LETTER TO HONORABLE WILLIAM J. CASEY FROM PARREN J. MITCHELL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83M00914R001800010010-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 10
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2007/05/10: CIA-RDP83M00914R001800010010-5
CONGRESSIONAL 8
IyHAIRMAN SMALL BUSINESS
COMMITTEE
SUBCOMMITTEESt
CHAIRMAN OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON
SBA AND SBIC AUTHORITY, MINORITY
ENTERPRISE AND GENERAL SMALL
BUSINESS PROBLEMS
BANKING. FINANCE AND
URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
DOMESTIC MONETARY POLICY
HOUSING
GENERAL OVERSIGHT
JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE.
SUBCOMMITTEF3x
INVESTMENT, JOBS AND PRICES
TRADE, PRODUCTIVITY AND ECONOMIC
GROWTH
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Conexe of the ?niteb btate
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1aztjington, ~.(C. 20515
September 2, 1982
Honorable William J. Casey
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505
Dear Mr. Casey:
LACK CAUCUS
.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA OFFICE[
2367 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON, A.C. 20515
[phone]
BALTIMORE DISTRICT OR1CESI
GEORGE FALLON FEDERAL BUILDING
Room 1018
31 HOPKINS PLAZA
BALnMORE, MARYLAND 21201
[phone]
1903 BLOOMINGDALE ROAD
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 21216
[phone]
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It has come tb my attention that the Central Intelligence (CIA)
has denied information to the families of the four American
churchwomen murdered in El Salvador.
I strongly urge that your agency respond to the requests
of these individuals for information regarding the deaths of
their family members. For your clarification, I have enclosed
a copy of a letter addressed to my office concerning this
issue for your perusal.
Thank you for taking.the time to listen to my views.
Parren J. Mitchell
Member of Congress
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25X1
June 30, 1982
Honorable Parren J. Mitchell
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Representative Mitchell:
My sister, Ita Ford, was one of the four American
churchwomen murdered in El Salvador on December 2, 1980. The
families of these women have been largely ignored or rebuffed
when they sought information from U.S. Government agencies about
the death of their sisters. Permit me to summarize some of the
difficulties faced by the families of the women, in their
efforts to learn what happened, and who directed and carried out
this terrible crime.
1. Secretary Haig and Ambassador Kirkpatrick have
smeared the good names of the women with suggestions that they
were political activists supporting the guerillas, and were
killed for their actions. As recently as April 20, 1982,
Ambassador Enders wrote to Mike Donovan, a brother of one of the
murdered women that two of the women were killed upon their.
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Hon. Parren J. Mitchell -2-
June 30, 1982
return from a meeting in Nicaragua with a Sandinista official.
This is not so, and Ambassador Enders knew it was not so when he
wrote the letter.,
2. For over a year, no real investigation was
conducted by the*Salvadoran government, our government did
nothing to push the Salvadorans, and so evidence has likely been
lost and the recollections of witnesses grow faint.
3. For over a year the families have been repeatedly
told by State and the F.B.I. that the Salvadorans had assembled
and were forwarding to the F.B.I. the fingerprints and weapons
of the approximately 85 National Guardsmen on duty the night of
the murders. This material has never reached the F.B.I. The
families have been given, by the F.B.I. and State, conflicting
and confusing stories about the role of the F.B.I. in the
investigations. It appears-that the F.B.I. may be troubled by
State's political rather than investigatory approach.
4. The F.B.I., C.I.A., State Department and Defense
Intelligence Agency have delayed and evaded responding to
requests for information made by the families. In fact, the
C.I.A..demanded proof from the families that the women were
dead, before it would consider the request. What' should our
government have to hide, about the murders?
5. The State Department and the Salvadorans insist
that only the five National Guardsmen now in custody in El
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Hon. Parren J. Mitchell -3-
June 30, 1982
Salvador were involved in the murders. There are clear and
convincing facts that the crime was ordered by high ranking
Salvadoran officials, yet the "investigation" has been
conducted to limit the ranks of the accused to low level'
enlisted personnel.
6. Evidence linking the murders of the women to the
same men accused of murdering the two American land reform
advisers has not been pursued.
7. The families are not told the current status of
the investigation, when and where the trial of the six will take
place and what arrangements will be made to have the families
represented at the proceeding, as provided by Salvadoran law.
The list of difficulties is longer, but that is a fair
sample of the list. The, difficulties the families have
experienced seem to come from a basic cause: the decision of
the United States government to support a government of
gangsters in uniforms.
I ask for your help in two ways:
1. Will you help the families to arrange a meeting
with the Director of the F.B.I. or his delegate, so the families
can learn the facts about the "investigation"?
.2. Will you request State, C.I.A, F.B.I. and Defense
Intelligence Agency to cooperate with the families' requests for
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Hon. Parren J. Mitchell -4-
June 30, 1982
documents relating to the death, and investigation of the
deaths, of the four women?
I will give you any specific background information
which I have and you want.
Thank you.
Sincerely kokirs
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