COVERT UNITA AID OPPOSED ON HILL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900055-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 19, 2013
• Sequence Number: 55
• Publication Date: January 28, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/02/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900055-6
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WASHINGTON POST
28 January 1986
Covert UNITA Aid Opposed on Hill
Intelligence Panel Chairmen Say Any Such Help Should Be Open
p
"ar By David B. Ottaway
4Vasheigten-Post-Staff Writer
The chairmen of the Senate and
House intelligence committees have
decided to oppose covert military
assistance to noncommunist forces
fighting in Angola and are urging
the Reagan administration instead
to seek to convince congress of tile
need for an open assistance pro-
gram.
The bipartisan advice from Sen.
/19 David F. Duren !er (R-Minn.),
c airman o t e -nate ? ect om-
mittee on Intelligence, and his
counterpart in the House, Rep. Lee
H. Hamilton (1)-Ind:), came as the
ad-ministration incEcated yesterday
that it still-prefers a new covert-aid
program to the National Union for:
the Total Independence of Angola
(UNITA) headed by Jonas Savimbi,
who arrives in Washington today
for an intensive two-week lobbying
campaign for U.S. support.
Durenberger said in an interview
yesterday that he felt "fairly strong-
ly" that any U.S. aid to UNITA
"ought to be overt" and approved by
Congress. He said he is pressing
the administration "to go that
route."
That sentiment was echoed by
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), rank-
ingminority ie FFirthe-gi?iate
intelligence committee, who said,
"If we're going to get involved in
these kinds of activities, then we
ought to do it overtly, not covertly."
Hamilton concurred, saying that
such "a major policy decision". re-
quires full congressional debate and
approval.
That resistance from senior con-
gressional leadership is likely to
make the administration's pursuit of
covert aid for UNITA more diffi-
cult. The administration has sub-
mitted to the intelligence commit-
tees a proposal for an initial $10
million to $15 million in covert mil-
r'a-Tr?la other assistance to
Savimbi. Yesterday, White House
deputy press spokesman Edward P.
Djerejian suggested that the admin-
istration still favors the covert ap-
proach.
Although the - administration
would welcome an expression of
public support from Congress for
Savimbi, he said, "what we in the
administration have in mind clearly
is more than just moral support for
UNITA."
"The administration is seeking all
appropriate support for UNITA
which will be effective. We are
working:with Congress toward this
end," he said.
State Department spokesman
Bernard Kalb, signaling White
House opposition to_congressional
proposals for up to $50 million in
open U.S. aid to Savimbi in his dec-
ade-long fight against the Marxist
regime in Angola, said the admin-
istration "does not believe that leg-
islation mandating aid to UNITA
would be an effective way to pro-
ceed."
A senior White House official said
yesterday that Reagan intends to
publicly embrace the goals of
Savimbi during his visit. "Then
you've created a measure of public
pressure on yourself not to stand
aside and let things go under" when
Savimbi may be involved in more
intense fighting later this year, the
official said.
Underlying opposition to covert
aid is congressional unease over the
expanding role of the Central Intel-
ligence Agency in-open-ended guer-
rilla wars against Soviet- and
Cuban-backed regimes. Many mem-
bers of Congress qbestion whether
such activities are appropriate for
the CIA. They also voice concern
that ources and energy will be
fliverted from the agency's primary
task of gathering and evaluating
intelligence.
Reflecting on the congressional
concern, Hamilton said, "If you
want to provide money to Savimbi,
you ought to make the request to
Congress and have an open debate.
It's an important significant depar-
ture with great ramifications [for
the United States) beyond Savimbi
and Angola.
"That kind of decision ought not
to be submitted to a few members
of Congress who do not have the
power to disapprove," he added,
referring to his committee's legal
inability to Stop CIA operations
Leahy and Hamilton limited their
comments to their feelings about
how Congress should deal with the
issue in general and avoided discus.
sion of the administration's proposal
now before their committees. Leahy
said he had no position yet on
whether the United States should
give any aid to Savimbi.
Some Republican members of the
Senate intelligence committee now
appear to favor the approach
sselled out in a resolution sub-
mitted Dec. 10 by Senate Majority
Leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) and
five cosponsors, including Duren-
berger, that would make U.S. aid
for UNITA and possible economic
sanctions against Angela later this
year dependent upon the Angolan
government's policies.
? It Angola's Marxist leadership
refuses to engage in "good-faith
negotiations" with UNITA and con-
tinues preparations for a new mil-
itary offensive against Savimbi, the
resolution said, "then the Senate
would support the provision early in
1986 of material assistance to
UNITA and would impose economic
sanctions against those sectors of
the Angolan economy which pro-
vide resources to support the
Cuban troop presence."
The latter refers to Angolan oil
exports, which mostly go to the
United States.. The United States,
with $1.1 billion in 1984, was An-
gola's largest trading partner.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/02/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900055-6