A LETTER THAT LED TO UNCOVERING US LINK TO BARBIE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100370017-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 28, 2010
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: August 21, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/28: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100370017-4
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ON PAG L BOSTON GLOBE
21 August 1983
A letter that led to uncovering
US link tOBhje
Los Angeles Times
BABYLON, N.Y.; Sandra Sharkey
says she was an abused child who "hates
torture" and believes that wrongdoing
should be punished.
A 1966 television report about the US
government's relationship with a former
Nazi war criminal sparked the 21-year-
old woman to write a letter to her senator.
The show featured two brothers named
Newton, former British secret service
agents who told about being tortured by
the Gestapo during World War II.
"They state that this man is , now
working-as an agent for the USA and
France," she wrote at the time In a letter
to then-Sen. Jacob Javits. "It seems that
he has political protection and cannot be
touched. For serving their country, the
Newtons were left sick and crippled while
their torturer is now on our payroll. It
would seem to me that justice is not being
served."
"I wrote the letter to get some steam
off," she said last week. "I never expected
anyone to do anything.
Sharkey did not know then that the
unidentified Gestapo official discussed in
the television show was Klaus Barbie.
And it wasn't until last Wednesday that
she discovered that the letter played a i
part in uncovering the United States'
role in helping Barbie escape prosecution
for 33 years.
That handwritten letter sparked the
first official, although secret, admission
to the State Department that the US
Army had employed Barbie and shielded
him from prosecution for "crimes against
humanity." It also resulted in the CIA's
blocking a move by Army intelligence to
rehire the former Gestapo officer well
after his alleged crimes were well-known.
Sharkey had nearly forgotten about
the television show and the letter until
Wednesday, when she learned from a re-
porter that the letter had been published
in ainassive Department of Justice report
on the Army's relationship with Barbie,
known as the "Butcher of Lyon.:'
...I remember getting a letter l*ck from
Javits. I was sort of thrilled to get a letter
signed J. Javits," Sharkey said. "But It
was pretty apparent that nobody wanted
to do anything. Nothing would .be done."
But something had been done. al-
though the action did not surface until
this week when the Department of Jus-
tice published a report that outlined the
US Army, Counterintelligence Corps' role
in hiring Barbie as an agent and helping
to protect him from US and French au-
thorities.
According to the report. Javits re-
ceived Sharkey's letter In June 1966. It
said, in part, "I would like to know why a
man can go free after killing and tortur-
ing ... I'm wondering how many more
people such as this are on the United
States' payroll or getting rich from us."
Javits forwarded the letter to the State
Department, which forwarded It to Army
intelligence. On July 19, 1966, the Army
sent its response to the State Department.
The responses admitted that the Army
recruited Barbie as an anti-Soviet intelli-
gence agent in 1948, while he was in US
custody for war-crimes. It also said that
when the Army learned the French want-
ed to arrest Barbie in 1951 for war
crimes, it spirited him out of Europe and
helped him resettle in Bolivia.
The memo suggested that the State De-
partment tell Javits an Investigation of .
Barbie's wartime activities was "incon-
clusive" and not mention he had been re-
located to Bolivia.
"I am still naive and believe that if
someone has done something wrong, they
should be punished," Sharkey said. "I
don't think governments think simply
enough. They always say, 'Let's do it the
sneaky way., hiring someone like this In-
stead of just going directly to the heart of
a problem." -
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/28: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100370017-4