U.S. IGNORING COVERT-ACTIVITY CURBS, LAWMAKER SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000202000016-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: April 8, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202000016-2
RT I C'_" 1 f/P/o".~::dz:':c '. RANI E .LD
r G:~_/ !/ / 1 8 APRIL 1983
W Tes a a "RIO
U eir"giiionn"covellm
!aw'naker says
By ALFONSO CHARDY
Herald Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - A key House
Intelligence Committee member
Thursday joined mounting opposi-
tion to U.S. covert activities in Cen-
tral America, accusing the Reagan
Administration of ignoring congres-
sional restrictions that prohibit ef-
forts directed at the overthrow of
Nicaragua's Sandinista government.
Rep. Wvche Fowler (D Ga.),
chairman of the House Intelligence
Committee's over sightt and evalua-
tion subcommittee, told a Capitol
Hill news conference that he would
introduce legislation to tighten con-
gressional control of intelligence
activities abroad.
The legislation, he said, would
give congressional intelligence
oversight committees power to stop
runaway operations, which he sug-
znested was case with Nicara-
gua.
Earlier in the week, Sens. Daniel
Patrick MM.ey-ihan (D., N.Y.) and
Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.), members of
the Senate Intel'-igence Committee,
told fe:iww senators that they
feared U.S. activities had gotten out
of hand.
Fowier's cr;tic'.sm, however, was
by far the sharpest vet heard.
The conzressr:an. who returned
last week from six days in Panama,
Nicaragua and El Salvador, told re-
porters that 'Use law of the land .. .
is not being fully adhered to."
"No branch of our government
tion to the covert activities within Fowler said it would also contain
the Reagan Administration itself, a "formal mechanism" allowing
particularly among middle-level congressional oversight committees
State' Department officials involved "to disapprove such operations."
in Latin American affairs. They are Fowler said that he and other
said to have expressed their reser- committee members had had mis-
vations both to influential legisla- givings about the Nicaragua opera-
tors and to the White House. tion since they were first briefed on
Under restrictions imposed by it by CIA Director William Casey
congressional oversight commit- and other administration officials.
tees, the administration was author- But, he said, the intelligence pan.
ized only to fund anti-Sandinista els went along with the administra-
forces who were trying to stop the tion because they received assur
flow of Nicaraguan arms to leftist ances that the principal goal was to
rebels in El Salvador. Efforts direct- stop the arms flow to Salvadoran
ed at the overthrow of the Nicara- guerrillas and not to undermine or
guan government wer prohibited. overthrow the Sandinista govern-
The same restrictions became went.
law last December as an amend- The Boland Amendment, said
ment attached to a defense appro- Fowler, was the first warning to
priations bill. The amendment was the administration that. some in-,
sponsored by Rep. Edward Boland Congress thought it might be going
(D., Mass.), chairman of the House beyond its stated intentions in Nica-
Intelligence Committee, and be- ragua.
came known as the Boland Amend- Now, Fowler said, he is con-
ment. vinced that the anti-Sandinista
Fowler said his aides had con- forces financed by the United States
tacted Boland, who was in Hong are not interested in interdicting
Kong en route to China, and had re- weapons, but in ousting the Sandi-
ceived assurances that the House nistas.
Intelligence Committee would con- "The
ew
vene next week to discuss ways to
rein in the administration's Nicara-
guan operation. -
spaper reports, televi-
sion reports, public discussions, and
by my discussions with top officials
in our
government, the conclusion
The operation' has raised anew is that under the best of circum-
the question of closer control of stances, the Boland Amendment is
covert activity, Fowler said, not being fully adhered to."
prompting him to introduce legisla- He said further evidence was
tion aimed at strengthening those provided by The New York Times,
controls. which on Thursday published a
"The time has come for the Con- classified sum
f
mary o
a National
it will obey," Fowler said. "If the gross to set out publicly, in statute, Security Council meeting in which
law is being violated, the Congress what the standards are going to be the covert action was discussed.
has a clear responsibility g troducing such legislation in the published by The Times, had never
our government into compliance or
change lawn House," he said. been made available to the intelli-
Intelligence
to the Committee sources He said his bill would "define gence committees, although the ad-
said Focvler's decision to go public under what conditions covert ac- ministration was under no legal ob-
w
sa
ith his concerns reflected the tions may take place, when such ac? ligation to do so.
gravity of the situation as he sees it. tivity is essential to national securi- Finally, Fowler said. lacking
There are indications as well of p and is fully consistent with our "clear standards" of a "well-de.
growing concert and some opposi- publicly avowed foreign policy, fined role" for congressional review
when the anticipated .benefits out. of covert activity, the CIA had not
weigh the potential risks and when told the intelligence panels every-
the circumstances require extra- thing it was doing in Central Amer-
V ordinary then-,. " .
CILY=7 -=
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202000016-2