STATE DEPARTMENT STRIVES TO RECAPTURE CONTRA POLICY 'HIJACKED' BY THE CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403340004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: February 9, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403340004-7
WALL STREET JOURNAL
ARTICLE APPEaREO
ON PA6~ a~ -
9 February 1987
State Department Strives to Recapture
Contra Policy `Hijacked' by the CAA
WASHINGTON
INSIGF~T
By F~tCK Kguve
.lfaff (tCQ01 '.~c)URNAL
WASHINGTON-The State Department
is maneuvering to regain lost influence
over U.S. Central American policy, an
area that one U.S. diplomat says the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency "hijacked" early
in the Reagan administration.
In an effort to capitalize on the recent
departure of ailing CIA chief William
A Case and growing criticism ~e
ncy s mishandling of the Contra pro-
gram, State Department officials are de-
votingmore time and resources to combat-
ting the Sandinistas.
State Department officials believe they
will win the bureaucratic battle, and if
they do, U.S. policies toward the Contras,
the U.S.-backed guerrillas struggling to de-
pose the Marxist Sandinista government,
are likely to change.
State Department and even Pentagon
insurgency specialists have long com-
plained that the CIA has concentrated on
clandestine military operations, while
slighting the need to build a strong, demo-
cratically based insurgency movement
that can appeal for legitimacy inside Nica-
ragua and on the world stage. Foggy Bot-
tom is currently pressing for action, per-
haps as early as this week, to make Contra
leadership broader based and more demo-
cratic.
The State Department's calls for more
Contra democracy have failed before, but
~~fficials believe they now have more clout
to get what they want. The absence of Mr.
i'asey. a presidential confidant since he
rnanaged Mr. Reagan's 1980 campaign,
will give Mr. Shultz a greater opportunity
to act on a September presidential decision
making State the lead agency in setting
Nicaraguan policy.
A Change for Abrams
Another reason for the chance for a
change in policy is that the hard-line assis-
tant secretary of state for Inter-American
iffairs, Elliott Abrams, also seems to be
modifying his earlier tendency to walk in
lock step with the CIA's lead. He now
seems more willing to question the
agency's strong backing of the most con?
servative of the Contra groups, the Nicara-
guan Democratic Front, known as FDN, of
Adolfo Calero.
"William Casey was secretary of state
for Central America," complains one ad-
ministration official, who says that is cer?
tatn to change under the "faceless bureau-
crat" who is his successor, Robert
Gates.
Others are less certain the agency's
dominance over a highly secretive insur-
gent war can be easily challenged. The
State Department is frustrated by its ina-
bility, even in Mr. Casey's absence, to get
a grip on what the CIA is up to in the re-
gion and fulfill its congressional mandate
of oversight and policy guidance in the dis
tribution of 5100 mUlion in Contra aid.
I "The CIA figures what we don't know
can't hurt them," the same administration
official complains.)
Mr. Shultz will nevertheless gain from
measures designed to increase his influ-
ence for another reason: It will silence his
critics who charge ht purposefully has dis-
engaged himself from foreign-policy exe-
cution when he disagreed with administra?
lion decisions such as selling arms to
Iran.
Late last month, Mr. ShWtz created a
new group to keep tabs on the E100 million.
The Nicaraguan Coordinating Office is be-
ing formed by Moms BuS6y, the former
second-in-command at the U.S. embassy
in Mexico City. Mr. Busby will have a staff
of about half dozen people, perhaps includ-
ing new diplomatic positions in the Hondu-
ras and Costa Rican embassies.
Removing Blinders
"The Busby team might not be enough,
but it will certainly be better than noth-
ing," says one Slate Department official.
"The idea is to make sure the State De-
partment isn't totally blind any longer and
totally dependent on the CIA for its knowl-
edge about the Contras and the war."
A handful of diplomats won't quickly
ease the Contras' major problems. The
guerrillas are still too closely tied in Nica-
raguan minds to Anastasio Somoza, the
dictator ousted by the Sandinistas, and the
Contras haven't provided an alternative
political vision of Nicaragua's future.
This is what the State Department
hopes to change, and its aims are bringing
it into conflict with the CIA. Their first test
of wills could come as soon as this week
over the shape of the Contra leadership.
State is arguing that several leaders from
Mr. Colero's FDN, the most influential
group, must go because they have gone out
of their way to block the influence of more
moderate factions, particularly that of Ar-
turo Cruz.
Mr. Cruz, who has tended to emphasize
the importance of social change and eco-
nomic improvement within Nicaragua over
military action, has said he plans to with-
draw from the United Nicaraguan Opposi-
tion, or UNO, the umbrella organization
created to forge Contra unity, because he
hadn't any influence.
If the State Department has its way in
coming days, it wants to save UNO by re-
vamping its political structure and bring-
ing in several new leaders. It hopes Mr.
Cruz, instead of resigning from UNO, will
emerge with greater impact.
State argues that such changes would
make the Contras more palatable to Nica-
raguans, reduce the likelihood that Con?
gress will cut off funding and make it
easier for U.S. diplomats to convince
America's allies in Europe stop aiding the
Sandinistas.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403340004-7
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