the Ad
intelligence material when the Admin. who attended the briefings, the Admin- ministration was overemphasizing the
ialration made public aerial reconnais- istration based mostof these charges on military problem in El Salvador. "The
sance photographs in an effort to show intelligence collected through elec.', problem in El Salvador is primarily an
that Nicaragua, with Cuban and Soviet tronic surveillance of radio traffic in El economic one," said Senator Claiborne
assistance, was assembling the largest Salvador-and surrounding nations, in- Pell, Democrat of Rhode Island, the
military force in Central America. - cluding Nicaragua.. ranking minority member of the Senate
Then on Friday, the campaign re: Collected largely by Navy destroyers Foreign Relations Committee.
ceived a major blow when a young that have been positioned off the coast Despite the lingering doubts and Fria
Nicaraguan captured last year while or El Salvadorand Nicaragua since late clay's turnabout by the Nicaraguan cap:
, fighting with the guerrillas in El Salve- last year, this information included de. five, Orlando Jose Tardencillas Espino-
% dor surprised the state Department at a ta i la of communications between SalVa. Sa, senior Administration officials still
news conference by denying,- rather doran rebels and command posts in believe in the power of their intelligence
than confirming; Cuban- and Nicara- .,Nicaragua,which they said showed that data. "Whenever we can sit down with
guan involvement in the Salvadoran the Salvadoran insurgency was con-. someone and show them what we've
conflict. _ _ ?, trolledinNicaragua,Administrationot- got, we can. persuade them Cuba and
ficials told the committees, according Nicaragua are involved,': one official
to several members. Similar briefings said.
were gi-ven to a group of former senior What the Administration cannot do',
Government officials. - top officials acknowledge, is translate
s t intelligence information about outside
'Convincing Intelligence' - interference in Central America into
The Administration was encouragedsupportfor the Govemment'spolicy._ _
_ ?
U.S. intelligence Data on' Central America
Has Not Translated Into Support forPlans
Aides ReconsiderSituatioca ,'.....I
. ....
That =expected 'development has
prompted a reappraisal of the public
relations offensive among senior. Ad-
ministration officials who must decide
Monday whether to proceed with addi-
tional intelligence briefings for Con-
gress and the press tentatively sched-
uled for later in theweelc. . ,,. ,
The pressure appears to be great to I
go through with the briefings- Accord-
ing to several senior officials, the initial
decision to conduct the public relations
campaign was considered long overdue.
"We made a Mistake," one senior offi-
cial said last week. "We were pressing
. ahead with a policy before we had con-
vinced either Congress or the -public
, about the nature of the nation's vital in-
Aeneas in central Amenca,n - , aaat a. ' Senator Richard G. Lugar, Republi-
/
!, State Department officials recently . can of /Miami, said, "The case of sub.
concluded that Most of the opposition to stantial involvement Of outside coun-
the Administration's Central America atries is absolutely clear." aaaaaa Lava, --.
'policy was generated by what one eft-
,ciaa 'maim. dahneaanaariaan netne........ .
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/09: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201580014-2
by the results. After a briefing given to
the House Intelligence Committee, the
panel's chairman, Representative Ed-
ward Pa Boland, a Massachussetts
Democrat . who is considered a bell-:
wether of moderate Congressional opin-
ion, said that the . use of Nicaraguan
sites for command and control of Salva-
doran insurgent forces was supported
by "convincing intelligence." He added
that "Cuban involvement, especially in
providingarms,is also evident." f
S TAI