CIA CONTACT ISN'T NEW TO PETER JAMES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303040005-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: September 19, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303040005-8
JAMESTOWN POST-JOURNAL
19 September 1981
CIA Ctt Isn't New To.
Peter James
By CHARLES BOWEN'
Jamestown native Peter James, au-
thor, lecturer and former CIA contact
has once- again become "n3urved in.
international intrigue with his propos-
als to change U.S. foreign',policy to-
ward Cuba.
The 41-year-old' James visited Cuba
for 25 day& in June and July, and sent
his observations and recommendations
in an unsolicited letter to CIA Director
William Casey--
James is the author of "Soviet Con;
quest from Space" and "The Air Force
Mafia" which were aimed at exposing
corruption in the military industrial,
and intelligence complex. r ? .
His professional-career, began with
his employment at Pratt' & Whitney
Aircraft's Florida Research and Devel-
opment Center in West Paim Beach
from 1962-1971....
In 1970, while working as the firm's
foreign technology expert, he submitted
an 800-page report assessing the Soviet
rocket technology upon request of Pres- I
ident Nixon. Previously, James had
submitted solicited intelligence reports
to the CIA following encounters with
scientists, engineers and agents from
Athens, Madrid, Belgrade,>- Venice,
Paris, Mar Del Plata, Rome, Konstanz,
Dubrovnik, Marseilles and Brusses.
He was fired from Pratt and Whitney
in 1971 for allegedly breaking company
rules. In May 1972, James was again
contacted by the CIA to associate with
Soviet diplomats and scientists who
were in Miami. He was asked to assess
the official Soviet reaction to Nixon's
announcement that the U.S. had com-
menced mining Haiphone Harbor in
Vietnam and whether the planned
Nixon-Brezhnev summit conference,
scheduled for a few weeks away, was in
danger. ,
James met with the Soviet diplomats
two hours after being contacted by the
CIA and reported. that the summit
conference was in no danger.
James, who was a Jamestown may-
oral candidate in 1977, traveled to Cuba
in June and July and befriended offi-
cials in Cubatur - the Cuban govern-
ment. travel agency= and a Cuban
friendship organization ICAP. He' also
talked with government representa-
tives. -
While in Cuba, he found that the
American perception of Premier Fidel
Castro running a repressive regime
without popular support was incorrect.
James said he observed that illiteracy
is being eliminated, land reform mea-
sures and been undertaken and muli-
ple-unit housing hase been developed.
An important aspect that James said
he observed was that the Cubans did
not feel the Soviet invasion of Afghani-
stan could be justified by Marxism-
Leninism. Public support of the Soviet
Union on the Afghanistan issue is
"lukewarm." If the Cuban were inde-
pendent of Russian aid, their public
support of the Afghanistan situation
would probably vanish overnight,"
James will be on the lecture tour
again this month until next spring. His
trip to Cuba and his recommendations
to Casey will be one of the subjects he
will speak on.
ILLEGIB
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303040005-8