'CONTRA' PLAN WOULD RELEASE SECRET FUNDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100620001-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 11, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100620001-3
ARTS; 5 i -;;
ON PA: ~r..
BALTIMORE SUN
11 March 1986
STAT
`Contra' plan
would release
secret funds
Aid request includes
freeing of CIA money
By Stephens Broening
Washington Bureau of The Sun
WASHINGTON - Con ressional
approval of President a an s r
uest for aid tote Nicaraguan in-
su en would permit the a mins-
tra on to use a vast secretintelll-
gence fun , on top of the 810 mil -4
ton the president has formally pro-
pose to spend. -, house
intelligence om ii~Meen
told.
' Committee sources disclosed yes-
terday that a high administration of-
ficial had testified in a closed session
that the aid request was intended to
remove restrictions on the use of CIA
contingency funds against the pro-
Soviet government of Nicaragua.
The administration official was
summoned to clarify an ambiguous-
ly worded section of an appendix to
the proposal that h^d caught the at-
tention of congressional staff mem-
bers. the sources said.
A State Department official said
the request, if approved, would re-
move the special restrictions on CIA
activity in Nicaragua. He said It
would mean that "Congress would
have the same kind of oversight over
intelligence operations in Nicaragua
as over similar operations anywhere
else in the world."
Representative Michael D.
Barnes. D-Md.-8th. said the revela-
tion about administration tntenttons
meant "the president is asking for a
blank check." Mr. Barnes. chairman
of the House Subcommittee on West-
ern Hemisphere Affairs, has been a
critic of the administration's aid pro-
posal.
The size of the CIA's contingency
fund is an official secret. One con-
gressional staff member said it had
been authoritatively described to
him as "a bottomless pit." Another
said it was "several times as large" as
the formal aid request of $ 100 mil-
lion.
Representative Edward P. Bo-
land, D-Mass., former chairman of
the Intelligence Committee, said. "I
think we have to understand clearly
what we're being asked to approve.
It's not just $100 million for the
'contras.'
"If we approve the resolution, we
make available other funds in the
intelligence budget, specifically
.those in the CIA's reserve for contin-
gencies. We also remove all current
legal restrictions on CIA and DOD
[Department of Defense[ assistance
to the contras."
Mr. Boland Is the author of the
first legislative prohibition against
U.S. covert action aimed at over-
throwing the Sandinista govern-
ment. His name also has been at-
tached to congressional restrictions
on the use of U.S. funds for arming
the Nicaraguan rebels.
Without the secret funds, the
president was asking Congress to
appropriate $100 million for the
contras over the next 18 months -
$70 million in military aid and $30
million in non-lethal supplies. The
contras are now receiving the last
segment of a $27 million appropria-
tion whose use was restricted by
Congress to non-lethal aid.
Even before yesterday's disclo-
sure about the CIA fund, the new aid
measure was considered unlikely to
pass when the House votes on it
March 19.
"I think this is a strong reason to
oppose the bill." said Mr. Barnes,
who will manage part of the floor
debate in the House. "Even if a mem-
ber of Congress favors aid to the con-
tras, he should know how much aid
he is approving. I doubt the Congress
is going to want to approve this."
Under rules adopted for consider-
ation of the riquest, Congress is re-
quired to vote yes or no on it. It can-
not be amended.
Congressional sources said staff
members were first sL^uck by what
they called the "lawyer's language"
of a paragraph In the administration
proposal that said the approval of
the resolution by Congress would "be
deemed to satisfy" the terms of Sec-
tion 105A of the Intelligence Autho-
rization Act of 1986. Section 105A
sets restrictions on the use of U.S.
funds for the contras.
Mr. Barnes said he had sought
clarifications from Elliott Abrams.
the assistant secretary of state for
Inter-American Affairs. But Mr.
Abrams. in a public session of the
Western Hemisphere subcommittee.
had claimed ignorance. The House
Intelligence Committee was more
successful in closed session with an
administration offical whose identity
was being kept secret under commit-
tee rules.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100620001-3