SECRET CURB BY CONGRESS ON COVERT AID IS DISCLOSED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100620031-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: May 17, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100620031-0
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Secret Curb by Congress on Covert Aid Is Disclosed
By MARTIN TOIL
Special to Me New Ycet T1ms
WASHINGTON, May 16 - Congress
a year ago secretly restricted the use of
covert money for Nicaraguan rebels to
supporting operations to intercept ship-
ments of arms to insurgents in El Salva-
dor, according to a report by the House
Select Committee on intelligence made
public today. ? - -
The report described a running con-
flict between the committee and the Ad-
ministration, which it said tailed to
heed both public and secret limitations
on the use of money imposed by Con-
gress and its committees.
The secret limitation, approved by a
House-Senate conference in April 1982,
was contained in a "classified annex"
that accompanied t)& authorization
bill, the report said. At that time, the
House intelligence committee consid-
ered but rejected legislation to cut off
all covert money for the Nicaraguan
rebels. Last December, Congress for.
malty adopted an identical restriction
prohibiting covert money for the pur-
pose of overthrowing the Sandinist Gov-
ernment of Nicaragua or provoking a
military exchange between Nicaragua
and Honduras.
Move to End Covert Aid
"Both proved ineffective as moderate
curbs on insurgent activity or U.S. poli-
cy " the report said. "Hostilities within
Nicaragua intensified. There was no
discernible effect on the arms flow.
Throughout, executive branch officials
made little effort to mask U.S. support,
going so tar in April 1983 as to encour-
age media discussion."
The report accompanied an amend-
ment to the intelligence authorization
for the 1983 fiscal year, adopted earlier
this month, which would cut off all cov-
ert aid to the Nicaraguan rebels and in-
stead provide money for '.friendly na-
tions" in the region to help intercept the
flow of weapons to the insurgents in El
Salvador. The report was prepared by
Representative Edward P. Boland,
chairman of the committee, on behalf of
the Democratic majority.
The report traced the committee's
hardening attitudes in a conflict with
the Administration that began with the
fast use of covert money for the Nicara-
guan rebels.
"From the committee's first brief-
ing, in December 1981, on the program
to support and- Sandinista insurgency,
serious concerns were expressed by
members of the committee," it said.
"These concerns went to the number
and tactics of the insurgents to be sup-
ported, whether these insurgents would
be under U.S. control and the possibility
of military clashes between Nicaragua
and Honduras."
Five days after the first briefing, Mr.
Boland, Democrat of Massachusetts,
reiterated those concerns in a letter to
"the principal executive branch brief-
er " the report said. "He emphasized
that the concerns were shared by mem-
bers of both parties and asked that they
be addressed by senior policy makers.,,
Nor did the committee's concerns
abate after Congress adopted a prohibi.
tion an covert aid for the purpose of de-
stabilizing the' Sandinist Government,
the report said. "Committee members
were expressing renewed distress at
the number of insurgents supported by
the program, the serious nature of
fighting then occurring within Nicara-
gua, and the lack of success in meeting
the program's goals t,
'In this period, also, executive
branch briefers discussed other goals
and gave different emphases to the pro-
gram than those originally described to
the committee," the report said.
'The United States has allied itself
with insurgents who carry the taint of
'the last Nicaraguan dictator Somoza,"
the report said, referring to Anastasio
Somoza Debayle, who was overthrown
by the Sandinistas in 1979. "It has, in ef.
fact, allowed the spotlight of interna-
tional opprobrium to shift from Sandin-
ista attempts to subvert a neighboring
government to a U.S. attempt to sub-
vert that of Nicaragua."
On El Salvador, the report said the
troubles there "have their root cause is
the serious economic, social and politi-
cal shortcomings of the long-eri-
t renched Salvadoran social order."
"U.S. aid to El Salvador is weighted
toward helping to zestsucaire Salvado.
ran economic, social and political
models, but it is a sad fact that such re-
forms are impractical in a climate of
unrest and denial of basic services,"
the report said. "Both are caused by the
activities of Salvadoran
who, unwilling to limit their attacks to
military targets, have launched suc-
cessful and very damaging attacks on
the power, water and transportation in-
frastructure of El Salvador."
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100620031-0