EX-CIA CHIEF: AGENCY MAY BE OUT OF CONTROL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000600420016-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 27, 2005
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: October 24, 1984
• Content Type: NSPR

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OMAHA WORLD HERALD (NE) FILE ONLY
24 October 1984
Ex-CIA Chief: Agency
May Be Out of Control
By Howard Silber
world-Herald Military Affairs Editor
Adm. Stansf ek Turner, former di??
rector of central intelligence, suggested
Tuesday night that. the CIA's
sponsorship of a manual promoting po-
litical assassination in Nicaragua could
mean that the agency is out of control.
Publication of the
manual, Turner said
in Omaha, "is
clearly against a
presidential order
and, I believe, it is
clearly against the
ethical standards
the people of this
country want the
CIA to perform un-
der."
"We are not God.
We are not there to Turner
decide who should
live and who should die, other than in
combat situations where the country
has decided, with congressional ap-
proval, to go to war."
Turner, CIA director during the Car-
ter administration, said it was "most
surprising" that the CIA failed to edit
the manual to remove advice on "neu-
tralizing" Nicaraguan government offi-
cials.
President Reagan said in Sunday
night's debate that CIA officers in the
United States and Central America had
edited the manual, deleting parts that
violated U.S. policy.
But Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga,, said Mon-
day that he and another Senate Intelli-
gence Committee member, Sen. Mal-
colm Wallop, R-Wyo., were told by
other CIA officials that "the term 'neu-
tralization' was in all the documents."
Reagan said during the debate that
"neutralization" and "assassination"
were synonymous.
'Something Wrong'
Said Turner:
"I'm very shook to think that people
in the headquarters of the CIA would
have let those offending paragraphs on
assassination slip through.
"I don't understand that and I be-
lieve, if that is, in fact, the facts - and
we all ought to be a little bit hesitant
here until we know that this is what is
the case - I believe something very
serious is wrong within the control
mechanisms inside the agency."
At a press conference, Turner
blamed the manual on old-line CIA of-
ficers who violated presidential orders
governing covert actions of a criminal
nature. These regulations originated in
the Ford administration and were "reit-
erated" by Presidents Carter and Rea-
gan, said Turner.
It happened, I believe, very simply
because the CIA under the Reagan ad-
ministration has so emphasized covert
action that they had to call back into
the agency hundreds of old employees,"
Turner said.
Old-Timers
"Many of these are very fine people.
But many of them have found it diffi-
cult to adapt to the idea that there are
regulations and controls on intelli-
gence."
Some of the "old-timers can't accom-
modate" to the regulations, Turner
said. "How any old-timer can ignore a
presidential order that's been on the
books 81/2 years I don't know."
Despite the case of the manual, Tur-
ner said he does not advocate tighter
regulation of the CIA.
"I don't think we need more con-
trols," he said. "Ten or 12 years ago,
this thing would never have surfaced
because there wouldn't have been
enough visibility as to what the CIA
was doing for the outside world to have
found it out."
The CIA now is subjected to "more
thorough oversight" than intelligence
agencies are in any other democracy,
he said.
'Retrenching Possible'
"It would be preferable that the CIA
not have done something that brought it
back to the limelight unfavorably again.
That could harm the agency very con-
siderably. But we can take satisfaction
that the oversight practice did bring
this out. Presumably, the manual is
now discredited and will be with-
drawn," he said.
Turner said that when he became
CIA director in February 1978, "I found
very little going on. Serious, conscien-
tious professionals in the CIA did not
want to take risks" because they were
afraid that "they would do something
that would damage their agency in the
public mind."
If criticism over the manual "builds
up too high, you may find the CIA re-
trenching again in human intelligence
activities, and we can't afford that for
the security of our country."
Turner lectured on the Creighton
University campus Tuesday night and
also spoke today at the Red Lion Inn at
a breakfast sponsored by the Creighton
College of Business Administration.
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23 October 1984
CILIAI AIDES DISPUTE
REAGAN ON PRLMER
Tell Senators Guerrilla Manual
Advised on `Neutralization'
Rebel's Account Corroborated
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
the New York Democrat who is deputy
chairman of the Intelligence Commit-
tee, did not attend the meeting but was
briefed on the discussion. "The
C.I.A.," he said, "still has not told us
who ordered this manual
who wrote It
,
an
and who approved it." turned rt over to a C.I.A. officer in the
Also today, a Nicaraguan rebel off. regi?n' "and a number of pages were
cer, Alfonso Callejas Deshon, a senior excised by that agency head there,"
director of the Nicaraguan Democratic Mr. Reagan said. He added that the j
Force, said in an interview that 2,000 Primer was sent to C.I.A. headquarters i
copies of the manual were printed Ali in Washington "where more
a
es
p
g
By JOEL BRINKLEY contained the language advising the were excised before it was printed."
SPeded m JOEL
The! 4R York Times ' rebels to "neutralize" Sandinista offs. "But some way or the other there;
cials, he sai
WASHINGTON, were 12 of the original copies that got
, Oct. 22 -- Central Mr. Callejas corroborated the ac. down there and were not submitted for
Intelligence A
enc
offi
i
l
g
y
c
a
s told two count given Saturday by Edgar Char
Senators today that no copies of the mono, the rebel leader who said he
C.I.A. manual on guerrilla warfare was in charge of publishing the menu-
~
were edited to remove advice on "neu-
'
a.lizing" Nicaraguan government of. "
tr I am not aware that there were any
rr e_ .. ..
...t- other ed b
ons
,
g
r.
The manuals "were given to some of Chamorro and others a draft" of the
During the Presidential debate Sun. our officers," he said. "I saw quite a manual "and they translated it
day right
" Mr
l
Presid
t R
.
,
.
en
eagan said few of them" in the rebels' headquar- i Chamono was in charge of editing, 1
C.I.A. officers in Central America and ters in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. "I was and somehow this terrible advice es
.
!n Washing on had edited the manual given one myself." caped and was printed
b-i ore it was printed, deleting material The only editing the manual received Assassinations Are Disputed
that was in violation of United States was by the rebels themselves, who
policy, 12 copies ~ escaped the NlD)ed two sand from some copies, Callej er the books were printed, Mr."
agency's editing process some way or pages 70 and-
other," the President said. Contract Employee Blamed prow?richfessional c icririmmin nals , The advice ri
pro hiring'
'
Today White House officials said the Also today, Stansfield Turner, who g C of
President had misspoken, meaning 'as director of the C.I.A. during the other t aas so the that they shooting deaths would be e-. '
ome
insurgents that only 12 copies of the manual had Carter Administration, said "the come martyrs.
been sent to Washington. Administra. President is trying to distance himself l - Mr. Callejas did quarrel with Mr:
Lion officials still "don't have all the in. from this controversy" by blaming it' harnalro's assertion that the rebels:
formation," one White House official on "a contract employee." J had assassinated Nicaraguan Govern-
said. . The White House has said the manual ment officials,
After a briefing today by C.I.A. offs- ! was written by "a low-level contract On Saturday, Mr. Chamorro said l.
employee" in Central America. But an interview: "We do believe in the as-;
vials, Senator Sam Nunn, Democrat of Mr. Turner said: "A contract em-
dinis-
Geo: gia, said he had been told that ployee isn't just somebody they found' Las are tyrants inn t the small villages.,'
-
"the term 'neutralization' was in all ; out on the street. It can mean a retired. the documents." agent brought back in. The only differ-l officMr. Cham~= used ial spokesman, ut Mbe the rebels!-
x. Calleja.s~
Senator Nunn and Senator Malcolm ence is that he isn't on the full-time said "he has not been authorized to
wallop, Republican of Wyoming, both Civil Service payroll." , speak for us since May." Mr.
of whom are members of the Senate In- Congressional staff members said to- said he was "shocked to read what Mr?
telligence Committee, attended the day that initial reports indicate the Chamarro said about executions.,'.
rIA b man identified as J h
Ki
"
---- -.""'? -I -a wcm aele.
ticns before some printings were made
and before some distributions were
made." But he added that all copies of
the manual "had some of what would
be called questionable to some and to
others offensive language, including
language relating to so-called 'neutral.
iz.ation.' "
Both Senator:; said that the C.I.A's
investigation was not complete and
that many questions had not been an.
swered.
n
r
That is totally against the polides`
nefing along with staff men- was a. C.I.A. employee during the Viet
hers. of our national directorate," he said.
nam era who retired and
back on contract recently
On. Sunday night, Mr. Reagan said I
"We have a gentleman down in Nicara-
gua who is on contract to the C.I.A. ad-
vising, supposedly, on military tac-
tics. "
"He drew up this manual"
d
manual, unedited, were printed by his j
own men in Honduras.
"This man carne down to give us ad-I
vice," Mr. Callejas added
"
ave M
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 Approved For Release
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WASHINGTON POST
23 October 1984
CIA Ex-Chief Cites
ohable `Excesses'
Turner Discusses Covert Operations
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
"There are going to be excesses"
in a "large-scale covert operation"
such as the one the Central Intel-
ligence Agency is conducting in
Nicaragua, former CIA director.,
Adm. Stansfield Turner said yes--.
ter?day.
Adding to that probability, he
said, was the Reagan administra-
tion's recall of "a lot of oldtime
[CIA] employes" to run the oper-
ation. "Some of them have not been
able to adapt to the [restrictions in
the] new - oversight process,"
Turner said at a breakfast with re-
porters.
Although he believes that under
his successor, William J. Casey, the
CIA has become "politicized" in its
intelligence analyses and has "over-
emphasized" covert operations,
Turner said he does not "think it is
out of control that much" compared
with 'the past. He recalled that in
the 1950s and 1960s, agents run-
ning CIA covert operations some-
times "deliberately" misled the di-
rector about their activities.
Turner began his discussion of,
"excesses" with the recently dis-
closed CIA pamphlet for guerrilla
operations in Nicaragua. The book-
let calls for kidnaping officials of the
Sandinista government and arrang-
ing the deaths of guerrilla members
to create martyrs.
"At least one [CIA contract em-
ploye] did not understand the rule
change" that says "don't do assas-
sinations," Turner said. He added
that he doubted that approval for
the pamphlet was taken very high in
the agency, saying it was "conceiv-
able the director did not know of
the manual."
He also described the situation in
Nicaragua as "an overt covert op-
eration" because of all the publicity
surrounding it. "You should operate
differently when you are under
scrutiny," Turner said, indicating
that he thought that the, adminis-
tration had not learned that lesson.
"You can't keep an, operation co-
vert," he added, "when it is contro-
versial in the body politic." -
In a broader sense, Turner said
the administration has "overempha-
sized" covert operations, promoting
some "that were not important to
national security."
When he took office in 1977,
Turner said, "there was no mean-
ingful covert action under way" be-
cause of the backlash from earlier
publicized CIA failures in Cuba and
in Chile.
"We had a substantial number of
covert actions under way., before we
quit," Turner said, but he criticized
the Reagan administration for add-
ing to that number.
In explaining the present trend,
Turner said: "To_ the degree that
the country has gone to the right,
there is a greater acceptance ...
that we should, do dirty tricks,
around the world to preserve' our
position."
He noted published reports that
covert operations had been under-
taken in Mauritius and Suriname.
Turner said he "had surveyed,"
while CIA director, "some of the
places where [this administration]
has gone in." He said he had decided
not to attempt some operations be=
cause the need was not that great
or "the chances of success were-not
overwhelming."
Turner backed up.his criticism of
Casey's supposed "politicization" of.
the CIA by citing the recent resig-,
nations of two analysts who main-`
tained that their findings had not
been accepted because they went
against administration policies.
On the other hand, he said he has
"sympathy" for Casey on this issue
because "sometimes analysts don't
understand" that the director does
not have to accept the opinions of
analysts.
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 E.R T I CITE APPEARED NEW YORK DAILY NEIr'S
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C6~
Washington (News Bureau)-Adm. Stansfield Turner, former
director of the Central Intelligence Agency, yesterday said he
believes that the Reagan administration is trying to overthrow the
Marxist government of Nicaragua.
"I don't believe the majority (of
Americans} want to have the CIA
overthrow the government of Nicar-
agua, and there's no way you can
justify it (the administration's not-so-
secret war) in any other terms ... not
only is it unjustifiable, it's illegal," he
said.
Turner spoke amid a growing con-
troversy over the Reagan administra-
tion's policies in Central America. In
the last several days, the White House
has sought to defuse two potentially
embarrassing incidents that could
bear on the election: Disclosure of a
CIA-written manual for the anti-
Nicaraguan rebels that advocates
political assassination and the crash
of a small U.S. plane carrying four
CIA employes in the mountains out-
side San Salvador, near the border
with Nicaragua.
oversight committees of Congress.
Originally, the Reagan administra-
tion-told Congress the U.S. supported
the rebels as a way to halt the passing
of weapons from Nicaragua to rebelq
in El Salvador fighting to overthrow,
the U.S.-backed government, But Tur-
ner insisted that in September 1982
there was "so little evidence" of arms
flow to the guerrillas that Secretary
of State Shultz told Congress the
purpose of U.S. aid to the rebels was
simply to contain the Nicaraguan
revolution within its own 'borders:.
THE PRESIDENT himself, in a
gaffe during Sunday night's televised
debate with Walter Mondale, admitted.
publicly for the first time the CIA's
involvement in the region's wars.
Turner denounced the rebel
manual as a "stupid" document. "It's
almost invevitable that in a covert
action of this scale, there are going to
be excesses and the excesses are
going to be uncovered," he said.
He said he believed the administra-
tion had called back "a lot of old-
time" CIA employes, purged in the
1970s, to direct the covert war to
topple the Sandinista government.
UNDER THE Carter administra-
tion, 172 CIA employes were fired or
retired. Turner said he wanted to
"rid" the agency of employes who
could not make the transition from
secret to open operations under the
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