REAGAN VOWS DETERMINATION ON TERRORISM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504390004-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: June 21, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504390004-0
ARTICLE APPEARED
Reagan Vows
Determination
On Terrorism
U.S. Will Work With Allies
To Consider Options,
`Military and Otherwise'
By ROBesr W. Meaty
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON-President Reagan an-
nounced a series of actions designed to
show determination to thwart terrorism
abroad and to appear on top of the politi-
cally volatile issue at home.
"Our limits have been reached," the
president declared in a statement yester-
day. "We cannot allow our people to be
placed at risk simply because they are
blessed in being citizens" of the U.S.
The president instructed Vice President
George Bush "to take the lead with the
U.S. government and with our allies" to
find ways of combating "this increasingly
violent and indiscriminate but purposeful
affront to humanity." He said the options
to be explored would be "military and oth-
erwise."
The president's actions seem aimed in
part at diminishing political fallout from
the Beirut hijacking crisis, as well as from
the killing of six Americans in El Salvador
late Wednesday.
Gunmen believed to be leftist guerrillas
sprayed machine-gun fire into a crowd at
an outdoor San Salvador cafe, killing four
off-duty Marines from the U.S. Embassy
there and two U.S. businessmen. Seven
others died in the attack.
Deputy White House press secretary
Larry Speakes said U.S. officials "strongly
suspect" the guerrillas' primary target
may have been the Marines, who report-
edly took the "first fire." In his statement,
Mr. Reagan said he directed officials at
the State and Defense departments to
"provide whatever assistance is neces-
sary" to El Salvador's President Napolean
Duarte "in order to find and punish the
terrorists who perpetrated this act."
He said he would expedite the delivery
of unspecified "security assistance" al-
WALL STREET JOURNAL
21 June 1985
ready ordered by the Duarte government
and he is prepared to use emergency
powers to furnish additional military aid
that could help the government track down
and prosecute those responsible for the
killings.
White House spokesman Speakes said
the ai includes technical law-enforcement
and Intelligence-gathering assistance. He
emphasized the U.S. has no plans to take
military action itself in Central America to
combat terrorism.
Mr. Reagan said the vice president
would pursue anti-terrorism initiatives
with European officials during a visit there
soon and would later convene a "govern-
ment-wide task force" to develop recom-
mendations on how to handle the prob-
lem.
The president's actions clearly seemed
aimed at showing presidential initiative on
the difficult issue while keeping the presi-
dent somewhat removed from the problem.
White House officials sa* the president's
aides have disagreed over just how pub-
licly involved the president should get.
For now at least, the answer seems to
be to shield the president from any nega-
tive political impact by keeping his direct
involvement in the Beirut crisis to a mini-
mum. An aide said that Mr. Reagan's
schedule includes only a small increase in
time devoted to National Security Council
business. The president also declined to
alter plans for a speech in Dallas today.
But while aides agree that the short-
term political impact probably won't hurt
the president as long as he remains above
the day-to-day events, they believe a pro-
tracted hostage crisis could be very dam-
aging politically. Thus, they want Mr.
Reagan to demonstrate a long-term com-
mitment to attacking the broader problem
of increased terrorist activities around the
world.
"The country traditionally rallies
around a president early on" in such cri-
ses, said a top White House aide. "What
happens after that depends on what you do
and how you do it." He added that one im-
portant long-term goal is to demonstrate a
presidential resolve to deal with the sys-
tematic threat of terrorism with broad po-
licies.
Asked if yesterday's presidential ac-
tions contribute to that long-term goal, he
replied, "Absolutely."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504390004-0