ALLEGED IRAN-CONTRA PLAYERS NO STRANGERS TO SPY AFFAIRS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000606010001-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 28, 2011
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 21, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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From- August 1966 to August Thom~as~ C ~ G wasnington attorney,
By Robert Timberg 1968, Mr. Secord was an -air advts- ful. ~4' ~'erc unsuccess-
Waehington Bureau of The Sun er" stationed at Udorn Ro al Th
WASHINGTON -Man of the
alleged players In the Iran-con -
tatr have ee roots In t e nation s
Intellf ence community an eve
wor c toe er ov r
various c -an er o rations
in letnam an aoa uri t e
United States' tnvo vemen n
Southeast Asia.
me a Hemp that have sur-
faced as potentially important fig-
ures In the controversy seem to have
been especially Involved to the x-
crct war waged by the Central Intel-
Itgence Agency to Laos, which took
place at essentially the same time as
the Vietnam rnnfllM.
Those who were in Laos or have
studied the American effort there
say It was an Ideal training ground
for men who might later participate
In the sort of clandestine activities
that have characterized the Iran
arms sales and the alleged diversion
of funds to support the rnntras.
In particular, they point to the lo-
gistical expertix that many men de-
veloped there, as well as the skills
needed to mobilize and train guerril-
la units. xt up dummy rnmpantes,
handle xerct bank accounts and,
perhaps most importantly, cover
their tracks.
Those who saw action fn South-
east Asla and whoa names have
cropped up In the current rnntrover-
sy Include:
Richard V. 9ecos'd: A highly dec-
orated retired Alr Force maJor gener-
al and West Point graduate. Mr. Se-
cord Is said by a variety of sources to
have played Mr. Outside to Marine
Lt. Col. Oliver L. North's Mr. Inside
in the In3n-contra aff'a1r.
Mr. Secord, sources say, used his
old military and tnteWgence contacts
to xt up the supply line that provid-
ed logistical support and possibly
weapons to the contras after Con-
gress, by the 1984 version of the
Boland Amendment, forbade the
government from doing so.
According to his official Air Force
biography, Mr. Secord went to
Southeast Asla to March 1962 as an
advtxr to the South Vfetnamex.
During this period, the biography
says. he flew Vletnamex Air Force
AT-28s and logged more than 200
combat misatons.
Officially at least, the United
States at that time was In an adviso-
ry role In Vietnam. Direct American
' ~ ~ ~ BALTIMORE SUN
FIIE ONLY
__ ~
21 December 1986
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Atr Force Base, his biography says I'7 way ~e romsl>og)gub: Mr. Singlaub
Not mentioned. however, is the fact c, n'tander of t r c -..,...~ ,_
that Thailand was the staging area
for the secret war In neighboring
Laos. in which numerous sources
said Mr. Secord was deeply Involved.
Thailand, for that matter, was sup-
posedly neutral in the Laotian con.
flirt.
William M. Leary, a University of
Georgia history professor who is
working on the second book in his
two-volume history of CIA air activi-
ties to the Far East, said Mr. Secord
probably was flying forward air con-
trol missions. that ts, spotting enemy
targets and calling In air attacks on
them.
An intelligence source said,
'There Is no doubt at one time he
was connected with the war !n
Laos.'
Mr. Secord also shows up In Laos
In the early 1970x, although hts bi-
ography make no direct mention of
It. Instead, It says that in June 1972
he was assigned duties at the Penta-
gon that included desk officer for
Laos. Thalland and Vietnam.
in July 1973, moreover, he be-
came executive assistant to the di-
rector of the Pentagon's Defenx Se-
curity Asststance Agency, which
handles military aid to foreign na-
tions.
Military historian Shelby L. Stan-
ton, aretired Army Green Beret offl-
cerwho xrved In Laos, said that he
knows from a variety of sources and
documents that Mr. Secord was
working on the Laotian war out of
Udorn air base during 1972 and
1973.
Mr. Stanton, author of 'Vietnam
Order of Battle' and "Green Berets at
War." recalls personally dealing with
him on one occasion during his tour
with [he Green Berets in 1972-1973,
when he said Mr. Secord was de-
tached from the Air Force to the CiA.
At that time, Mr. Stanton said,
Mr. Secord was a planning officer for
the Thai Special Guerrilla Units, es-
xnttally large units of That merce-
naries that the C1A was running Into
Laos against the communist Pathet
Lao.
"He was at the funding end of the
Thai SGU program," Mr. Stanton
said. "He was one of the guys In
charge of the money ... of getting
the money for the mercenary troops
involved in the Wegal war."
ilcly di --.. ^~~?u ne puo-
Jlmmy C~i-lets pianho cut Amerit
can troop strength there.
Fired from his Korean post by the
president, Mr. Singlaub rctlr?ed to
1978 as a mayor general and not
long after became involved with the
conservative New Right network
chat was beginning to flourish under
such men as the direct-mall fund-
raixr Richard Vlguerie and Howard
R. Phillips of the Conxrvative Cau-
cus.
UntU September, Mr. Singlaub
was chairman of the World Anti-
Communist League, and remains on
the organization's board, gut the or-
ganization he devotes most of hIs
time to is the United States Council ,
for World Freedom, the WACL's
American affiliate, which operates
out of Phoenix, Ariz.
With the passage of the 1984 ver-
sion of the Boland Amendment,
which cut off military aid to the con-
tras. Mr. Singlaub was reportedly rc-
crusted by the NSC's Colonel North
to assist in raising funds to help con-
tinue aid to the contras while the
congresyionai cutoff was to effect.
Mr. Singlaub has deep roots to
the nation's tntelhgence establlsh-
mentgoing back to the World War it
Office of Strategic Services, forerun.
Her of the CIA.
During the war, Mr. Singlaub
forcesd ands worked closelYswitth a
more senior OSS officer, William J.
Casey, currently the Director of Cen-
tral Intelligence, said Joyce Downey,
Mr. Singlaub's assistant.
Mr. Singlaub was also deeply in?
volved In intelligence work during
the Korean and Vietnam wars. in
Vietnam from 1966 to 1968, Mr.
Singlaub headed the super-secret
MACV-SOG, or Military Assistance
Command. Vietnam-Studies and
Observation Group.
Mr. Stanton said MACV-SOG v,~
involved in highly classified mis-
stons aimed at interdicting the
movement of North Vietnamese men
and supplies Into South Vietnam.
"There were a lot of strange
things that they did and a lot of
strange people who worked for
[hem." he said. "This Is a unit that is
not going to mess around with a lot
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of people. They did a lot of things,
and they didn't answer a lot of ques-
tions about it.'
Mr. Stanton said Mr. StngJaub's
unit might have rnnducted some op-
erations In Lass, not as part of the
secret waz, but rather against that
portion of the Ho Cht Minh Tra11, the
main Vlet Cong supply line, that ran
through Laotian territory.
Mr. Singlaub's deputy at MACV-
SOB was Harry C. (Heine) Aderholt.
now a retired Atr Force brigadier
general, who was named by The
,vew York Times as part of the net-
work that ran the contra supply op-
eration. He has denied the allega-
tion.
On Mr. Singlaub's relationship
with President Reagan, Ms, Downey
said he hasn't spoken to him for two
months, but added, "He's had a fair
bit of access to the president in the
past." Asked what the two men talk
about, she said. "The conversations
are generally about the communist
movement all over the world."
Barry C. (Heine( Aderholt: Al-
though he has adamantly dented 1t,
Mr. Aderholt, a retired Alr Force
brigadier general living on the Flori-
da panhandle. has been named by
The New York Times as part of the
largely clandestine United States-
based supply operation for the Nica-
raguan rnntras.
Mr. Aderholt heads the Alr Com-
mando Association. based in the
town of Fort Walton Beach on the
Florida panhandle and comprising
veterans of the Atr Force's elite cov-
ert operations force, stmilaz to the
Army's Green Berets.
As an Alr Force officer. Mr. Ader-
holt was legendary to Southeast
Asia. both In Laos and Vietnam.
According to Professor Leary, Mr.
Aderholt was involved In carving out
numerous landing strips that he sold
were used extensively by the C1A-
owned Afr America airline to sup-
port Its covert operations In Laos.
From 1966 to 1968 Mr. Aderholt
served as Mr. Singlaub's deputy to
Vietnam at MACV-SOG, the clan-
destine unit that ran secret raids to
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
Military historian Stanton said
that Mr. Aderholt. In the early
1970s, ran the "special operations
wing" stationed at the huge air base
at Nakon Phanom on the Mekong
River along the That-Laotian border.
That unit. Mr. Stanton said, was
Involved in "an array of top-secret
missions in Laos," including bomb-
ing, strafing, leafleting and air res-
cue."
In 1974, Professor Leary said, Mr.
Aderholt set up the airlift to resupply
the besieged Cambodian capital of
Phnom Penh, using C-130 cargo
planes flying under the corporate
name of Bird Air.
The assistant chief pilot for Bird
Atr, Mr. Leary said, was Wallatt B.
Sawyer Jr., one of the thre! men
killed Oct. 5 when the C-123K cargo
plane carrying Eugene Hasenfus
went down in Nicaragua.
Mr. Aderholt is In Europe and
could not be reached for comment.
but a spokesman for [he Alr Com-
mando Association, Dick Zappe, re-
peated the retired general's dental
that the organization had been In-
volved in any way with the contras.
But the spokesman confirmed
that Mr. Aderholt knew many of the
people whose names have surfaced
In the [ran-contra matter. "He .
knows all of these people," he said.
Mr. Zappe said that Mr. Aderholt
had worked for Mr. Singlaub In
Southeast Asta and remained "good
friends" with him. in addition, he
said, the general worked with Mr.
Sernrd "on and off for 15 years," and
considered him "his protege.'
Mr. Gappe also rata that WtWam
J. Cooper, the pilot who was killed
when his plane was shot down Oct.
5 In Nicaragua, was a member of the
Air Commando Association although
his flights on behalf of the contras
had nothing to do with the organiza-
tion.
The association's current news-
letter, Mr. Zappe said. carries an "tn
memoriam" for Mr. Cooper, calling
him "not a soldier of fortune," but
rather "a true humanitarian."
Theodore G. Shackleyr Mr.
Shackley, a retired senior CIA oftittr
who Professor Leary and others said
for a time ran the secret waz In Laos,
surfaced In a New York Times story
that said he had participated to a
series of meetings to late 1984 In
which a key Iranian middleman in
the current affair approached ex-
American intelligence officials with
an offer to trade hostages for money.
Acrnrdtng to the Times, Manuch-
er Ghorbanffar, an Iranian arms
merchant. and several Iranian cler-
ics on arms-purchasing missions.
met with the the old intelligence off3-
ctals in a Hamburg, West Germany,
hotel room and laid out the offer.
Sources told the Times that Mr.
Shackley wrote up a detailed report,
Including telephone numbers to Eu-
rope for Mr. Ghorbanifar, and
passed It on to the administration.
but sources disagreed on whether It
went to a Cabinet officer or a mem-
ber of the National Security Council
staff.
[f Mr. Shackley played a further
role In the Iran-contra affair, i[ has
not taken public shape yet, altho
he is an associate of Mr. Second and
others whose names have cropped
up In the current controversy.
There is little doubt of Mr. Shack-
ley's Ues to Laos. when he
CIA station chief duri ~seerved ~
to late 1960s and effe~ctlvel middle
manded a private Y com-
Meo tribesmen army COmprtsing
milt and thdr American
tart' advisers; CIA operatives; an
air force made up in part of Air
America and other CIA-affiliated air.
lines as well as American military
aircraft manned by U.S. military pi-
lots; and other American mllitarv
personnel that included elite Green
Berets.
Without spelling it out. Mr.
Shackley, who achieved the rank of
deputy director for operations, mak-
ing him the No. 2 man In the na-
tion's clandestine services, rein-
forces his Laotian ties In the dedica-
tion of his 1981 book, "The Third
Option: An American View of Coun-
terinsurgency Operations."
"This book Is dedicated to the he-
roic Meo hW tribes of North Laos," he
wrote. "I hope It will bring some
small recognition to a nomadic, free-
dom-loving people who fought the
full military power of North Vietnam
to a standstill,"
Peter Maas, in a 1986 book,
"Manhunt,' about the ex-CIA opera_
true and convicted arms smuggler
Edwin Wilson, notes that Mr. Second
"operated closely" in Laos with Mr.
Shackley and a key subordinate
there, Thomas G. Clines, whose
name has also come up In the [ran-
contra matter.
After Laos. Mr. Shackley moved
to Saigon as the C1A chief of station
there. In 1972. Mr. Maas writes, he
returned to the agency's headquaz-
ters in Langley, Va? as head of the
Latin American division. He could
not be reached for comment.
Thomas G. Clines: Ex-CIA opera-
tive Clines, whose association with
Mr. Second apparently began during
the Laos days and has continued
right up to the present, reportedly
handled the hiring of pilots for air
suppiv missions to the contras.
Mr. Clines worked under Mr.
Shackley to a number of locales
In-
,
cluding Laos and Vietnam. Before
Laos. Mr. Shackley and Mr. Clines
worked together in Miami In the af-
termath of the aborted Bay of Plgs
Invasion, reportedly dispatching ex-
patriate Cubans Into Cuba on a vari-
ety of anti-Castro missions. He could
not be reached for rnmment.
Donald P. Gregg: Mr. Gregg, Vice
curity adviser, is a retired CIA officer
who has acknowledged meeting with
an old agency friend, Felix Rodri-
guez, about a dozen times since No-
vember 1983.
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After his capture, Mr. Hasenfus
said that Mr. Rodriguez, whom he
knew' as Max Gomez, was one of two
men who ran the contra resupply
operatlon from the Ilopango atr bare
in EI Salvador.
But according to a statement re-
leased last week by the vice presi-
dent's office. Mr. Rodriguez never
raised the sub)ect of supplying the
contras with Mr. Bush, who met
with him three times, or any of the
Bush staff unW last Aug. 8.
Mr. Gregg, who retired from the
CIA In August 1982 after 31 years,
18 In Asia, met Mr. Rodriguez, a CIA
operative, in Vietnam in 1970, ac-
cording to the Bush statement. This
Is about the time Mr. Shackley was
Saigon station chief.
'Working together with other CIA
officials, they developed an effective
operational concept for use against
guerrilla units operating in the prov-
inces near Saigon,' the statement
old.
Mr. Rodriguez retired from the
C[A on a disability resulting from a
back In)ury sustained in a helicopter
crash In Vietnam, but he and Mr.
Gregg "maintained sporadic contact"
to the fnterventng years, the state-
ment said.
Mr. Gregg declined comment. Mr.
Bush, who served as director of cen-
tral intelligence under President
Gerald R. Ford, has called Mr. Rodri-
guez apatriot, but has dented that
he or his staff were In anv wav in-
volved In directing, coordinating or
approving mtlltary aid to the contras
and any knowledge of the diversions
of funds from lrantan arms sales to
support the insurgents.
James H. Bastian: Mr. Basilan.
an attorney. is chairman of
Southern Alr Transport, the one-
time C1A airline that the FBi Is in-
vestigating for potential links to the
contra resupply operation.
Mr. Bastian worked in the 1960s
for Geor>Ze A. Doole r., the CIA offi-
cer responsible or all agency-owned
airlines In the Far East. Mr. Leary
Bald. Those airlines were held under
a front organization called the Pacif-
ic Corporation. During this period,
Mr. Basilan served as vice president
and secretary of the organization,
Mr. Leary said.
Efforts to reach Mr. Bastian were
unsuccessful.
-~ Eugene L. Hasenfus: Mr. Hasen-
fus. 45. of Marinette, Wis., was the
only survivor of the C-123K cargo
plane shot down Oct. 5 over Nicara-
gua. After his capture by Sandinista
forces, he told reporters in Managua
that he was "a worker" for the CIA.
A parachute rigger in the Marine
Corps, Mr. Hasenfus later went to
work for Air America, [he CiA-
owned airline that operated out of
Vientiane, Laos. as an air freight
specialist, or "kicker," Mr. Leary
said.
He was serving in that capacity
when his plane was shot down.
fried by a Nicaraguan Court, he was
sentenced to 30 years for aiding the
contras. He was released last week
by Nicaraguan president Daniel Or-
tega.
wlll>1am J. Cooper: A 62-year-old
Navy veteran from Reno, Nev.. Mr.
Cooper was killed when the cargo
plane he was piloting was shot down
over Nicaragua Oct, 5 by the Sandi-
nistas.
Professor Leary said Mr. Cooper
worked for Alr America, the C1A air-
line, from 1965 until shortly before
It was sold off In the mid-1970x,
much of the time as assistant chief
pilot for C-123x, forerunner of the
C-123K In which he was killed,
"He was one of their most senior.
most experienced air drop special-
ists." Mr. Leary said. adding that Mr.
Cooper was stationed In the Laotian
capital of Vientiane for the entire pe-
riod of h1s Air America service.
Of Mr. Cooper's Involvement In
the contra supply operation. Mr.
Leary, who Interviewed him for his
book two years ago, said, "He had
turned 60. hew
can't get many )obs as a pilot after
you reach 60, and he needed mon-
ey."
But. Mr. Leary continued, "The
Sandinistas couldn't have paid him
enough to work for them. He was. in
his way, a quiet patriot. He wasn't
the kind of guy to go to soldier-of-
fortune conventions wearing a 'Kill
Commies' T-shirt.'
Wallace Blaine Sawyer Jr.: Mr.
Sawyer. 41, of Magnolia. Ark., was
also killed in the downing of the C-
123K.
A 1968 graduate of the U.S. Atr
Force Academy, Mr. Sawyer spent
six years in the service piloting cargo
planes. Professor Leary said that af-
ter Mr. Sawyer left the Air Force in
1974, he went to work for Bird Air.
an airline that had handled numer-
ous CiA contracts in Laos but denied
being a so-called C1A proprietary Ilke
Alr America.
With Bird Alr as an assistant
chief pilot, Mr. Leary said, Mr. Saw-
yer was part of the airlift Into embat-
tled Phnom Penh run by retired Air
Force Ger o~ Aderhoit.
Unt11 about a year ago, Mr. Saw-
yer was employed by Southern Atr
Transport, according to published
reports.
Sun researcher Robert Fates
contributed to this article.
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