OFFICERS OF C.I.A. NOW SAID TO TELL OF TIE CONTRAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201820002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 24, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965ROO0201820002-0
A~; 4PRED_
NEW YORK TIMES MAY 2 '+ 1981
Lawrence E. Walsh, the special coon.' Agency. Lieut. Gen. William F. Odom,-p
OFFICERS OF C.I A has acknowledged that his agency gave
set, is looking into the circumstances the classified devices to Lieut. Col. gave
s under which another intelligence body, ver I.. North, the White House side who
the National Security Agency, provided wits dismissed from the Neiiunal Se-
NOW SAID TO TELL sensitive coding machines that were cutity Council slier early dl.clo%ures
Later used by private citizens involved of his role in the Iran-contra cane.
in the contra airlift who did not hold According to Congressional officials.
ces or
OF ~ TiE TO CONTRAS Government security clearances. General Odom and his aides ihelieved
No U.A. Link Beyond Casey Colonel North would use the devices for
Members of said their in- counterterrorism activities, and were
Congress not aware they were instead distrib-
vestigators were trying to determine uted to people involved in the contra
Admissions Would Contradict whether the dealings with the contras aid program who did not hold Govern.
by four or five C.I.A. field officers ment security clearances.
Denials That Agency under scrutiny were approved by their In testimony on May S, Maj. Gen.
Broke supervisors, or whether they were part Richard V. Secord said Colonel North
Laws on Aiding Rebels of a broader effort by Mr. Casey and h had the sophisticated code ;kachlees.
other senior agency officials to get Several messages between General Se-
around the laws. cord and Colonel North that were writ-
By STEPHEN ENGELBERG p Senator David L. B Democrat Of ten on the machines were submitted as
s t.i to 1 Sr. v.tt TIm Oklahoma, e c airman of the Senate evidence.
WASHINGTON, May 23 - &f Intelligence Committee, said no evi- The intense focus on the C.I.A. by in-
Cenntral Intelligence Agency- ice dence had emerged suggesting that the vestigators has stirred concern amonhave recIran-
i nts previous statements highest leveltt of the C.I.A. other than some officials that the ontra at-
and are telling the agency's inyestila. Mr. Casey were involved in any plan to fair could damage intelligence agen?
Cles whose confidence and capabilities
tors about contacts with the contras circumvent the laws on contra aid. "So have been only recently rebuilt
and their private supporters that may far, we just have not been able to find
have been improper, according to Rea- anything that shows systematic, Insti-
tutional m of officials the stigatons in the mid.
an Administration officials. Involvement," he said in an in- 1970's into assassinations and other
The statements, by several field offi- tervie' . agency misdeeds, when the C.I.A.
cers who worked in Central America. Congressional testimony shows that backed away from any risky operation
are the strongest evidence to date to C.I.A. Officials helped make air drops that could lead to public embarrass-
contradict the agency's repeated as- to contra forces and worked as a Hill- ment. The officials expressed fears
surances that none of its employees son between private suppliers and con- that the latest investigations could
violated Congressional restrictions on ors troops in the field. have the same effect.
helping the Nicaraguan rebels. The C.I.A. officers linked so far, ac- Senators Boren and William S.
Among those who revised their cordinilll, to Government officials, in. Cohen, the
chief of base in Teguci? deputy chairman of the Senate Inttelli-
r earlier dof any connection to the chide
cont
al Honduras; an officer in Aesea- gence Committee, said those a rehen-
contra aid network were two C.I.A. c
operatives who worked in Honduras, a~ Honduras, and the station chief in dons were unfounded. Senator Cohen
Costa Rica. who used the pseudonym said he had seen no slat en ng in the
the officials said. gTomas Castillo. All are still with the C.I.A.'s boldness, and noted that the
Casey's Ron Unclear agency. committee was In the process of favor-
it is not clear what actions may be The C.I.A.'s support for the contra ably reviewing several new covert ac?
taken against the officials involved. network appears to have been inconsis- lions. He declined to describe them.
tent. C.I.A. officials in Honduras and Different Explanations for Aid
The possible consequences Include Cosja Rice cooperated with the airlift,
reprimands and other disciplinary ac- but the station chief in El Salvador investigators for the Congressional
tion,including dismissal. refused. officials said. committees that are now conducting
in three weeks of Congressional Damage to C.I.A. feared for Mr. hearings on Walsh, the th e e i n contra affair, snd
hearings on the Iran-contra case. key independent counsel,
witnesses have also said they believe The investigations have touched are looking for at several different i xpla-
w that William J. Case , the former DM some of the Government's most sense ante officials wcooperation ith Colonel North's
rector o entr Intelligence, was five intelligence agencies. One exam. [t
aware of and supported the White pie is the National Security Agency. contra aid program.
which collects electronic intelligence. The National Security Agency, for in-
House-directed program to aid the con- in the case of the coding machines, stance, provided Colonel North with 18
eras. The full extent of the role played ih. director of the National Security to 18 machines of a type known as the
by Mr. Casey, who died this month, M
mains unclear.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201820002-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201820002-0
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