INSIDE CIA WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301300006-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2013
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: June 25, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

1b Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/22 : CIA-RDP99-01448R000301300006-6
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
25 June 198k
Special Report
Covert actions, such as mining of
Nicaraguan ports, make the headlines. But
developments elsewhere In America's secret
spy agency are even more far-reaching.
After a four-year program to beef up the Central Intelli-
gence Agency, the results can now be seen-a spy service
with new muscle and influence to match.
Flush with money and manpower, the CIA is back at
work worldwide, operating on a scale not seen since the
Vietnam War.
Even its mission has been expanded. On top of espionage,
intelligence analysis and covert operations, the agency has
joined the wars on terrorism, international drug traffickers
and Soviet theft of U.S. technological secrets.
One thing has not changed. CIA involvement in covert
operations still stirs passions and controversy. Congress is
threatening to bar funds to finance the "secret war" against
the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.
The turnaround, pushed hard by President Reagan and
CIA Director William J. Casey, has elevated the spy unit
from a state of disrepute during the 1970s to a newfound
position of power and influence on foreign policy.
Central to the agency's changing fortunes is Casey,
whose close political and personal ties to Reagan give the
CIA the kind of White House access-and credibility-it
has not had for years. The despair that gripped the'organi-
zation during what were called "the troubles" has lifted.
But some critics fear that the revitalized agency is be-
coming too influential and that Casey has too much say in
the shaping of U.S. policy. Others warn that : CIA Director
covert actions will drag America into combat.
Congress, while attempting to keep a tight ;
rein on the CIA, actually .began pushing the
buildup of the organization even before Casey
took over and has strongly supported it since.:
This backing stems in part from a need for better
intelligence about a growing Soviet military ca-
pability. The CIA is also seen as providing Amer-
ica with a means of intervening in world crises
without sending in combat units.
Headquartered in the Washington-suburb of.
Langley, Va., the supersecret agency, with up
to 18,000 staffers, has long been embroiled in
controversy. While most concern has focused on
covert activities, these are by no means the
most important part of a broader mission.
Clandestine Wars Return.
Nowhere is Casey's influence more apparent
than in the revival of covert. action-missions
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/22 : CIA-RDP99-01448R000301300006-6
some of them filled
The effects of thi
being felt around th
a In Afghanistan,
support for. Moslem
tion forces. Annual
the like-now is said
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political groups in t
Jesse Helms (R-N.C.)
in the victory of Jose Napoleon Duarte.
All told, says one official with access to inside informa-
tion, the agency is engaged in about half a dozen large-scale
covert operations overseas. The CIA may conduct as many
as 50 minor secret projects. That number, while far smaller
than in the CIA's peak years, nonetheless marks a signifi-
cant increase in covert action under Reagan.
Far and away the most eye-catching operation is in Nica-
ragua. Under Casey, officials report, some 73 million dollars
has been spent to build up anti-Sandinista contra forces to
12,000 rebels.
The CIA has coordinated airlifts, planned attacks and
built a sophisticated communications network for the larg-
est paramilitary action since the Vietnam War-activities
that have sparked charges that the agency's covert opera-
tions have gotten out of hand once again.
But Senator David Durenberger (R-Minn.), a member of
the Senate Intelligence Committee and a frequent critic of
the CIA, says: "The question is: Did Reagan leap in to start up
operations? And the answer is no. While the inclination to use
covert operations is stronger, there's still a great deal of care."
Even within the staff at Langley, Casey's enthusiasm for
Casey on Capitol Hill for hearings on secret operations.