IN HIS OP-ED PIECE IN YOUR JULY 27 ISSUE, FORMER UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83M00914R001800010020-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 20
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2007/05/10: CIA-RDP83M00914R001800010020-4
Central Intelligence Agency
July 29, 1982
The Editor
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, New York 10036
To the Editor:
In his op-ed piece in your July 27 issue, former United States Ambassador
to El Salvador Robert:White placed a false interpretation on a piece in THE
WALL STREET JOURNAL of July 16, which reported me as saying, "For instance, we
helped in the El Salvador election. In Honduras, we put people through school
and gave them instruments that can detect how much metal a truck is carrying.
Some countries we help with photographic information, or sensors, or training
for anti-terrorist forces."
Mr. White takes only the first sentence, thus stripping the quotation of
detail. This frees him to convert "help in the election" to "meddle in the
election."
I was referring to the CIA's assistance in meeting a genuine concern on
the part of both the United States and El Salvador governments that the election
be held, and that people not be intimidated from voting.
The whole American television audience on the evening of the national
election in El Salvador saw with their own eyes how guerrilla forces succeeded
in aborting the election in the provincial capital of Usulutan by terrorizing
its citizens. We provided the El Salvador government with information and
capabilities which helped them to reduce the supply of weapons from Cuba and
Nicaragua and to break up guerrilla formations intended to destroy the election
by creating disruptive violence in other communities throughout El Salvador.
authorities
In addition, we provided El Salvador e
which could be placed on the wrist of each voter
under ultraviolet light. This was needed to assure an honest vote and to
protect voters from the retaliation with which the guerrillas had publicly
threatened anybody who voted.
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- -Approvedor Release 2007/05/10 CIA-RDP83MOO914R001800010020-4
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