TIME TO MEND FENCES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000400040001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 170
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 11, 2005
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 30, 1984
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R0
BALTIMORE SUN
30 April 1984
? 2ek
A-
)0400040001-2
Time to Mend Fences
President Reagan's top priority when he re-
turns from his China trip late this week should be
a major fence-mending effort on Capitol Hill. His
Central American policy has been blown all over.
the Washington landscape in a stormy clash be-
tween the legislative and executive branches. Mut-
,-
terings about bad faith and a loss of credibility are
louder than at any time since Mr. Reagan took of-
fice. Administration hardliners may be advising ,1
the president to hang-tough by threatening to hold
congressional critics ? especially Democrats
responsible .for any CommImist advances in the ':s:
Caribbean. But Mr. Reagan should be savvy
enough to reject such tactics.
Even CIA director William .1. Casey, a quintes-
sential hardliner, has found it prudent to apologize
to the Senate Intelligence Committee for provid-
ing inadequate briefings on the mining of Nicara-
guan harbors. The committee was also at fault in
not pursuing details on covert activities that were
widely reported in the press. But Mr. Casey, a key
player in Mr. Reagan's 1980 campaign, saw that'
the politics of the situation required the soothing
of ruffled senatorial feathers. To have balked
would have killed what little chance is left of get-..,.,
ting appropriations to fund Contra forces fighting
the Sandinista government.
Just what the president thinks of Managua's
Marxist regime was made clear, just before his
China trip, when he accused it of "savagely" mur-
dering Indian tribes, persecuting Christians, driv-
ing Jews into exile, censoring the press and re-
stricting business and labor organizations. This is
the kind of rhetoric that is supposed to rally the
people around'the president out of a fear of Com-
munism in the U.S. backyard. But it also is the
kind of talk that stirs fears of U.S. military inter-
vention in Central America ? a prospect that
-scores poorly in the opinion polls. ?
Barring an economic, downturn, which seems
unlikely, Mr. Reagan's greatest re-election liabil-
ity is the perception that he is too belligerent ?
too inclined to seek military solutions.
We would not want Mr. Reagan to minimize
what he considers a threat to U.S. national securi-
ty. But if he is to get the funding he needs tv.At3s-4,
tam n war-wracked El Salvador and to keepipres--
sure on-Nicaragua; he will have to improve hikad-
ministration's liaison with Capitol Hill. Congress
as a whole does not wish to pull the plug on Cen-
tral America, and Mr. Reagan has to take care not
to goad his critics into just such a course.
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000400040001-2
AppregerciVorpi
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ggI1161R16,-FTRAlpo9oi R000400
30 April 1984
CIA's 'covert war
leaves battle scars ?
By Terry Atlas
Chicago Tribune
? WASHINGTON?Although CIA Di-
rector William Casey made his
peace with angry senators last week,
their new accord left unsettled the
administration's controversial re-
quest for more money to support
Nicaraguan rebels.
What happens next depends heavi-
ly on the outcome of the May 6
presidential runoff election in El Sal-
vador, and the amount of lasting
political damage in Congress done
by disclosures of the CIA's not-so-
secret war against Nicaragua.
But it's clear that the Reagan ad-
ministration faces a difficult battle
to get the $21 million it says is
neecied to continue the "covert war"
against Nicaragua.
Aid to anti-Sandinista rebels, over-
whelmingly passed by the Republi-
can-controlled Senate before thepub-
lic flap over the CIA's role in mining
Nicaraguan harbors, is strongly op-
sed in the House, where Speaker
Thomas O'Neill [D., Mass.] has led
the Democratic opposition to the ad-
ministration's Central American pol-
icies.
HOUSE MAJORITY Leader James
Wright [D:, Tex.), who supports the
administration's request for more
military aid for El Salvador, said
last week that he doubts that a
majority of the House is willing to
approve even $7 million for the so-
called contras, who oppose Ni-
caragua's Marxist-oriented govern-
ment.
And Senate sources said that be-
cause of the controversy, a vote
there on covert aid would, at best,
pass by only a slim margin.
The administration, prohibited by
Congress from trying to topple the
Sandinistas; said aid to the anti-
Sandinista insurgents is necessary to
pressure the Marxist-oriented Ni-
caraguan government to stop sup-
rang leftist guerrillas in nearby El
&yawn Money for the U.S.-backed
insurgents will begin running out by
the end of this month,
But Wright said that public dis-
closures of CIA activities, which in-
clude directing last fall's attack on
Nicaragua's a supplies, and the re-
sulting controversy have ;eft the 9-
eration "-too thoroughly discreditec.'
to be continued.
-???
THE SENATE last month passed
an emergency appropriations bill
that included $21 million for the Ni-
caraguan rebels, along with $61.7
million in military and medical aid
for El Salvador, after rejecting by a
2-to-1 margin an amendment by Sen.
Edward Kennedy [D., Mass.] to end
funding for the rebels. The House cut
the Senate's figure for El Salvador to
?32.5 million, and provided no money
for the Nicaraguan rebels.
A Senate Republican leadership
aide said that continuation of the
covert aid is "in trouble," with sup-
port in the Senate undercut by the
recent controversy. But he added
that "there may be some way of
' salvaging it" in the House-Senate
conference committee.
As a-practical matter, congression-
al sources said members of the con:
ference committee are likely to
delay action on the two versions of
the bill until they see who wins the.
May 6 presidential runoff in El Sal-
vador.
Administration officials believe
that if moderate candidate Jose
Napoleon Duarte wins, as expected,
much of the congressional opposition
to President Reagan's aid package
. for Central America will vanish. ?
"Duarte's election will probably
set the stage for the administration
to get funding for El Salvador in
full," said a senior State Department
official who asked not to be identi-
fied.
HE CALLED AID to the
caraguan rebels less certain He said -
the administration may get less ,
money that it has asked for, but
"will squeeze out something to keep.
it going."
In its meeting with Casey, the
Senate Intelligence Committee didn't
address in detail the future of the.,
CIA's support for the contras, sever- -
al committee members said.
"That's for another day,"- ?said ,
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan
N.Y.], who withdrew his resignation,,
as vice chairman after Casey apolo-
gized to the committee for failing to
adequately inform it of CIA activi-
ties in Central America.
-
Senate sources said Casey's apOlo::
gy headed off the likelihood that the.
Intelligence Committee would -re:
verse course and vote to pull the
plug on the contras, which would'
have doomed the administration's::
Approved For Relea'aNb5/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000400040001-2
"I support the covert aid," Sen.
Lloyd Bensten [D., Tex.) said after,
the Intelligence Committee meeting:'
"And I think it can pass the Senate': ,
? -
THE SENATORS, embarrassed to.'
have been caught unprepared by dis-
closures of the CIA's involvement in ?
the mining, said their first priority
was to get a pledge from Casey that ?
he will better inform them in the
future.
More than a little senatorial e o
was involved in the matter.
senators, particularly -the-Republi--?
cans, were angered that House De- "
mocrats, who were more aggressive
in their pursuit of Casey during his,
briefings, apparently knew far more :
about the covert activities. One'
.
House member said the information
was available for any committee
member who asked the right ;
questions, an opportunity the sena-.
tors missed.
What the senators wanted from ,
Casey was a chance to put a damper,
on what some have caned his arra- :?
gant manner in dealing with Con-.
.gress. They got that, along with a
public apology and a promise to be,,
more forthcoming in sharing his po-
tentially embarrassing fcreign policy:
i
secrets n the future.
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R
A.F, T. I CIL' AP FE 132D
ON
BOSTON GLOBE
30 Apri 1 1984
00400040001-2
STA
an's Lahti' policy in disarray
By Pamela Constable
Globe Staff
WASHINGTON ? Until recently, the
Reagan Administration presented a _
united front on Central America. Its
policy seemed a juggernaut, carefully
-orchestrated by a handful of key con-
servative aides, while congressional op-
ponents floundered for an opening of
attack.
Today, there is a growing perception
,among both critics and supporters that.
the Administration is 'lurching from..-..
:noclear sense of where its regional poli-
.one political brushfire to the next, with
cy is headed, while top aides compete.
for
for influence and fail to cultivate con-
gressional allies.
At the same time, despite its recent
bipartisan vote condemning covert.
mining operations in Nicaragua, Con-
gress remains painfully ambivalent on
larger regional issues. Critics are afraid
to seriously challenge a popular Presi-
dent, while supporters are embarrassed
at Administration blunders, such as
-
-the failure to inform intelligence panels
of the mining or to adopt all the recam-
- mendations of the Kissinger COMMIS- 1
sion.
_ !
Administration officials assert their.
regional goals ? preventing a rebel vie--;
tory in El Salvador and pressuring the
left-wing Nicaraguan government into
negotiations ? have remained
; changed, and that their military-orientae
ed strategy for achieving those goals 1..(7,-
making progress.
' Privately, however, conservative
sources in in the Administration and on
'Capitol Hill now say they fear the policy
is being undermined by internal con-
flict and poor communicaflon among.,
--
decision-makers, by a lack of coherent.
planning, and by insensitivity to do- ,
mestic political concerns.
"The foreign policy management of
this Administration has been ghastly.
When I read about the mining. I almost
fell out of bed," said Mark Falcoff, an
analyst with the conservative Ameri-
can Enterprise Institute. "They haven't
thought through the policy, and they
have little sense of political reality."
"There are so many different groups
working on parts of the problem that
no one has a good overview. Decisions
are made on the basis of one-line
memos, and there is no free flow of dis-
cussion," added one former military an-
alyst who now works on Capitol Hill.
Among congressional supporters,
there is growing confusion over who is
actually in charge of policy-making. De-
spite the rising influence of military
and intelligence officials, sources say,
many day-to-day decisions are made on -
the advice of White Fouse aides who
have little experience in foreign policy,
and much expert advice never filters up
to-the President.
"A lot of good ideas never get proper-
ly staffed. There are too many actors,
and no one knows whom to go to," said
one Republican congressional aide.
"One day we're told it's (Kenneth) Dam
(an assistant secretary of state), the
? next day we're told it's (national securi-
ty adviser Robert) McFarlane. And with
problems like the mining, they keep
shooting their supporters in the back."
Ideologieally, observers say, there is
little disagreement among top officials
in the Pentagon, the ClA, the National
Security Council and trusted White
-House aides such as UN Ambassador
Jeane Kirkpatrick over the Administra-
tion's primary goal: to prevent the '
spread of-communism in Central Amer-
ica.
'Little interest exhibited
As the emphasis on strategies such
as troop maneuvers in Honduras and
covert operations against Nicaragua in-
creasingly replaces diplomatic ap-
proaches, analysts say, the views of
military and intelligence officials have
supplanted the more cautious advice of
professional-diplomats. Secretary. of _
, State George P. Shultz is seen as having .;
?Little interest in Central America, and
Langhorne Motley. deputy assistant .
secretary of state for inter-American af-
fairs, is viewed as an affable Adminis-
tration team player.
-
"The people who implement policy
always have the greater power in mak-
ing it," said Robert Pastor, a former for-
eign policy aide to the Carter Adminis-
? tration. "In Honduras, the Pentagon is
in the driver's seat-. hi Nicaragua, the
CU has been calling the shots. And our
negotiators are on such a tight leash
. that it's impossible for them to achieve
anything."
Yet a number of observers suggest
that even within the military and Intel-
. ligence communities, there is growing
dissent over the direction of Central
-American policy. Pentagon officials are
-anxious to avoid the embarrassment of
r another Vietnam-like military, quag-
' mire. sources say:At the CIA, they add,
high-level officials have been appalled
at the clumsy handling-of US covert op-
erations against Nicaragua, and doubt
::,they will be able to force its regime into ?
political concessions.
"Some people are convinced that
military pressure is a valid instrument
against the Sandinistas, but I have a
_ lot more doubts about that than I did a 1
year ago," said one Administration
source. "I'm no longer sure whether
there is a connection between the
means and the ends of our policy in
Nicaragua."
Another Administration source dis-
- agreed, saying that continued military
,,pressure is the only strategy that can
convince the Sandinistas to abort their
regional revolutionary aims. "I'm not
afraid of Vietnam. I'm afraid of Mu-
'a-Web," he said, referring to the 1939
summit at which European leaders
ac-
cepted Hitler's promise of limited ex-
.:, pansionistic goals.
. The recent contretemps over revela-
tions of CIA involvement in the mining
of Nicaraguan ports. observers say,
highlighted both strategic conflicts and
political ineptitude within the Adminis-
tration. While some top advisers al-
ready see covert operations as a no-win
substitute for true regional policy, the
White House has -now further damaged
its -case by failing to take important
congressional allies into its confidence,
thus requiring a belated apology from
CIA director William Casey. .
Both 'hands behind their backs'
As one conservative congreSsional
aide familiar with the issue explained
it, "the Administration couldn't sell its
policy, so they decided to make it secret,
but then they did a crummy job of ex-
plaining it to the only groups who can
et intelligence operations into the pub-
4&1801408fil1idg. So now they have.
Citoiinvi/EP
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CIA Should Stay Out of Po icy
Involvement There Hinders Vital intelligence-Gathering RITA:
TAT
By ERNEST CONINE
Assume that the situation of the anti-
Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua grows hope-
less and that U.S. intelligence sources in the
area pass the word to Washington. Can
anybody imagine William J. Casey, director
of the Central Intelligence Agency, march-
ing to the White House and telling President
Reagan that the CIA's not-so-secret war in
the region is doomed to failure?
The answer is self-evident, which means
that maybe it is time to consider what might
be done to discourage CIA chiefs from
becoming involved in policy-making.
It is hard for close readers of newspapers
or magazines to go longer than a month or
two without reading an interview in which
Casey assures us that the Boss is on the right
track in his policies toward the Soviet
Union, the Middle East or Nicaragua. Is that
really an appropriate function for the head ,
of the CIA, who by definition is supposed to
provide the President and other policy-
makers with objective information and anal-
yses on what is happening in the world
outside our borders? Surely not.
What we need is a tradition of CIA
directors who look an interviewer straight
in the eye and say that assessing the wisdom
or stupidity'of policies being pursued by an
Administration in power is none of their ?
business, that their only job is to provide
reliable intelligence. It would be nicer still if
CIA chiefs would tell Presidents and White
House advisers that they would rather not
offer advice on policy questions, and would
prefer to limit themselves to presenting ?
intelligence that. -policy-makers 'need in
choosing among alternative actions.
Unfortunately, it's unlikely -to .happen.
There have been notable exceptions, but
Presidents tend to appoint CIA chiefs who
are personally close and/or politically relia-
ble. Casey is a case in point; he has an
intelligence background, but is first and
foremost a Reagan man. -
Unlike British or Soviet intelligence
chiefs, American CIA directors are public
figures who appear on television and are
interviewed in newspapers. They make
speeches and give public testimony before
congressional committees. All of this means
that they are thrust into the role of
advocates for Administration policy.
. Less visible-, but -perhaps more important,
is the ?fact that, they can come under
pressure to tailor intelligence assessments
to support policy. During the Carter Admin-
istration, the Senate Intelligence Committee
worried that the much-publicized CIA study.
of Soviet oil production was being manipu-
lated by the White House to develop support
for the Carter energy program:
:.Justly or. not, some people in the intelli-
gence communityltself charged that Adm.
Stansfield Turner, then head of the CIA, was
distorting intelligence estimates to make
them dovetail with the Carter Admin-
istration's foreign policy.
As one critic said at the time, "The great
trap of intelligence is to search for evidence
supporting your own view. .1f you have
access to policy-makers, you can become
sensitized into. justifying their decisions."
The temptation is. especially strong when
the CIA chief becomes directly involved in
policy-making, and stronger still when the ?
CIA is itself involved in covert operations.
When the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of
Cuba turned into a deeply embarrassing
fiasco for President John F. Kennedy, it was -
pretty obvious that the failure was due in
part to faulty intelligence that over-
estimated the likelihood of an anti-Castro
PPY, IF I FIND
OUT wiAATs
Got -.""
T) BE FuR1ou5.I.
uprising in support of the invaders. Would
the CIA have done a better job if it had not
been running the invasion? A lot of people
thought so. For a time there was serious
debate as to whether covert military opera-
tions should be done by the CIA, with the
recurring danger of warping the agency's
intelligence function, or by special units
-.within the Defense Department.
.Nothing was.done, partly because -there
are some good arguments against such 'it'
shift in jurisdiction. But the question is still :
relevant, as demonstrated by the example of
Casey and covert operations in Nicaragua.
With some reason. Congress is in another
of its periodic bouts of disillusionment with
CIA involvement in covert military opera-
tions. But the mood will pass. As former
Deputy CIA Director Bobby R.. Inman once
said, ,'Every Administration ultimately -
turns to the use of covert operations when
they become frustrated about the lack of'
coatinuati
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maliMm
STAT
TICLE APPEARED WASHINGTON TIMES
AR
1z_.2.2.T.ry.ved For Release 200?P11428j.-tIA9kbP91-00901R0 0400040001-2
.4?'- '- ------
BOCK REVIEW! Charles M. Lichenstein
eg's effort at
tant revisionism
To the Finland Station,
-amund Wilson subtitled the
vction on Lenin, "He identi-
es himself with history."
Trp isy, in pointed contrast, said
?ilson, "identifies history with
^
Mr. Trotsky, meet Al Haig..
The publication of Caveat ?
v a:ch, let heaven forfend, the for-
r.,er secretary of state hints may be
but the first in a series ? is one of
those great non-events in the his-
tory of literature, or memoirs, or
backstairs gossip, or even indeed in
the history of history. Snitching in
self-defense is still snitching. And
insofar as Gen. Haig is up to some
serious, substantial purpose,
beyond simply fattening his take on
the rubber-chicken circuit, the
unrelenting pettiness, the self-
justification, and the glorification
with the ever-present "I am" cause
the eyes to wander and the mind to
glaze over. This may be "setting the
record straight" but it is not neces-
sarily what_ happened. I know
-15.66-aiise, even as an ant among ele-
phants, I was there. .
- What did happen during Mr.
Haig's 18 months as "vicar" was
that U.S. foreign policy was formu-
lated, debated, articulated, imple-
mented. Some of that policy was
good and effective. Some of it was
bad and ineffective. Entirely too
*much of it, good and bad, was made
on the front pages of elite news-
papers, through leaks, on the basis
of unnamed "sources." A lot of peo-
ple took part: William P. Clark,
Jeane Kirkpatrick, William Casey, ;
Caspar Weinberger, Larry Eagle-
burger, senators, congressmen,
sometimes even a president named
Reagan. And of course Alexander ?
Haig. Memos became optioniation
papers, which became statements
and speeches and press conference
,Q&As and the stuff of talk shows
and interviews, by all those named
labove and then some. :The process
was messy. It still is. Occasionally,
falmost coincidentally.:_the U.S.
national interest is served. Often it
is not. And books like Caveat, an
exercise in instant revisionism,
help not at all: to the overall mes-
siness, they add vaulting egoism,
bias, tunnel vision, and partiality.
This is really too bad. Gen. Haig
deserves better. His grasp of strate-
gic design in foreign policy is not
inconsiderable. On. 'more issues
than not ? the Middle East, arms
control, southern Africa, the threat
of state-sponsored terrorism,
Soviet imperialism ? he was and is
more right than wrong. Even on
Central America (where he was
conspicuously not, as he claims,
"virtually alone," where his allies
were named Reagan and Kirkpat-
rick and Casey), his recognition
both of the roots of the conflict and
of the nature of the imminent dan-
ger is precise and compelling.
But here especially Mr. Haig's
worst enemy. is Mr. Haig. His nig-
gling, contemptuous disregard of
the role of Jeane Kirkpatrick, to
cite one recurring example, and his
outrageous misrepresentation of
h?e?r public posture during the Falk- I
. lands crisis? he stops just short of '
, an accusation of outright disloyalty '
and lays it Off-dri Britiih'percep-
tion" of her private pot-stirring ?
- rewrite history and undermine his
own credibility as a witness to it.,
Because of a friendship of sev-
eral decades and because rnY admi-
ration of Jeane Kirkpatrick
borders on awe, I cannot let this
particular point lie. All through the
book, Gen. Haig goes out of his way
to nut her down W. put her in.her:.
"place" as a pushy (if intellectuallY''
formidable) sort of."Mrs." Where ?
. others dufing the transition drop ?
by to. talk substance, she registers
complaints about personal perks.
Her superbly successful negoti-
ation with the foreign minister of
Iraq on the bombing of the Osirik
reactor is never mentioned: we had
"some differences of opinion on.
this question!' Her trenchant ana-
lysis and recommendations of U.S.
options in reaction to the imposition
of martial law in Poland are
reduced to a "not unnatural
wish" to take the issue to the U.N.
Security Council.
So, in the end, we have ba citing
and biting back. As I've said, hat is
too bad. Al Haig almost certainly is
capable of more and better than
that. His promise of subsequent
installments holds out the possibil-
ity at least of serious, substantive
reflections on the Reagan adminis-
tration and U.S. foreign policy ?
but I don't think I'll hold my breath
in anticipation.
_
? Charles M. Lichenstein, deputy
U.S. representative to the United
Nations Security Council from
1981-84, is now a senior fellow at
The Heritage Foundation.
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Washington Mk-jowt.
Anti-Casey. Grumbling at the CIA.
Members of Congress aren't the only
ones upset at the "secret war" in Nica-
ragua being directed by Central Intel-
ligence Agency chief William Casey.
Growing numbers of CIA veterans
fear that the operation is exposing the
agency to exactly the sort of pounding
from the press and lawmakers that
tore it apart a decade ago. Their ur-
gent plea: Leave paramilitary opera-
tions to the Pentagon.
* * *
* * *
There's an outside chance that Daniel
Moynihan might withdraw his resig-
nation as vice chairman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee. Fellow
Democrats are urging the New York
lawmaker, who quit over the CIA's
mining of harbors in Nicaragua, to
stay on because nobody else in line
for the post carries his prestige.
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ON PAGE /2 30 April 19814
o 2iace Left t
In rebuilding the CIA, Casey has made missteps and infuriated Congress
y most of the usual tests, William
J. Casey has amply fulfilled his
1981 pledge to lead the Central
Intelligence Agency to "good new
days." The decimated spy agency he took
over as director at the start of Reagan's
term has been fattened by budget in-
creases that not even the Pentagon can
match in percentage terms. Staff has mul-
tiplied, intelligence collection and analy-
sis have vastly speeded up. Morale has
soared as public animosity engendered by
the assassination plots and other "dirty
tricks" of the 1960s and '70s has faded.
The agency is again recruiting on college
campuses, where its initials were once re-
garded as an anagram of evil.
But by another test the agency at
times seems to be heading straight back to
the bad old days. Once more, relations be-
tween the CIA and Congress are being en-
veriomed by mutual distrust and anger.
Prominent members of both parties
charge that Casey not only broke interna-
tional law by having the CIA mine three
Nicaraguan harbors, but flouted the agen-
cy's obligation to keep the intelligence
committees of Congress "fully and cur-
rently- informed of what it was doing. For
his part. Casey, in the words of one of his
Administration colleagues, "views Con-
gress as a bunch of meddlers, messing
around in his business."
Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, a
member of the Senate Intelligence Com-
mittee, warns that support for the CIA is
eroding because "many Republicans and
Democrats in Congress are saying that
they consider Mr. Casey's credibility to be
at an alltime low." Storms Minnesota Re-
publican Senator David Durenberger:
"There is no use in our meeting with Bill
Casey. None of us believe him. The cava-
lier, almost arrogant fashion in which he
has treated us as individuals has turned
the whole committee against him." To
dramatize his protest that Casey kept
the group in the dark about the Nicaragua
mining, New York Democrat Daniel Pat-
rick Moynihan vows to resign as vice
chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee.
Some Administration officials are
concerned that Casey will never be able to
restore enough trust in Congress to win
continued funding for the covert opera-
tions that are the CIA director's special
pride. Indeed, there are whispers around
the White House from pragmatists as well
as a few hard-liners that the best service
Casey could now perform for the CIA
would be to quit.
There is little chance that Casey or his
boss, Ronald Reagan, will heed or even
hear such advice. Casey, who managed
Reagan's 1980 campaign, is closer to Rea-
gan than perhaps any previous CIA direc-
tor has been to his President.
He has become one of the driving
forces in setting?as well as carrying
out?U.S. policy toward Nicaragua. The
Administration asserts that its aim is to
harass the Sandinista government until it
stops trying to foment Communist revolu-
tion throughout Central America. The
main instrument for achieving this is CIA
training, arming and financing of the con-
tra guerrillas who are waging war against
the Sandinistas.
Many lawmakers have long been
afraid that the CIA backing of the contras
would drag the U.S. into a war against
Nicaragua, and Casey's briefings did not
always reassure them. One Senator told
TIME last week that the CIA director once
went so far as to present a plan for a possi-
ble eventual partition of Nicaragua be-
tween a Sandinista regime in the west and
a contra-ruled state in the east. Though
the congressional committees cannot veto
any OA activities outright, they can, in
Moynihan's words, "push and pull" the
agency away from dubious schemes (as
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R0004000400ThV"d
NEWSWEEK
Approved For Release 200V1V213i1C114-RIDID91-00901R00
1 ..1.1. \
0i'il.,...
A frustrated Congress is
administration is 'casually
Congress took its Easter recess last week,
but there was no break in its building
fury at the Reagan administration. Recent
revelations that Reagan's CIA has been
directly involved in military operations
against the Nicaraguan government?with-
out Congress's full knowledge?frustrated
and embittered legislators in both parties.
'We've been used," complained House In-
telligence Committee Democrat Norman
Min eta. The White House, said Republican
ords
Front
worried that the Reagan
playing war' in Nicaragua.
ollary, that the CIA is unilaterally
running the war?immediately threatened
critical elements of administration policy.
The extraordinarily lopsided congressional
vote against using more U.S. funds to mine
Nicaraguan harbors-84 to 12 in the Senate,
281 to 111 in the House?presages a fierce
struggle over the president's latest aid re-
quest for the U.S.-supported contra rebel-
lion against the Sandinista government in
Nicaragua and, to a lesser extent, the gov-
eminent in El Salvador. But the
breach between Congress and
the administration could have
even more far-reaching ef-
fects--especially in an election
year. Even the normally san-
guine White House acknowl-
edged that Reagan's standing
with Congress has suffered
widespread and lasting dam-
age. "There's a feeling they
were not dealt with in good
faith, that they were misled,"
says a presidential adviser.
'Nasty': Proof, if any was
needed, lay in the bitter resig-
nation of Sen. Daniel Patrick
Moynihan from his post as vice
chairman of the Intelligence
Committee. "Something went
wrong," Moynihan explained,
"and the seriousness of this
must be expressed." In particu-
lar, he protested a "breach
of faith"---misleading admin-
istration briefings suggesting
that the contras, and not the
CIA, had mined Nicaraguan
harbors to destabilize the coun-
try's economy. That breach has
apparently convinced some
senators that Congress should
exact revenge. Tired of playing?and los-
ing?a cat-and-mouse game with the CIA to
secure intelligence that it is legally entitled
to, the Senate may try to force CIA Director
William Casey to be more responsive.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is
considering requiring Casey to testify under ?
oath when he next appears, a procedure that
has usually been abandoned in the name of
collegiality; in addition, it is contemplating
ttel?u?- 'ag
VayM-MVprO R000400040001-2
Casey (above), Moynihan: 'Something went wrong'
Sen. David Durenberger, a member of the
Senate Intelligence Committee, has treated
Congress with contempt: "The folks down
there think we're a bunch of yahoos." But
behind the intramural squabbling was a
deeper concern?that the administration,
by its ? secretive machinations, has bungled
U.S. policy in Central America. While Con-
gress was kept in the dark, warned Demo-
cratic Sen. Fritz Hollings, the administra-
tion has been "just cas llv nlaying war." sendina Casey. 4,.71.,ek
That widely held co OtgleAtRfcgele4PV4PRIVOK-al?
T,AT
P400040001-2
activities?and demanding a response with-
in 48 hours. "It starts to get very nasty," says
a committee staffer. The frustration over the
CIA's failure to keep Congress fully in-
formed is compounded by genuine confu-
sion over what is actually being accom-
plished in Central America. "I have no idea
whether we are making any progress," says
?
D urenberger, who has supported the mon ey
for covert operations in Nicaragua.
Last week's developments only added to
the confusion. Bolstered by new recruits and
arms, the -Costa Rican-based Democratic
Revolutionary Alliance (ARDE), led by
Eden Pastora?the legendary "Command-
er Zero" of the Sandinista revolution?was
reveling in its first notable military victory.
But after occupying the small coastal fishing.
village of San Juan del Norte for three days,
ARDE forces retreated into the hills in the
face of a strong Sandinista ground-and-air
counterattack. The Sandinista Air Force
devastated what was left of San Juan del
Norte, dropping 500-pound bombs from
Soviet-built MI-8 helicopters and 0-2 "push
and pull" spotter planes. "Our objective is
not to defend [fixed] positions," said Pastora
in a taped message from an undisclosed
location following the retreat. "We are fight-
ing a guerrilla offensive."
'Crocodiles': One U.S. official hailed the
"m ajor psych ologi cal impact" of th e ARDE
effort. However, diplomatic sources in
Costa Rica questioned how much it really
meant. "If it weren't for its political signifi-
cance," said one, "the Sandinistas could just
leave Pastora down there to rot." Pastora
'44
....Approved For Release 2005/11/2q.i1,9A-RIDPrin9NEV040069040001-2
30 April 1984
Pitchman of the Power House
How top Lobbyist Bob Gray makes friends and sells influence
?yr here was a time when lobbyists were
discreet, working their deals behind
closed doors. But Robert Keith Gray is a
new breed of lobbyist, preferring to
enter by the front door and stay in the
limelight.
The dapper. polished Gray, 62. is the
founder and president of Gray & Co., an
86-member lobbying and public relations
firm located in a lavishly decorated for-
mer generating plant in Georgetown im-
modestly named the Power House. His of-
fice is decorated with photographs of him
shaking hands with every President since
Dwight Eisenhower. "With appreciation
and warmest friendship," says a
photo inscription from Ronald
Reagan. whose Inauguration cere-
monies Gray helped arrange. _By
day he likes to be seen with his pals
in high places. including CIA Direc-
tor William Casey. Senator Paul
Laxalt and most of the Cabinet. By
night, if his friends have to work,
Bachelor Gray squires their wives ip
to so many Washington panics that
he claims he wears out two tuxedos
a year.
Gray cultivates his connections
by hiring people on the basis of
whom they know. "I only want the
stars," he says. It is a policy that
gets him publicity, not always wel-
come. Four months ago. Gray hired
Alejandro Orfila. the Secretary-
General of the Organization of
American States and former Ar-
gentine Ambassador to the U.S., at
$25,000 a month. At the time Or-
fila, who is an accomplished Wash-
ington socializer, was still working
for the O.A.S. and collecting his
$88,000-a-year salary. He contin-
ued working as both a diplomat and
a member of Gray & Co. until his
resignation from the O.A.S. on
March 31. Last winter, a black limousine
with diplomatic plates that read "OAS 8"
was often seen idling outside the Power
House. while Orfila worked within. Al-
though Orfila insists that he did no lobby-
ing while he was on both payrolls and that
he was moonlighting from the O.A.S. on
accumulated leave time, the O.A.S. this
month rebuked him and began an investi-
gation of his nine years in office. A few
days later. Gray was back in the news for
getting Ursula Meese a job running a
small foundation. The wife of embattled
Presidential Counsellor Edwin Meese. she
has maintained that she took the 540.000-
a-year job as executive director of the
foundation at American University in
early 1982 because her family needed the
money. She still has the pofipproved For
For all his intimate connections, how-
ever. Gray is not just a political fixer. The
rules of lobbying have changed since the
days when the legendary Thomas ("Tom-
my the Cork") Corcoran could pick up the
phone and deliver the goods for a client.
As federal regulations have grown ever
stricter in the past 15 years, the number
of registered lobbyists has quadrupled.
There are now about 6.500, or just over
twelve for every member of Congress. But
while this growing cacophony of special-
interest groups is fighting to be heard, lob-
bying has become more open, thanks to
the full-disclosure demands of the post-
Watergate era.
What Gray offers
is a prized .Wash-
6
the persuaders," he explains. "But today's
lobbyist has to be a straight shooter."
Contends Staffer Frank Mankiewicz, who
until last year ran National Public Radio:
"He's a small-town boy, like Ronald Rea-
gan. In a small town, you help your
friends."
Gray, who was born in Hastings,
Neb.. is a good deal more than just a
small-town boy grown big. He is a Har-
vard Business School graduate who since
going to Washington as a low-level offi-
cial in the Eisenhower Administration
has had the knack for cultivating the pow-
erful of both parties. He left the public re-
lations firm of Hill & Knowlton Inc. in
1981 to build a company that by 1983 was
earning 511 million a year. He owns 75%
of Gray & Co.'s stock, and enjoyed a sala-
ry last year of $401,500.
Gray has produced results for many
?clients, including the government
of Turkey, which has little support
in Congress. The powerful Greek
ilobby was determined to trim back
Turkey's military aid last year, but
Gray sent Lobbyist Gary Hymel, a
former top aide to House Speaker
Tip O'Neill, to work on House lead-
ers. Martin Gold, former counsel to
Senate Majority Leader Howard
Baker, was sent by Gray to deal
with Republican leaders in the Sen-
ate. Turkey ended up getting more
military aid out of Congress than
the year before.
"1141;
At the Capitol: "Today's lobbyist has to be a straight shooter"
A small-town boy who gets along, at $350 an hour.
ington commodity called access. His spe-
cialty is the returned phone call. "A Bob
Gray can get your case heard," says Jack
Albertine, president of the American
Business Conference. Declares the New
Republic columnist TRB: "Gray's firm
has broken new ground in the brazenness
with which it presents itself as selling not
legal services or even public relations, but
connections pure and simple."
Gray maintains these connections by
performing small favors. like getting the
job for Ursula Meese or helping Nancy
Thurmond, the wife of Senator Strom
?Thurmond. Republican of South Caroli-
na, organize charity balls. (He once put
Mrs. Thurmond on his payroll, but criti-
Viilnrtsrn of
ft.10151.C2ti I IVA ra
sto
asks for favors in return. "There was a
time when booze, blonds and bribes were
Such services do not come
cheap. The firm often charges
clients both a monthly retainer and
high hourly fees. An hour of Gray's
time costs 5350. Says a former em-
ployee: "Suddenly, at the end of the
month, the client is hit with a
$40.000 or $50.000 bill. He says,
'My God, what have I gotten for
this?'" Sometimes little more than
a handshake. One arms dealer paid
Gray 565.000 to help him make his
case to the Pentagon on a foreign
spare-parts deal. Gray set up a
meeting for the client with Defense
Secretary Caspar Weinberger, but the
arms dealer did not get the contract. Nor
can Gray always deliver the handshake.
The National Food Processors paid him a
major fee largely in the hope that he
could - persuade President Reagan to
speak at their annual convention in early
February. The President declined.
Gray insists that he will not take on
just any client, and hints that he has
turned away the government of Libya
and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. But how
?did he know, for instance, that more mili-
tary aid for Turkey was in the national
interest? "I always check these situations
out with Bill Casey.- says Gray, dropping
like a brick the name of his friend the CIA
like
tialqtPitrmlo be ntliee-ntrillsehyipcsan be
marketed. ?By Evan Thomas. Reported by
David Beckwith and lay Branegan/Washinelon
IAI
preked For Release 2005/1M: CIA-
30 April 1984
VTL7E
Mystery Money
A new Meese puzzle
yIIet another cloud has appeared over
the troubled nomination of Presiden-
tial Counsellor Edwin Meese as U.S. At-
torney General: a tax-exempt Reagan
Administration transition fund, headed
by Meese in 1980-81, that refuses to reveal
where its private donations came from
and where much of its money went. The
New York Times reported last week that
the fund has even refused to open its
books to a federal audit. The disclosure
led Senate Judiciary Committee Member
Ted Kennedy to ask Jacob Stein, the spe-
cial prosecutor looking into allegations
raised against Meese, to include the fund
in his probe. A source close to the investi-
gation insisted that Stein, with his far-
ranging mandate to sort out the tangled
Meese affair, will almost surely decide to
look into the matter.
Meese served as president and the only
salaried director of the Presidential Tran-
sition Foundation Inc., set up to plan the
transfer of executive power from the Car-
ter Administration to Reagan's team...The
other directors were William Casey, now
CIA director, and Verne On, now Secretary
of the Air Force. In addition to receiving $2
million in operating expenses from the
Government and $250,000 from the Presi-
dent's campaign treasury,
F., the foundation raised
$688,931 from unidenti-
?6fied private donors, ac-
:cording to its tax return.
No limit was set on the
amount people could do-
nate, but On said at the
time that single contribu-
tions were being limited to
a maximum of $5,000. The
foundation also promised
Edwin Meese that its books would even-
tually be made public.
1
tir R000400040001-2
DC_
That never happened. The fund de-
clined a request by the General Accounting
Office (GAO) in 1981 to provide an account-
ing of privately raised receipts and their
disbursement. A similar request to the
White House in 1981 produced a vague
promise that it was "attempting to formu-
late a response," according to the GAO.
Even though the foundation has claimed
tax exemption, the Internal Revenue Ser-
vice has never approved that status. Noting
that the IRS is headed by a presidential ap-
pointee, Kennedy asked, "Why has it not
audited the foundation?" If the transition
fund is not tax exempt, the donors of the
$688,931 could not claim tax deductions.
Meese's attorney, E. Robert Wallach,
said that "explicitly, Meese didn't handle
fund raising, he didn't handle disburse-
ments." Another member of his legal
team, Leonard Garment, promised that if
Prosecutor Stein decides to probe Meese's
role at the foundation, "we are prepared
to answer all of his questions." ?
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NEW YORK
30 April 1984
- ? - ---Apurgved For Rel, -00901R000400
The National nterest/ ael arner
THE -11130.'ZIONI THAT
ULD REALLy TTSEt
D'Aubuisson (center) campaigning: A death sentence for U.S. aid)
Big Stakes in El Salvador
THREE ia't ELECTIONS OF THE 1984 SEA...-
son will soon be held within four days of
one another. On May 5, Texas will hold
its caucuses, and although Gary Hart's
high-tech message should do?well in the
Southwest, the smart money is on Wal-
ter Mondale. And three days later, on
May 8, the Ohio primary should further
confirm Mondale's appeal to Democrats
in the industrial Midwest.
In between these contests, on May 6,
an even more important election will
take place, in El Salvador?the runoff
between Napoleon Duarte and Roberto
d'Aubuisson for the Salvadoran presi-
dency. The Democrats may have their
attention fixed on Texas and Ohio, but
the Reagan administration has its mind
firmly set on El Salvador. With the Mid-
die East receding as a flash point (at
least for now) and the recent Soviet suc-
cession diverting attention from the ad-
ministration's reluctance to reopen arms
talks, Central America stands as the key
foreign-policy issue of the 1984 cam-
paign. A victory by d'Aubuisson, a for-
mer army officer linked to the death
squads, would be disastrous not only for
El Salvador but for Ronald Reagan's
Central .4--nerican policy as well. D'Au-
buisson's prescription is more killing.
He believes the bulk of El Salvador's
trouble is generated by about 5,000 sub-
versives (besides thAppithigrFfigihAtill
as guer:illas), and he would "wipe them
out." D'Aubuisson may well be engag-
ing in campaign hyperbole, but if he is
elected, Congress will probably cut off
American aid before waiting to find out.
Duarte, on the other hand, is a con-
ciliator. He has said he will conduct a
"dialogue" with the guerrillas, and while
he has steadfastly refused to define his
terms; it is understood that some con-
crete attempt at peacemaking would be
his first priority. Duarte is not only ac-
ceptable to the administration's con-
gressional critics, he is acceptable to the
administration itself. "God, how we
want Duarte to win," says a senior ad-
ministration aide. "He gives us cred-
ibility?and more important, as we head
into an election here, he gives us time.
His presidency would be like the Cher-
nenko ascendancy. All sides will have to
permit Duarte time to work his magic.
And for sure we'll support whatever he
does. Duarte can get us off the hook."
The catch is whether the Salvadoran
military, which continues to wield the
real power, will permit Duarte to govern
effectively. The very same military stole
the 1972 election from Duarte, and.when
he finally did become president, in the
early '80s, he was little more than a fig-
urehead. Back then, Duarte's contempt
for the military he theoretically oversaw
was the region's worst-kept secret. "AJI
they know is how to kill," Duarte. told
me two years ago. "They want to keep on
protecting the rich, and as long as there
ae't2oetspievii2s globviRDiztmiz000bsi
that's exactly how they'll continue to
operate."
To hear the White House tell it, the
Salvadoran armed forces are now a
model of professionalism. But the death
squads still roam at will, which they
couldn't do without the military's ac-
quiescence. And the new military com-
mander, General Vides Casanova, has
himself been implicated in the cover-up
surrounding the murder of the Ameri-
can churchwomen four years ago.
Assuming Duarte wins, will the
army permit him to talk with the guer-
rillas and institute the sweeping land-
redistribution program he has prom-
ised? When Duarte tried economic re-
forms during his presidency, they
were quickly undermined by the legisla-
ture's actions, something that couldn't
have happened without the military's
tacit blessing.
. For the record, Duarte now says that
the army is "better," that it has
"changed," and he obviously hopes for
an accommodation. Whether he gets it
will depend on how far he wants to go
and how quickly. Duane figures his best
chance would be to act swiftly. He be-
lieves the army would realize that Amer-
ican aid would end if the military staged
a coup or otherwise crippled his presi-
dency. The White House concurs in this
analysis?and is keeping its finger
crossed. "We've made it as clear as we
can," says a State Department official.
"If Duarte wins and is rendered irrele-
vant, then we're out of there. We think
the message has gotten through. If it has,
we'll have a defensible position in El ,
Salvador at least through the fall elec..-
tion here. Whether we'll have the same
kind of 'bye' in Nicaragua is a whole
different question."
Yes, it is.
Tnanks mainly to the C.I..A.'s mining
of-Nicaragua's harbors, the administra-
tion is now facing congressional re-
sistance to the continued funding of the
American-supported counterrevolu-
tionary operations directed against the
Managua regime. The mining may have
been sound tactically?another weapon
in the war to pressure the Sandinistas to
cease their support of the Salvadoran
guerrillas?but the international and
domestic backlash offsets the gain.
Part of the current flap is justified.
Mining is a legitimate act of war?
whether declared or not?but it is nor-
mally undertaken openly so that neutral
vessels have fair warning. The C.I.A.'s
0004000410001n2 which was bound
surface sometime, has only heightened ,
the outcry. As for the agency's briefing
ARTICLE APPARKPved For ReleastigiNgVigit-RDP91-00901
ON PAGE 10, Sec. I 30 April 1984
What a relief;
Relax, everyone. You can sleep a little easier
? tonight, comforted in the knowledge that Daniel
? Patrick Moynihan has reversed his decision to
as vice chairman of the Senate Select
:Committee on Intelligence. .
?,. The man so inattentive to matters important
to his committee that he did not even read his
`,0W11 staff report on the mining of Nicaraguan
:harbors has again lent the country his eyes and
17ears. The New York senator so outraged be-
' 'Ca:use the report telling of:the CIA's role in the
,..inining wasn't underlined in red is .once 'again
'poised to wield the mighty .hammer of his
eadership over the intelligence proceduresof
R000400040001-2
I
Mr. Moynihan
the United States.
Mr. Moynihan agreed to stay on 'after. CIA
Director William J. Casey apologized to the
committee for not having kept Congress ade-
quately informed of.--the mining operation, .
which for weeks had been oneof Washington's
- most open .secrets.
It seems .that Mr. Moynihan was one of the
few people. in Washington not aware of the
mining...-Among the new procedures the com-
mittee Might ir.nplernent.fis the purchase of a
= - trumpet :.Mr. Casey can use to -awaken Mr.
Moyailian" to key element's in upcoming CIA
briefings
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ti LEApptEMM o r Re lease490q/c1A282-RDP91-00901R00
?
CZ RAGE 2-- 29 April 1984
Casey,?Senate-
Patch .Things
On Nicaragua
Willianagt..Casey,:the Director of -
Central Intelligence, must have
found it awkward, to apologize. But
with the survival of the Administra-
tion's military support of the Nicara--
guan rebels hanging in the balance,
Mr. Casey swallowed hard and au-
thorized an on-the-record apology to
the Senate ,Intelligence Conirnittee. ?
last week.: _-..
The committee-complained that it
e`was not adequately informed in a
timely manner"-of the C.I.A.'s role
in mining Nicaraguan harbors, add-.
lag
ing that Mr. Casey "concurred in
that assessment." At the same time,
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of
New York became vice chairman
again. He had quit to protest the min-
ing, Which, Mr. Casey said, has
STA
0400040001-2
The requests for Central
military aid are to come velure a
Senate-House conference committee
this week. The Senate has approved
$21 million for the Nicaraguan insur-
gents and $61.7 million for the El Sal-
vador Government. The House has
approved $:32.5 million for El Salva-
dor and no additional money for
Nicaragua operations.
Washington says it is acting in the
collective defense of El Salvador and
other Central American countries
against subversion by Nicaraguan-
supported guerrillas. The United
States has also urged free elections,
a plea echoed last 'weekend by Nica-
ragua's nine Roman, Catholic bish-
ops, who said the votingshould also
be open to the Tebels..."But Daniel
Ortega 'Saavedra,. the. junta corinl-
? nator, rejected- .tha;:.bishop's pro-
posal, contending if was "orientedby
the
Nicaragua,- be added, was placing
" little faith in the mediating efforts of
the five nearby countries known as
the Contadora group. The group's
foreign ministers, from Mexico, Co-
lombia, Panama and Venezuela,
were to meet again today with Cen-
tral American officials.
Taking its case against the United
States to the World Court, Nicaragua
asked for an interim ruling enjoining
Washington from supporting the in-
surgents. Davis R. Robinson, a State
Department lawyer, denounced the
complaint as ?propaganda" and
urged dismissal. Besides, he said,
Nicaragua has not recognized the
court's authority. But Carlos Ar-
guello Gomez of Nicaragua said his
country had gone before the cowl in
a 1960 dispute with Honduras. The
court, which has no enforcement au-
thority, was expected to hand down a
preliminary ruling _within 15 days.
Milt Freudenbehin
and Henry Giniger
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000400040001-2
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R
DALLAS NEWS (TEXAS)
29 April 1984
CIA director speaks so
Casey's mumbling contributed to furor over Nicaragua mining
By Richard Whittle
Washington Bureau oj The News
WASHINGTON ? When William Casey talks,
members of the, House and Senate Intelligence
committees listen ? but some say they often
can't hear. '
The CIA director, who turned 71 last month,
speaks in a voice as wispy as his thin white hair.
Like the Allied agents he helped infiltrate be-
hind German lines as a World War II officer in
the Office of Strategic Services, Casey's words
have a way of fading murkily into the ether.
"I think I am not being unkind to say (that)
Mr. Casey is not known for having high marks in
elocution; that it's not always clear what exactly
is being said when he is talking," said Sen. Wil-
liam S. Cohen, a Maine Republican who sits on
the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Waxing unintelligible is so much Casey's
trademark that even President Reagan has joked
about it. He has said that one of Casey's assets as
.head of the nation's top spy agency is that he
requires no electronic "scrambler" to garble his
telephone conversations as a guard against in-
terception.
Far from just an amusing quirk, Casey's
mumbling has been a factor in his dispute with
members of the Senate Intelligence Committee
over whether he properly informed them of the
CIA's direct role in mining Nicaragua's harbors.
Casey took the extraordinary step of paying
' personal "fence-mending" calls on committee
members. last week and even signed a formal
memorandum of apology at the behest of Sens.
Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, and Richard Lugar, R-
But Casey, who declined through a spokes-
man to be interviewed, was slow to admit any
error. At first he had CIA officials issue state-
ments saying he had complied with the 1980 In-
telligence Oversight Act, which requires him to
keep Congress "fully and currently informed" of
any "significant" intelligence operations.
As a result, before his apology, Casey's rela-
tions with the Senate committee had grown so
sour that some members were suggesting that he
resign.
Though it is not likely that Reagan would
ask him to quit, it is less likely that Casey would
volunteer to leave a job that has let him delve
again into the mysterious world of secret intelli-
gence operations, which by his own past admis-
sion he came to love as a young OSS officer.
,? Whatever the course of his future dealings
viith Capitol Hill, it is widely agreed that the epi-
sode has raised the ghost of the sinister, head-
strong image the CIA acquired after 1970s revela-
tions of past CIA assassination plots and coups.
; It is no secret that Casey has a special bond
With the clandestine service ? the arm of the
organization that plots and implements covert
programs in the realms of propaganda, political
iatrigue and paramilitary operations ? based on
his experience in the kind of work they do. It is
said that he has even gone into Central America
himself, traveling in unmarked planes, to check
on the progress of his agency's operations.
' For that reason, said a former intelligence
official who has worked with Casey personally,
the director is unlikely to change his ways with-
out direct orders from Congress. The former offi-
Oal asked not to be identified.
' "Running the clandestine service," the offi-
cial said, "well, he just loves to do it."
? Some of Casey's supporters disagree that his
affinity for covert action has hurt the agency's
image. Former CIA Director William L. Colby,
for one, said the congressional furor reflects no
distrust of Casey but merely a lack of consensus
.on Whether the CIA's Nicaraguan operations are,
I wise.
But the controversy appears to have killed
whatever chances the administration had of get-
ting the House to approve $21 million to resupply
the CIA-backed rebels, known as contras, who
are warring against Nicaragua's Marxist San-
dinista government.
? Cohen and other Senate committee members
are still saying that while Casey may have re-
ferred during March briefings to mines being
placed in Nicaragua's harbors, the words he used
and his customary mumbling prevented the
committee from understanding the CIA's role in
placing them.
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STAT
1R000400040001-2
Approved For Releaa4805/21'11428141C4A-RDPI1RG8901X0004004000
29 April 1984 ei4te
CIA and Congress
In theory, at least, the Central Intelligence Agency has an
absolute obligation to keep Congress informed of operations
which Congress is called upon to fund.
The resignation of Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan as vice
chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a sub- '
sequent apology offered by William J. Casey, the CIA head,
for failure to brief the committee as fully as some members
desired shows how seriously that obligation is taken both on.;
Capitol Hill and in the executive branch of government.
Not quite so seriously taken, however, is the obligation on I
Congress' part to guard secrets that the CIA imparts to it in .
the course of keeping senators and representatives well-
informed.
No wonder the CIA thinks twice before being candid with
Congress when it knows the place is full of blabbermouths
who consider it their duty, upon being informed of CIA un- .
dertakings they don't approve of, to immediately hold a
press conference to denounce them. ,
Whether,' in the closed session Wednesday which culmi-
nated in Mr. Casey's apology and Mr. Monynihan's return to
the vice chairman's seat, this concomittant obligation on the
part of Congress was discussed, reports have not' yet made
clear. All we know is that at the end of what was apparently
a spirited give-and-take between senators and spymaster,
all hands, emerged radiating sweetness and light. For the
record, anyway. There are still no doubt many members of
the committee who have reservations about the CIA and all
its works. Still, no doubt, a certain skepticism on Mr. Casey's
part about the ability of Mr. Moynihan and his colleagues 'to
keep their mouths shut:
On whole, however, this clear-the-air episode should have
a healthy effect not only in Congress and covert action cir-
cles but upon the public, which has been a little too quick to
jump on the CIA in connection with the Nicaraguan mining,
assuming that there was some plot afoot in Mr. Casey's
office to sneak something by. It is not at all clear, for one
thing, whether members of the committee, when com-
plaining about lack of information, are fully entitled to the
gripes they have been expressing. Some senators had no
complaints. Perhaps the others just weren't listening
? ?- ?
CG9t94K1
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Approved For Release 2005/11
TiCLE LFF7'..! 772,
STAT
r28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000400040001-2 STAT
WASHINGTON POST
29 April 1984
? Itimate Goal of U.S. Latin Policy
By Joanne Omang
and Don Oberdorfer
Vt.b.5 InF ton Post SL.:: Writers
In making the long-neglected re-
gion of Central America one of its
top international priorities, the Rea-
gan administration is trying to stop
the spread of communism near the
southern U.S. border by using indi-
rect military and paramilitary power
? and attempting to restructure polit-
ical and social institutions in coun-
. tries there.
. The ambiguous nature of this pol-
icy has been shaped by an American
political paradox, reflected in opin-
ion poll after opinion . poll, that is
partly a legacy of the Vietnam war.
A majority of American voters agrees
that vital U.S. interests are at stake
in Central America but flatly op-
poses having U.S. troops fight to de-
fend those interests.
Guided by this domestic imper-
ative and its own instincts, the ad-
ministration has determined that
further military victories by commu-
nist troops will not be permitted in
Central America and that this policy
can be enforced short of sending
U.S. troops into combat there.
This is the answer administration
officials give in interviews, public
stateents and-internal doc-uments
to questions about what the United
States is trying to do in Central
America. However, the officials said
a central question remains unre-
solved inside the administration:
Should the U.S. objective be only to .
stop the spread of communist influ-
ence in the region or to go further !
. and eradicate it in Nicaragua and ?
Cuba?
These officials expressed the be-
lief that democratic institutions?
even if they must be created virtu-
ally from scratch in countries that
have very little democratic tradition,
? such as -El Salvador, Honduras and
Guatemala?nonetheless can re-
spond to the needs of. downtrodden
people and that the people will then
reject communism.
Approved For
Still Unresolved
In effect, the theory holds that if
El Salvador, the crucial battleground
in the administration's view, can be
militarily protected long enough
--from outside leftist revolutionary in-
fluence, it can leave behind its long
history of corruption, human rights
_abuses, illegal behavior and inepti-
'. 'tude and be transformed peacefully
into a smaller version of the United
States, a responsive, democratic so-
ciety.
This fundamental approach, re-
jected as impractical or insincere by
many critics of the administration's
policy for Central America, is behind
the steady buildup of a U.S. "mili-
tary shield in Central America, be-
hind which, administration officials
said, democratic institutions may
' flourish with U.S. help.
However, the most visible result
so far of this two-pronged approach
has been the military buildup. Im-
plemented in piecemeal and incre-
mental fashion throughout the three
years of the Reagan administration,
it has changed the face of Central
America.
With US. aid, Salvadoran mili-
:,tary forces have more than doubled
and those of neighboring Honduras
have increased 30 percent. Without
-direct U.S. aid, Guatemala's forces
have increased 50 percent.
Covert U.S. financing and direc-
through the CIA have helped
the insurgents fig_hting -the' 'leftist
government of- adjacent Nicaragua,
.known as contrasz grow from a few
ragtag exile banois to three well-
nanized, well-equipped guerrilla
_groups totaling 15,000 fighters.
U.S. military assistance to the Sal-
vadoran government in its war
against leftist rebels has grown from
about $6 million in the last full year
of the Carter administration to this
year's total of $243 million either al-
ready sent to El Salvador or awaiting
congressional approval. U.S. military
aid to Honduras has inereaseitKen
Re letairgti290?04/q8)ircatk-KuP91 :00901
Powerful U.S. armadas have
sailed into the waters surrounding
Central America to show the flag.
U.S. ground, air and sea maneuvers
ocf unprecedented size and scope
have become a nearly continuous
feature there. The jackhammer of
U.S. military construction has be-
come commonplace, especially in
Honduras.
But the other part of the policy?
.,-the building of flourishing democrat-
ic institutions?is not yet apparent.
Critics of the Reagan administration
have said they doubt that it is pos-
sible, although new elections have
been held or scheduled in several
countries of the region. The most.
important, and possibly riskiest, of
these elections so far will be presi-
dential balloting scheduled next
Sunday in El Salvador.
All sides agree that stability in the
region, to say nothing of peace, is far
off. The economies of the Central
American countries have been hit
hand by global recession and the
fileat of capital, which have hurt the
region far more than increased U.S.
economic and military aid has
hebed. Only in the past few months,
fm the first time since the late
19770s, has this economic decline ap-
peared to level off in several Central
.American countries, with hopes for
improvement ahead.
In the military. competition, the
'growing strength and resources of
opposition elements also has offset
some of the U.S. buildup in friendly
countries.
The military forces of Nicaragua's
Sandinistas, backed by Soviet and
Cuban equipment and advisers, have
grown from about 4,000 on their day
of rictory over the late dictator
Anastasio Somoza in mid-1979 to
about 48,000 now, about half of
them reservists.
While the United States has
? helped the Salvadoran military grow
from 16,000 at the end of the Carter
administration to 39,000 today, aid
from communist nations helped the
Reett401104000Idels there to grow
from 2,000 only four years ago to
about 10.000 now.
S
I
ARTICLE AP
ON PAGE
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29 April 19
00040001-2
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TAT
Apprpved For ReleaStr2005/1112809ZIAMIFAVIOW000t
29 April 1984
Where Was The versight?
Every agency of the federal government
is supposed to be accountable to Congress,
and that goes for the Central Intelligence
Agency, which despite ? claims of secrecy-
cannot claim secrecy from Congress.
Otherwise, the CIA would be an
unaccountable aiserw'of the executive
branch, not far different from, say, the
Soviet Union's KGB.
Unfortunately, the CIA has not 'always
been all that accountable to Congress. CIA
Director William J. Casey has conceded as
much to members of the Senate
Intelligence Committee. Mr. Casey
apologized for not adequately informing
the committee about the CIA's supervision
of the mining of Nicaraguan ports. As a
result, Sen. Moynihan of New York has
withdrawn his resignation as vice chairman_
of Thrc?fiimthee ad-d6- doubt .Sen..
Goldwater of Arizona is less outraged by the
Reagan administration's alleged refusal to
give the committee a full briefing.
STAT
-2
We do not know, however, whether Mr.
Casey's apology was entirely necessary.
The House Intelligence Committee, through
careful probing, did learn at least
something about the policy of mining
Nicaraguan harbors. The Senate
committee, apparently, didn't do much
probing. It might be asked if some senators
really wanted to know what the CIA was
doing. Ignorance may not be bliss, but it
allows members of Congress to permit CIA
operations to go unchallenged until they are
? revealed, somehow, by the press. Then the
congressmen can react according to
whatever seems politically required.
The case of the mining of Nicaraguan
harbors ought to embarrass Congress as
much as the administration. If anything
const_ructiy,e _r?esults, it shQu1 be.jhat
Congress will demand that it be fully
informed about CIA activities. Otherwise,
the public can't have much confidence in
the way its government operates.
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,row.????????????',.
NBC MEET THE PRESS
Approved For Release 2995/A1ly :1q1RDP91-00901R
KALE: Good day from Washington. I am Marvin Kalb inviting you to Meet the
Press with Sen. Joseph Eiden, a strong critic of the president's foreign pc
ANN-DUNCER: Meet the Press, an unrehearsed press conference, is a public affairs
presentation of NBC News.
KALE: Our guest today on Meet the Press is Sen. Joseph Eiden of Delaware who
was first elected to the U.S. Senate 12 years ago, when he was 29. Sen. Biden
is now the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Re is also a member of
the Foreign Relations, Budget and Intelligence Committees, and with this
background he challenges administration policy across the board. Our reporters
today are Morton\Kondracke of The New Republic,. Gloria\Bwrger of Newsweek,
Robert\Novak of The Chicago Sun-Times, and to open the quiestioning, our regular
panelist, Bill\Monroe of NBC News.
NOVAK: Sen. Eiden, there's been a lot of noise from Democrats in the Senate
about beine...information being withheld from you by the CIA on the mining of
the Nicaraguan harbors by the contras. Isn't it a fact that you were well aware.
of that operation, you personally, were well aware of that operation when the
debate in the Senate took place? BIDEN: We were well aware of it from news
accounts. I quite frankly find myself in a bit of a bind answering that
question because I was the only person voting against that operation from the
aid to the contras since the changing pf the so-called presidential finding, the
second finding. I think the admini...that the committee's almost as much at
fault here as in fact, the agency is. The agency did not level. The agency did
not tell us the extent of their involvement. And they did not tell us the
extent of the president's involvement. But we did not ask the right questions.
NOVAK: But sir, isn't it true that you were personally, quite apart from news
accounts, that personally you were briefed by the CIA on the mining operations
before the debate in the Senate? BIDEN: No. That's not true. What we were in
fact briefed about, on two occasions, about two months after the fact, was that
in a compendium of a number of things that were occurring., dropped in as number
17,. was, and by the way, there are mines there.. They never told us though, the
degree to which there was direct U.S. involvement in that process.
NOVAK: Well, aren't the mines a red herring, sir? Isn't it a fact that you're
opposed to the contras being financed to U.S. funds to overthrow the Sandinista
regime? BIDEN: He, personally?
NOVAK: Yes, sir. BIDEN: Yes. I am personally opposed to the way in which we
are going about that.
NOVAK: Can I ask you one other thing, sir? BIDEN: Sure, you can ask me...
NOVAK: Who would you prefer running the government of Nicaragua, the communists
who are in power there now, or the people who are trying for a democratic regime
and fighting with the contras? BIDEN: ? I'd- prefer the people trying for the
democratic regime.
Continued
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Approved For ReleaseE200AprAP9t')WRI5W6i9oi\Tli
_0040
Casey comes clean
central Intelligence Director William Casey has admitted to
members of the Senate Intelligence Committee that he failed
to inform them of his agency's covert activities in mining the
ports of Nicaragua.
, Under the law, the intelligence committee is supposed to I
exercise oversight over the CIA in order to ensure that it does not;
engage in secret wars, assassinate foreign leaders, or otherwise
take actions that are contrary to U.S. laws and publicly stated
foreign policy. The law is designed to ensure that the legitimately
elected representatives of the people -stay in control of the
:government and its policies without weakening the CIA by exposing
all Its operations to public scrutiny.. -
It's difficult to run a spy agency in full Public view, we all agree, ?
but we don't want it operating totally without control.
- So it is refreshing to see Director Casey come forward in such a
forthright and honest manner (one of the greater attributes of
Reagan appointees) after having the details of the mining leaked to
the press, the Senate Intelligence Committee publicly flay him, a
majority of both houses pass resolutions condemning the mining
operation, and generally cause an uproar throughout the world. Yes,
indeed, his candor is refreshing.
Calling for his resignation is the farthest thing from our minds,
Quite the contrary, this incident has shown that Mr. Casey is the
perfect man to head the CIA. He has clearly shown that he has the
-requisite character traits ? deviousness, a conveniently weak
memory, and the ability to withstand tough questioning without
giving away valuable information (the mining operation) to the
enemy (the Senate Intelligence Committee) ? to be the country's
-chief spy. Rest easy America, with Mr. Casey in charge of the CIA
the nation is safe as long as it doesn't travel by ship near Nicaragua.
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ARTI OLE APPEL kirD -
Agpcoved For ReleaseAiSkITA kA-m1DPEAIE9Egia0400
ON PAGE 5, Se c . Apr..1 9
Senate wants CIA to keep
By Terry Atlas
and Dorothy Coffin
Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON?The Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence has an-
nounced it will meet Wednesday to
work out "more thorough and effec-
tive oversight procedures" in the
wake of an apology by the CIA for
failing to give Congress adequate
information about the mining of ,Ni-
caragua's harbors.
' The committee said in a statement
it would move quickly to develop
new procedures to see that the Sc-,
nate is more fully informed, espe-
cially about covert activities.- The
vice chairman of the committee,
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan: [D.,
N.Y.), said the group will consider
requiring the CIA to disclose any
activity that might require presiden-
tial approval, such as the mining of
harbors.
The committee's determination fol-
lowed an apology by CIA Director
William Casey for failing to keep it
fully informed about the CIA role in
the mining of the harbors. Casey - met
with the committee, behind closed
',doors for- about two hours Thursda
out
?
of cold
America. The controversy, in the
.process, undercut congressional sup-
port for President Reagan's Central
American policies. .. - "
BUT THE RESOLUTION of the
battle over CIA briefings left unset- "
tied basic questions about adminis-
tration policies in the region and CIA.,
activities. The Senate has voted ni
million to continue CIA support for
IheNiciiregruan_rebels fighling the.,
Sandinista government, but that aid
- is opposed by the House. -
At the end of the closed-door
meeting, which one senator said was
marked by a "spirited and sharp
exchange" with Casey, the commit-
tee issued a brief statement outlining
its new agreement with Casey and
the CIA.
The carefully worded statement
said that Casey had "concurred"
with the committee's belief that it
-hadn't been "adequately informed in
a timely manner!' of the miningand
that he had agreed on the "for
consider in detail what those new
procedures might be.
And the statement purposely
evaded the question of whether
Casey had violated the law requiring
him to keep the--committee "fully
and currently informed" of all intel-
ligence activities. ,
Last month, after details of the
CIA's role in the mining became
public, an uproar developed on Capi-
tol Hill as senators claimed that they
hadn't been told about an activity
that some viewed as a violation of
international law. - .
The CIA contended repeatedly that
Casey had mentioned the operation
in briefings but that the senators and
their staffs had failed to follow up
with the right questions. One senator
said the committee was told Thurs-
day by Casey that.the plan to mine
Nicaragua's .ports was made last
fall, months before hints of the oper-
ation reached Congress.
T -.-
COMMITEE MEMBERS at tinies
acknowledging he failed to provide a more thorough and effective over- appeared Lobe as upset with the way
adequate information and promising sight procedures" involving covert they were treated by Casey and the
to be more forthcoming in the future. activity. CIA as they were with the mining
-7 ."We were all there to do a'repair
AS . A _RESULT, Mqniliiin job on our communication lines,"
drew his resignation as vice chair- .said Sen. David Durenberger [R.,
man and agreed to continue serving. Minn.).
Taken together, it appears- these Previously, the CIA claimed it had
events have defused the confronta- informed various committees or
tion over the mining. staff members several times of the
Casey also assured committee mining. That was hotly challenged'
Members that the CIA-directed min- by the committee staffs, who said ?
ing has been halted and that there the briefings had been vague and.
are no other covert activities in Cen-': indirect concerning the imning
tral America of which they have not ?" '
been told. THE COMMITTErw by 'saying .it
Committee members said they be. would develop new procedures- to ?
lieve Casey will keep them iietter monitor CIA activities, appeared to
informed through future briefings take part of the blame for the contro-
about major covert operations. Sen. versy by failing to pursue the matter
Lloyd Bentsen [D., Tex.) - said he after references to the mining by
believes that Casey will be "more Casey in an earlier briefing. .
forthright." - However the . conunittee didn't
Casey's apology capped several
days otintense behind-the-scenes-ac- ;
tivity as the CIA director, the Senate
Republican leadership and key mem-
bers of the Intelligence Committee
looked for a way to cool what had
become a heated public debate over
the CIA's covert activities in Central
itself, and the ,tonflict became so
public that. by this week all sides
were looking for a way to settle the
dispute.
".At some point, we had to have a
truce," said a - Senate leadership
source. "They couldn't keep savag-
ing each other."
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Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000400040001-2
RADIO TV REPORTS, INC:
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 [phone]
KA PUBLIC AFFAIRS STAFF
PROGRAM Agronsky & Company
DATE
STA)
SKIXA WOVM-TV
Syndicated
April 28, 1984 7:00 P.M. ON Washington, D.C.
w&s= Casey/Nicaragua
MARTIN AGRONSKY: Elizabeth, the CIA Director, Mr.
Casey, had now said that he feels he was wrong in not having
revealed more clearly and explicitly to the Senate committee in
charge of oversight of CIA operations what they were doing in
Central America, and specifically the mining by the CIA of the
harbors off the coast of Nicaragua. Now, Senator Moynihan, who
said he was going to resign as deputy chairman, apparently has
been sufficiently mollified, so he's going to remain as deputy
chairman, though he says he'll forgive but not forget.
Now, where are we now with the CIA, with the secrets and
keeping those secrets secret from the Congress?
ELIZABETH DREW: I think it's pretty clear what hap-
pened, Martin, is that it was -- Mr. Casey was made to understand
that he was about to lose it all if he didn't mollify the
senators, and that this was probably more a tactical move. I
don't know that he lost a lot of sleep at night over --contrition
over not having been, perhaps, more fully informative of the
Senate committee. But people in the Senate and elsewhere said to
him, "Look, you're about to lose a very important constituency up
there. You'd better mend your fences." Particularly, some
Republican senators said that. And so he went up and he said,
"I'm sorry," which for him was a very big thing to do.
There's another sub-thing that was going on here having
to do with some people not wanting Mr. Moynihan to give up that
slot, fearing it would go to someone who might be more critical
of the CIA.
So, there was a lot of dancing around. I'm not pure
that any tAppri-v-i-n-SvetcPFrcTrilkUsiasi Y elAtikiNi9f-61901 R000400040001-2
OFFICES IN: WASHINGTON D.C. ? NEW YORK ? LOS ANGELES. ? : CHICAGO ? DETROIT ? AND OTHER PRINCIPAL CMES
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000
RADIO TV REPORTS, IN
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 [phone]
KA PUBLIC AFFAIRS STAFF
PROGRAM Agronsky & Company STATION W DVM-TV
Syndicated
DATE
SUBJECT
April 28, 1984 7:00 P.M. ON Washington, D.C.
Casey/Nicaragua
MARTIN AGRONSKY: Elizabeth, the CIA Director, Mr.
Casey, had now said that he feels he was wrong in not having
revealed more clearly and explicitly to the Senate committee in
charge of oversight of CIA operations what they were doing in
Central America, and specifically the mining by the CIA of the
harbors off the coast of Nicaragua. Now, Senator Moynihan, who
said he was going to resign as deputy chairman, apparently has
been sufficiently mollified, so he's going to remain as deputy
chairman, though he says he'll forgive but not forget.
Now, where are we now with the CIA, with the secrets and
keeping those secrets secret from the Congress?
ELIZABETH DREW: I think it's pretty clear what hap-
pened, Martin, is that it was -- Mr. Casey was made to understand
that he was about to lose it all if he didn't mollify the
senators, and that this was probably more a tactical move. I
don't know that he lost a lot of sleep at night over --contrition
over not having been, perhaps, more fully informative of the
Senate committee. But people in the Senate and elsewhere said to
him, "Look, you're about to lose a very important constituency up
there. You'd better mend your fences." Particularly, some
Republican senators said that. And so he went up and he said,
"I'm sorry," which for him was a very big thing to do.
There's another sub-thing that was going on here having
to do with some people not wanting Mr. Moynihan to give up that
slot, fearing it would go to someone who might be more critical
of the CIA.
So, there was a lot of dancing around. I'm not sure
that anything terribly substantive took place.
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Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000400040001-2
2
HUGH SIDEY: But let' p also look at the other side of
this. We've looked at it from Mr. Casey's standpoint.
Let me say flat-out that the mining of the harbors, as
it was done, was wrong, obviously a bad decision. It had
political fallouts.
[Confusion of voices]
SIDEY: But isn't it curious that the people who wanted
to be informed were informed? Eddie Boland and the people in the
House, they found out; that Senator Biden wanted to find out, and
he got well briefed on it; and that the people that really made
an effort, they picked up the subtle hints.
AGRONSKY: Why should there be subtle hints about
something so important in terms of national policy?
SIDEY: Well, I'm not justifying Casey. I'm saying that
he was wrong in this. But what I am saying is, what is the
responsibility of the Congress in this? Those people...
AGRONSKY: What are you saying, if you don't do your
homework, you can't complain? '
SIDEY: I think it's always going to be the case that if
they are not diligent and they do not ask and do not probe, that
these things are going to happen. And there's a case where they
could have found out had they worked at it. And they did not.
CARL ROWAN: Well, I agree with Hughin this respect. I
think Moynihan is doing a dance around the lily pads. This is
what worries me about oversight. If you've got people there who
aren't conscientious enough when they see hints like this to say,
"What are you talking about? What are you doing?" they don't
have any right to come up with any big dramatic resignations
later, and then, after Casey apologizes, say, "I'll go back into
this post."
So, you're right. There's a lot of blame here.
MARIANNE MEANS: The senators are ambivalent in their
attitude toward it. I think they understand that they have a
responsibility. But this is -- the CIA is engaged in distasteful
business. And the politicians feel the same way toward it, I
think, as the public does. And yet they realize it has to be
done. So they just as soon not know too much.
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ARTICT.7 AP, ved For Release 2995/Adav";KM-RDP91-00901R000
03Z PAGE 28 April 198.4
AMERICAN SURVEY
The CIA
again
Decomes central
If there were any doubts remaining about
who is running United States policy in
Central America, they were dispelled last
week when the Reagan administration
rejected the appointment of Miss Nora
Astorga, a heroine of the Sandinist revo-
lution and deputy foreign minister of
Nicaragua, as that country's new ambas-
sador to Washington. Mr George Shultz,
the secretary of state, and his assistants in
charge of Latin American policy, while
hardly planning a grand fete in Miss
Anorga's honour, had urged her accep-
tance as a means of reducing the number
of issues in dispute with the Nicaraguans?
But the source of Miss Astorga's hero:-
ism?her part in the murder in 1978 of a
general in the Nicaraguan national
guard?was also the source of her notori-
ety. For the general in question, ReinaJdo
Perez Vega, had been one of the Central
Intelligence Agency's men in the old
Nicaraguan regime of Anastasio Somoza,
and when Mr William Casey, the present
director of central intelligence, told the
president that he must not lei a terrorist
join the diplomatic corps in Washington,
Mr Reagan complied.
The balance of power among those
competing for control of American for-
eign policy is constantly shifting. The
Astorga incident symbolises the fact that,
for all the elaborate procedures for dis-
cussion within the executive branch and
for .consultation with congress, it has now
shifted towards the CIA. Ti-ie agency's
influence over Central American policy is
particularly strong:
There is a temptation to interpret the
circumstances in a primarily personal
way?as a sign of Mr Casey's closeness to
the president he served as campaign man-
ager in 1980. It is true that this Wall Street
entrepreneur, having survived one con-
gressional investigation after another, has
easy access to the Oval Office and enjoys
2 camaraderie with Mr Reagan matched
only by Mr Edwin Meese and others who
served with the president when he was
governor of California. Certainly, Mr
Casey's personal status has enhanced the
CIA's role in the many briefings on
WASHINGTON, DC
_ ?
foreign affairs that the president receives
every day, and this role becomes all the
more important given the fact that Mr
Reagan has little experience of interna-
tional affairs. ?
But there is more to it than that. Mr
Casey's arrival at CIA headquarters sig-
nalled a genuine ascendance for the intel-
ligence community after several years of
decline. Responding to congressional
criticism and public opinion, President
Carter's director of central intelligence,
Admiral Stansfield Turner, had cut the
CIA's staff greatly and had followed
orders to.reduce the role of covert opera-
tions in the agency's business. Mr Casey,
who had become a hero himself during
wartime operations behind German lines
for the Office of Strategic Services,
promptly declared that he would put the
CIA back into the covert business and,
although the figures are secret, he is said
to have presided over a percentage in-
crease in the intelligence budget that
makes even the growth of the Pentagon's
funds look modest by comparison.
At one point Mr Casey had a plan to
put the CIA back into cicimestic intelli-
gence work?illegally?in apparent rival-
_ ry with the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion, but he seems to have been held back
by bureaucratic caution if not by wise
policymakers. One thing is clear, howev-
er: the CIA is dominant in the field and
has less competition now from the De-
fence Intelligence Agency or the National
Security Agency. The NSA is still the
leader in communications intelligence
(comint), but human intelligence (hu-
? mint) is firmly in the hands of the CIA,
and it is being eiven more importance
than at any time since the war in
Vietnam.
Still, it is not as if the CIA has returned
to its halcyon days, in terms of freedom of
action or public acceptance. When the
agency restored the Shah of Iran to the
peacock throne in 1953 and overthrew the
left-leaning regime of Jacob? Arbenz in
Guatemala the next year, few people
asked questions. Indeed, the congressio-
nal attitude of that era was exemplified by
Casey overlooks Moynihan and Goldwater
the late Leverett Saltonstall of Massachu-
setts, a long-serving Republican senator,
who observed in 1956 that he "would
Tather not have" information and knowl-
edge about the CIA activities.
There is no such reluctance on Capitol
Hill today, at least not officially. Both the
senate and the house of representatives
have, at different times, given the admin-
istration so much critic:6m of its activities.
in Nicaragua?and members of. the con-
gressional intelligence comminees have
leaked so much information about them
to the press?that they are hardly "co-
vert" any longer. During the recent up-
roar over the mining of Nicaraguan har-
bours, it became obvious that the CIA
had hardly kept its congressional over-
seers "fully and currently informed", as it
is legally obliged to do. Some thought its
dereliction worse than that. Mr Barry
Goldwater ofArizona, the venerable Re--
publican chairman of the senate intelli-
gence committee, wrote to Mr Casey,
declaring that be was ''pissed off". Mr
Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York,
the Democratic vice-chairman of the
group, did him one better by announcing -
Continuwi
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ARTICLE APP7AR63pr0ved For Relean,q09allt?,gjaCIA-RDP91-00901R000400.04
ON PAGE /7/ 27 April 1984
By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ.
ABOUT two years ago,
a representative of the
Sandinist government
identified as the, great-
est threat to his coun-
try's survival the "sys:
tern of communica-
tions" at the disposal of
the U.S. ? i.e., its press
and other 'organs of
propaganda."
This comment ? con-
sidering the public rela-
tions efforts and enthu-
siasm 'U.S. journalists
had se tirelessly show-
ered upon the Sandinist
revolutionary forces
seemed, even at the
time, as gross a piece of
ingratitude as the world
has heard.
It comes to mind with a
special irony now. For
even the revolutionary
representative who
spoke thus, the emmi-
nent Ernesto Cardenale,
Nicaraguan minister of
culture, could surely
today not find it in his
heart to refuse a word of
gratitude for those same
organs of "communica-
tion" in the U.S.
Did the Sandinists
ever in their wildest
dreams dare hope for so
stunning a display of
sympathy and coopera-
tion as provided-by this
Same "communica-
tions" network?
Would even Cardenale .
have imagined so prized
a boon as the savaging of
the CIA and the Contras,
the anti-administration
handwringing and
moralizing, such as we
have seen from our jour-
nalists and opinion
makers in the course of
the current debate on
Nicaragua?
Surely he could not
have dared hope for
such a report as we in
fact heard on ABC
News recently, one
Which began with word
of a New York Times
story charging that the
CIA "made a group of
Nicaraguan rebels obey
its orders" by threaten-
ing to cut off supplies.
Here, ABC introduced
"an exclusive" piece of
news of its own a de.
tailed report on the loca-
tion, complete with
aerial photographs, of
the CIA's secret center
from which Contra
operations in Costa Rica
were directed and con-
trolled. Here, correspond-
ent , John Quinones an-
nounced, was where -the
orders were carried out,"
and "the secr8t landing
strips" to which CIA
arms and supplies were
delivered.
But it was not only
from the CIA that the
Contras received help.
U.S. citizens in Costa
Rica, we were further in-
formed, contributed to
the support of the anti-
Sandinist effort. Lest we
lack detail as to the loca-
tion of those providing
such aid to the Contras,
we were provided with
pictures of a supply
plane landing at a ranch
owned by these Contra
supporters.
In addition, we were
provided with more facts
concerning these individ-
uals: facts which, how-
ever brief, contained
what their author doubt-
less understood to be a
clue as to their, moral
status and general
charadter. For these peo-
. pie were, . we learn, -.
"wealthy Americans." .
But in reports of this
sort and others con-
cerning Central Amer-
ica, no reportorial ener-
gies equal those nowa-
days expended daily on-
the perfidies of the CIA.
One of the inner circle
of Sandinist leaders un-
dertook recently to ex-
plain to the Nicaraguan
public the reason why
so many Americans
come to Latin America
to adopt babies. There
were, he explained,
'three reasons: . so that
the babies could be used
by the Americans for
medical experiments,
or made into slaves, or
impressed into service
as spies for the CIA.
The weight of moral
argument raised against
the CIA on our own-
shores nowadays is only -
slightly more refined.
Consider a recent seg-
ment, on the CBS Eve-
ning News on which
there appeared a variety
of experts all bearing
witness aginst the CIA.
One of those quoted was
a Congressional staffer
who testified that CIA Di-
rector William Casey
was a man whose atti-
tude was one of "crimi-
nal carelessness."
Rep. Norman Y.
Mineta (D-Cal.) charged,
in addition, that if your
coat were on fire, Casey
was the sort of man who
wouldn't tell you unless
you asked him ? an apt
enough complaint com-
ing from that Congres-
sional population nowa-
days incapable of recog-
nizing the heat of danger
close to home.
In addition to these es-
teemed voices, we heard
on Easter Sunday from
Bishop Paul Moore Jr, of
the Episcopal Diocese of
New York, who an-
nounced that we stood
"naked and ashamed be-
fore the eyes of the
world" as a result of our
immoral action 'against
the Sandinistas ? a com-
ment forthwi reprinted
in the Sandinist newspa-
pers.
As, doubtless, were de-
tails published by our
press concerning the
location and identities
of those involved in sup-
porting the Contra
operation.
Recently, the world
learned details of a 40-
year-old military se-
cret. This concerned the
fate of some 740. Amer-
ican troops lost off the
coast of England when,
during exercises
preparatory tO D-Day,
they were torpedoed by
German U-boats.
Lest the invasion plans
be compromised by news
of this tragedy, their
bodies were buried amid
great secrecy on local
farms, and the few Brit-
ish citizens privy to the
fact were warned not to
reveal them. In the ensu-
ing 40 years no one did
reveal this story until
now, the need for secrecy
being long since past.
What would have been
the behavior of our pre-
sent day journalists con-
fronted by such a choice
? a story rich in sugges-
tions of coverup and
catastrophe, as opposed
to the danger of betray-
sing our D-day plans? We
have cause to wonder.
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C:LE APAP YO
O pi..c7.3proved For RelpIn
MOYNIHAN TO KEEP ;
INTELLIGENCE POST
Withdraws Resignation After
CIA. Chief Apologizes
By PHILIP TAUBMAN
Spectal to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, April 26 Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan withdrew his
resignation as vice chairman of the
Senate Select Committee on Intelli-
gence today after the Director of Cen-
tral Intelligence, William J. Casey,
apologized .for ? not -keeping the panel
better informed about covert opera-
tions by the United States in Nicara-
gua.
Mr. Casey also told the committee ;
today that the mining of Nicaraguan
harbors had been halted. ?
Mr. Casey's comments and Mr.
Moynihan's decision to remain as vice I
chairman were part of a compromise
worked out over the last several days
that was designed to reduce tensions
between the Central Intelligence
? Agency and the Senate over covert ac-
tivities in Central America.
CIA-RDP91-0090IR000400040001-2
would be "a damn sight more forth-
right" with the committee.
Resignation Letter Submitted
Mr. Moynihan, who announced his in-
tention of resigning on April 15 and ac-
tually submitted a resignation letter on
Wednesday, said today that he had
reconsidered after Mr. Casey agreed
late Wednesday to apologize to the
committee.
Mr. Moynihan and Senator Barry M.
Goldwater, Republican of Arizona, the
chairman of the intelligence commit-
tee, complained publicly earlier this
month that the C.I.A. had not ad-
equately informed the committee
about its direct involvement in the min-
ing operation.
:When he voted April 5 in favor of
providing the C.I.A. with an additional
$21 million to support Nicaraguan
rebels, Mr. Moynihan said, he did not
know the extent of the mining operation
or the C.I.A. role in it. . " ?
? Intelligence officials contended they
had kept -the committee informed, 'cit-
ing brief references to the mining in
briefings on March 8 and March 13 and
a detailed accounting for committee
staff members on April 3.
Mr. Moynihan said that on-April 5 he
had not seen a memorandum about the
mining prepared by the staff after their
meeting with C.I.A. officials. But he
said he had been given a brief oral re-
port by Gary J. Schmitt, the minority
? staff director.
The compromise worked out by
Senator Lugar and Senator Bentsen
provided Mr. Moynihan and Mr. Casey
with a chance to end the argument, al-
though colleagues of both said they ini-
tially resisted the formula. ? .
For Mr. Moynihan, the colleagues'
said, the concern was centered. on his
reversing direction and leaving the im-
pression that his recent actions were
inconsistent.
Casey Concurs on Statement
As part of the effort, the Senate intel-
ligence committee agreed at a meeting
today that it had not been adequately
informed about American involvement
in the mining of Nicaraguan waters.
Mr. Casey, who attended the meet-
ing, agreed in turn to approve a com-
mittee statement that said, "The Di-
rector of Central Intelligence con-
curred in that assessment."
In addition. the committee and
Casey pledged to develop improved
ways to keep the Senate informed
about intelligence operations, particu-
larly about covert activities.
The compromise was initiated by
, Senator Richard G. Lugar, Republican
of Indiana, and Senator Lloyd Bentsen,
Democrat of Texas, "I think it's time
we had a cease-fire with the committee
and the C.I.A.," Mr. Bentsen said after
the meeting. He said he hoped that in ;
the future Mr. Casey and the C.I.A.
Mr. Casey, for his part, was reluc-
tant to apologize to the committee be-1
cause that is not his style and also_
STA
cause he felt the C.I.A. had kept the
commit ee notified. Intelligence offi-
cials said that Mr. Lugar had been in-
strumental in persuading Mr. Casey
that an apology was necessary to end
the controversy.
Sharp Exchange Reported
When he announced his intention to
'resign on April 15, Mr. Moynihan said,
"This appears to me the most em-
phatic way I can express my view that
the Senate committee was not properly
briefed on the mining of Nicaraguan
harbors with American mines from an
American ship under American com-
mand."
In its statement today, the Senate
committee said, "Ai the request of the
committee, and in light of the Direc-
tor's acknowledgment, Senator Moyni-
han withdrew his resignation as vice-
chairman."
Mr. Moynihan said that Mr. Casey
called him on Wednesday and urged .
him to remain as vice chairman.
Mr. Bentsen said that after a "spir-
ited, sharp exchange between com-
mittee members and Mr. Casey at
today's meeting, both the committee
and the C.I.A. approved the compro-
mise statement, which was drafted on
Wednesday and informally accepted by
Mr. Moynihan and Mr. Casey before
the meeting.
Mr. Moynihan said after the meeting
that the committee would meet next
week to begin developing new proce-
dures.
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STAT
ATI CLE
ON PAGE
A,REDpproved For Release 24M1JFil5-0134100901R0004000
Pr
What's News?
* *
CIA Director Casey admitted he failed to 1
inform the Senate Intelligence panel ade-
quately about his agency's role in mining
Nicaraguan ports, the committee said. After
Casey's apology, New York Sen. Moynihan
withdrew his resignation as vice chairman
of the panel, whose statement stopped short
of acknowledging any law violation.
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ART I= A PPEANaroved For Releawt209?M128 : CIA-RDP91-00901R0004000
ON PAGE FAL 27 Apr 11 19814
.0001-2
USA TODAY'S SPECIAL REPORTS FROM THE CAPITAL
Moynihan stays; Casey
admits to error on mines
CIA Director William Casey told a Senate Intelligence
Committee members Thursday he failed to adequately
inform them of the CIA's role in mining Nicaraguan ports,
the panel said. After Casey's apolou, Sen. Daniel Moyni-
han, D-N.Y., agreed to stay on as vice chairman of the
committee. He resigned Wednesday in protest of the lack of
briefing on the operation. A statement released after the
hearings said the senators "agreed that there is a need for
more thorough and effective oversight procedures, particu-
larly in the area Of covert activity."
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AINMO.yetgletip'Bfipase 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R0004
:()N
WASHINGTON POST
27 April 1984
1 -
,.
do- ,o izes
iii for Lanse
fort
By Helen Dewar
Wa5hington Post Staff Writer
?
tion, then sent. the letter to Goldwater and finally
indicated he would agree to the Lugar-Bentsen
language.
While disputes over details continued until
shortly before the Senate Intelligence Committee
meeting with Casey, members said the statement
remained basically as Lugar and Bentsen had
drafted it, although a reference to its adoption by
"unanimous vote was deleted.
Lugar said it was approved- by voice vote with-
out. apparent dissent, and the reference to una-
niniity was .deleted because of some disagreements
. _
expressed "during the meeting.
. In its statement, the committee said it "agreed
that it's not adequately informed in a timely
CIA Director William J. Casey ......._
manner .of,c_ertain .significant intelligence activity
yesterday formally apologized to the .in sucl-C-;"nia-nner as to permit the committee to
' Senate intelligence .Committee for ..e???? .carry otit,iti Oversight. function" and added: "The
- tion on the agency's role in mining 04.....,....,:,T' _ ., , ..,_ . 4.... :
director -cif 'central intelligence concurred in that
: failing to provide adequate informa- :-. ?
Nicaraguan harbors and agreed to assessment,":
give prior notice of "any significant "z:4.tr.r.- ifoii?: . The statement continued:
anticipated intelligence activity," as .- "The committee and the CIAhave agreed on
.:...?...,.,,,,,,,,:.
required by law. the need for more thorough and effective over-
- .,-
In response, Sen. Daniel Patrick -sighfrprneedures, especially in the area of covert
Moynihan (D-N.Y.), who had re- ??4.-- -actiort.-The'aommittee will move promptly to de
igned as vice chairman of the corn -
. -
qii?lem ,velop,J2aw,,R.rocedures to ensure that the Senate
s- ?,-,:i:
rriittee to protest the CIA's handling "-will be faly and currently informed. -
of consultations with Congress on ?. "The Central Intelligence - Agency has pledged
the in:lining, withdrew his resignation ,....r..k, - 4.*?... its "cooperation in this effort and recognizes
.and expressed satisfaction with the ?,:v*.'.2,- the revilement to provide the committee with
agreement.
P? - ?e0???
The agreement was announced by -4??:- ' .4e-iiis: ' prior. notice of 'any significant anticipated intel-
144 ' .'
..
Intelligence Committee members ..., - itteii.
?4,-:-.,-4tm. ? ligence .activity,' as provided by the Intelligence
after what was described as a "stir- OversighAct."
ited, sharp" closed-door meetingSEN. DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN Meetings are planned starting Wednesday to
with Casey, during which agreement develop.new briefing procedures, which M. oynihan
. . ,..
... will keep Intelligence panel post.--
also was reached on working out spe- _ ___ ._ . _ -suggested mig 1 ? include a requirement to inform
cific new procedures for CIA consul- . The statement of agreement be- ______.
tations with the committee. tween the CIA and the committee Congress of Anything important enough to require
Committee . members said they was worked out largely by Lugar and ,, presidential approval, as the .harbor mining .was
were reassured in the roughly two Sen. Lloyd M. Bentsen (D Tex) i; deemedlci- be. -
hour session that the Nicaraguan . whose roles as chairmen of their re- ' ? ". The statement did not go into the question of
mining operations had ceased and i spective senatorial campaign corn- whether the CIA violated the law in failing to in-
that no similar covert operations had mittees underscored an apparent bi- form Congress of its role in the mining of Ni-
been undertaken without notice to partisan queasiness over the political caraguan ports, as some lawmakers have con-
the House and Senate Intelligence risks at stake in continued feuding. tended. "The director has apologized, I don't know
committees. ? - ? .Republicans and conservative what more You can do," said Bentsen. ?
- The meeting followed 21/2 day' s of , Democrats also were reportedly con-
door-to-door visits ?by Casey with , cerned that, unless Moynihan was
, committee members to repair what . persuaded to reconsider his resigna- fte090
many of them described as a serious tion, the vice chairmanship might
cieterioration of their relations and fall into the hands of someone less
the delivery of a hand-written note sympathetic to the administration's
of apology from Casey to Senate Central American policies..
committee Chairman Barry Goldwa- In explaining his decision to re-
ter (R-Ariz.). main as vice chairman, Moynihan !
Goldwater, who had written a cited a series of events starting late
scathing letter to Casey earlier this Wednesday afternoon when Casey
month, was described by Sen. Rich- asked him to reconsider his resica- I.,
ard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) asAmtmetd For Release 2005/11/28 :-CIA-RDP91-00901R000400040001-2
with the outcome. 1
1
ARTICLE APPthffroved For Releasf11210ETA:ACIA-00901R0004
ON PAGE /14Q.A1- 27 April 1981+
A
0
.Is cuvi
its ,Lati
Lra -710
.ed. over.
.pohe
By James McCartney
inquiry. Washingtot Bureau
WASHINGTON ? The Reagan ad-
ministration -is torn with internal
dissension over Central America pol-
icy on the eve OT a major struggle
with Congress about the future
American role.in the region
Sharp differences have-developed
between factions on the White House
staff over policy priorities: Should
Reagan's re-election campaign, or
the future of El Salvador, come first?
The State Department and top mili-
tary officers in the Pentagon are in
conflict over how U.S. power should .
be used. Ironically, officials on both
sides of the dispute acknowledge, the
State Department has argued for a,
greater use of power while top mill-
tarY officers have argued for re- '
straint.
And White House officials are re-.
ported to be dissatisfied, in one way
or another, with the performance of
virtually all Of the administration's
top foreign policy advisers.
The depth and sharpness of the
disarray and disagreement was dis-
? closed in a series of interviews with
high-level administration officials
who take opposing sides,. as well as
members of Congress and congres-
sional staff members. Many of those
who agreed to be interviewed have
strong personal and professional in-
terests in the questions, and all re-
? fused to be identified.
The stakes in the struggles are
huge: The future .01 - several -high- i
level officials, including CIA Direc-
tor William J. Casey; the future of. {
. continued financing of the adminis-
tration's anti-communist policy in
Central America and, ultimately,
whether U.S. combat troops may
wind up fighting there.
From the interviews, ;these other
points were made:
? President Reagan has become
deeply dissatisfied with the Penta-
gon and is concerned about its abili-
ty to fight a successful guerrilla war._
10040001-2
Some on ouse sta say
they think Reagan must make a dra-
matic major effort to rally public
support for his hard-line approach or
El Salvador may fall to guerrilla
forces. They say time cannot be wak-
ed, and they speak of possible col-
lapse or defections from the
Salvadoran army.
But, these sources say, top White
House staff members James A. Baker
3d. Edwin Meese 3d and Michael K.
Deaver fear that if Reagan made too
great an effort, the public might
come to fear possible war and turn
against Reagan in the election.
Some offidials see the dilemma ao
sharply that they say it may boil
---i-trn-ifiiii-nid-Officersin-the-Penta-- down to whether Reagan wins the
e
gon, in. turn, have left some White election, but IosesEl Salvador in the
House officials with the impression _ProPess-? - ? .
that they lack confidence in Reagan . Questions about how-military
_and other top political leaders, in- force, or the threat of military force,
eluding Defense Secretary-Caspar W. s"'should be 'applied have split the ad-
n_ Weinberger,- and National Security .mi istration in several ways, accord-
'Adviser Robert C. McFarlane. .;ring to officials in several areas of
? Some high-level White House of- -.government. "
ficials would-like to force Casey out. The "doves" have been the mit-
of his CIA job because, they say, he formed military, led by the Joint
has irreparably damaged relations Chiefs of Staff, who have been con-
with Congress and has failed to pro- sistently reluctant to apply ?
duce at the CIA.. They acknowledge, threaten ? U.S. military power. ?
however, that is is doubtful 'that Rea- "Hawks" have come from the civil-
gan would fire a personal friend of ian leadership in the Pentagon, led
longstanding. . by Fred Ikle, undersecretary for poll
-
? Secretary of State George P. cy, and from the State Department
Shultz, some top administration offi- under both Shultz and his predetea-
cials believe, has been weak and in- sor, Alexander M. Haig Jr. -
effective.
- For example, the joint chiefs, now
The series of interviews suggested' headed by Army Gen. John Vessey
that.none of the.major governmental Jr., are said to have Opposed a deci-
bodies involved in Central America sion to stage extensive naval maneu-
PPlicy ? the White House, the State, vers off Central American coasts last
Department, the Pentagon and the -summer to try to intimidate Nicara-
CIA ?is incomplete accord with any gua and Salvadoran ,rebels. The top
? of -the others. military officers also are reported to
A major immediate issue is how far, have originally opposed last year's
...?716 go ..in- seeking to dramatize the invasion' of Grenada.
, -:stalemated watt:1'El -Salvador to try But Shultz and others at the State
.
to save the administration's aid pro- Department favored both, officials
gram, which is in danger of beingsay. . .
stripped to the bone and possibly
scrapped by Congress. ' Lesson of Vietnam
Money sought Military men are reluctant to dis-
. Reagan is seeking 'from Congress , cuss their views.publicly, but many
$62 _million in emergency military I have discussed them privately. Es-
..?sentially, they argue that the lesson
aid for El Salvador,- $178 million in
?
economic aid and $21 Million for the _ . of Vietnam is that both Congress and
CIA for support of the contras, or. the American public must support
U
counterrevolutionaries, opposing !.S. military action abroad, -or that
the Sandinista government in :action should be avoided: . .:.;
Nicaragua. _ Many- military 'officers say the'
think that it is up to the nation's
House Democrats, led by Speaker
political leadership ? the president
Thomas P. O'Neill (D., mass.,),. say ,,
they will not go along with money in particular ? to-explain the ne-c-es-
requested for the CIA effort in sity for the use of power to the pub.
requested
?lic, and that the military should be
, called upon only after a political con-
COrttinuag
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ARTiaiE AppEApproved For Release 3g45/15R3 tE,14-RDP9M
ON 27 April 1984
rito
By DEBORAH ORIN
WASHINGTON ? Sen.
Daniel Patrick Moyni-
han yesterday withdrew
his resignation from the
Senate Intelligence
Committee after CIA di-
rector William Casey
apologized for failing to
brief the committee on
the CIA role in mining
Nicaraguan harbors.
The dramatic develop-
ments came at a closed-
door meeting. between
Casey. and the commit-
tee at a time when both
the CIA and Senate
Democrats were wor-
ried about who might
replace Moynihan in the
sensitive post.
Casey admitted he
failed to "adequately"
, inform the committee
about the CIA role in the
harbor mining ? and
virtually conceded that
the failure was a viola-
tion of the law under
which the committee
oversees the CIA.
After the session,
Moynihan revealed that
he had withdrawn his
resignation and read a
statement from the full
committee that said:
"The committee
agreed that it was not
adequately informed in
a timely manner of cer-
tain significant intelli-
gence activity in such a
manner as to permit the
committee to carry out
its oversight function.
"The director of Cen-
tral Intelligence
(Casey) concurred in
that assessment."
Casey ? who has been
under heavy fire from
both Republicans and
Democrats who said
they lacked. confidence
In him ? was ."pro-
el
foundly apologetic" dur-
ing the session, congres-
sional sources said.
The statement also
said: "The CIA has
pledged its full coopera-
tion and recognizes-the
requirement to provide'
the committee with
prior notice of 'any sig-
nificant anticipated in-
telligence activity' as
provided by the Intelli-
gence OversightAct."
The committee and
CIA representatives? are
to meet next week to
work out a new set of
procedures for such
notification.
A major concern for
the CIA was that the
man likely to step into
SEN. MOYNIHAN
Sack on job.
Moynihan's shoes was
Sen. Pat Leahy of Ver-
mont, a liberal Demo.
crat who is an outspo-
ken critic of CIA covert
actions and known for
something of a loose lip.
Democrats feared that
any time sensitive intel-
ligence information was
leaked, a finger would
be pointed at...them ?
via Leahy.
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Approved For Release 21STRA2M-RDP91-00901R0
27 April 19314
CIA: the Reagan
se..
The Central Intelligence Agency, under
President Reagan's?pld friend William Casey, is
the fastest growing part of the federal govern-
ment.
Although the budget of the CIA is appropri-
ately secret, recent reports suggest that funding
has expanded more rapidly than Pentagon
spending. In 1981, 2 percent of CIA's budget
was devoted to what is euphemistically termed
clandestine services. Today the portion of its
budget for undercover operations is about 10.
percent.
These figures outline a crucial change in the
way the silent sector of the American govern-
ment operates. In the 1970s most Americans
were shocked and chagrined to learn that, act-
ing in their name, the CIA overthrew elected
governments; hired Mafia hit men; helped to
transport heroin from Indochina to the South
Bronx; and ran phony banks and businesses to
launder, money and finance a myriad of con-
spiracies and counterrevolutions.
President Carter reduced the CIA's clandes-
tine services. Eight hundred operatives were
cut from the agency payroll. Reagan has re-
stored them all.
Recent disclosures of illegal CIA activities in
Central America ? the mining of Nicaraguan
harbors and the destruction of oil storage facili-
ties ? may be the tip of a covert iceberg. "New
CIA offices have been opened around the
world." according to an investigative report in
last Sunday's Globe. "And new plans have
been laid for supersecret projects built on hu-
man intelligence techniques. involving spies,
saboteurs, guerrilla warfare specialists and
many other kinds of secret operatives."
.This groundwork for restoring the CIA's
clandestine capability was accomplished before
the April announcements of a "new" tough
policy ostensibly directed against international
terrorism. On April 3, the President signed. Na-
tional Security Decision Directive 138 outlining
a range of antiterrorist measures, including
preemptive actions.
The Administration has openly declared
that the new policy will stop short of authoriz-
ing assassinations. Yet. in a reprise of "earlier.
good days," a congressional source cited in the
Globe article indicated that Fidel Castro "may
be back on a hit list as a potential target for
non-Americans, possibly with the unspoken
acquiesence of the CIA."
00400040001-2
restoration
Terrorism does exist. It threatens innocent
people and serves as a policy tool for regimes
such as those of Hafez Assad in Syria, Moarn-
mar Khadafy in Libya, Saddam Hussein in Iraq
or Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. The suicidal
truck bombing that killed 241 US servicemen at
the Beirut airport demonstrated that state-
sponsored terrorism can be an effective weapon
against American policy and American inter-
ests.
Nonetheless, any American program to fight
political terrorism by means of a commensur-
ate counterterror has intrinsic limitations and
nasty implications. .
There is the moral dilemma of hiring mur-
derers to kill other murderers ? or to kill any-
one defined as an enemy. The CIA's Phoenix
Program in South Vietnam, a conscious effort
to assassinate the political cadres that made up
the "infrastructure' of the Vietcong, caused
many Americans to think of their government
as a branch .of Murder Incorporated.
There is also evidence that counterterror
simply does not work as a deterrent to state-
sponsored terrorism. Iraq and Syria have used
terrorism-against each other to no avail. Fanat-
ical Iranian terrorists, who immolate them-
selves to fulfill Khomeini's promises of a quick
trip to paradise, will ignore efforts to punish
them for their martyrdom.
The R ,mg?an Administration has insisted, at
every opportdnity, that the Soviet Union and
its satellites sponsor terrorism. There is evi-
dence that they do, but their terrorism is a side-
show. As America enters the lists of interna-
tional terrorism, it will compete against the As-
sads, Khomeinis and Khadafys. One unintend-
ed result of Reagan's Directive 138 may be to
make explicit what his often been concealed:
that the President's vision of a "resurgent
America" leads to confrontations not merely
with Moscow, but also with the disparate forms
of Third World nationalism
The stir the Reagan Administration has cre-
ated to launch its antiterrorist policy looks like
a rationalization for a CIA comeback in clan-
destine operations. Once again, officials of
democratic America will forsake the wisdom of
Jefferson and Thoreau for the bloody instruc-
tions to be found in Machiavelli's "The Prince"
or Mario Puzo's "The Godfather."
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6 I A
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AIL! AFFLARrt. WASHINGTON POST
PAGE f? 27 April 1984
Stephen S.:,,Rosenfeld
So WeWon't Invade?
The painful and; ii official quarters.
unsuspected inadequacy of the adminis?
tration's Central - American policy is
etched in the remarkable joint state-
ment of April 10 by George Shultz, Cas-
par Weinberger, William Casey and Ro-
bert McFarlane.' These worthies threw.
their collective Vie:fait behind a declara-
tion that the United States is not plan-
ning to invade Cent:rill America; now or
after the election.
Given the peAlirve -suspicion that
such a plan is 'exaiitly. What President
Reagan has in latest affirma:-
tion of non-intervelitiori would seem
be extremely important, the very pledge
of self-denial thaelleagan's critics have
been demanding1
Many of them. qi-eit'VeVer, still suspect
that the administrarian merely intended
to put out that paitiEnlar day's fire. It is
further suggested that this latest gang of
four was playing iOith-words:the United
States isn't "plaralink" an invasion but
is preparing to have 1..ine thrust upon it
and may even be dbing its provocative
bit to bring one on..Hence the bases and
maneuvers (scheduled until 1989!) .in
Honduras, the inching toward combat
in El Salvador, the barely offshore role
in Nicaragua. ;13A
If a full-fledged invasion is in the
works, then Shultz, Weinbe en Casey
and McFarlane?and their chief?are
being cynical and will deserve contempt
-But this is an -unkind- and surely
premature verdict-I think the gang_of
four means its vow of restraint As eager
flts members majbe to intimidate the
Sandinistas and the Salvadoran guerril-
. .
las. they realizUhstan.Amerjcanjuya-
sjgn would inflict vv ts,
rip the United States apart in the Viet-
ron7n-War fP,think and damage_Amer-
ican standiu,_ in the jiernispkis_and
elsewhere. It would___49_13rden Rea-
gafs reelection prospects, the su2L:cess of
, the_Ggenadainvasicamotwithstanding.
t-Therefore, they have spoken out
against an invasion, in a newly vigorous
and explicit style, on the theory that, a
Congress thus relieved is more likely to
vote 66:requisite aid to allow friendly .
Latina to fight their own battles. -
This is the explanation one hears
fromadministration officials, who note
that Reagan has repeatedly said that al-
though he plans no invasion, a president
should "never say never." Reagan wants
to calm Congress but to give some pause
to the Marxists at the same tirne. -
The new statement, however, merely
Underlines his dfiemma, Partly because
of its Own rigidities and partly because
.7 of its adversaries', the administration
-harbeen conducting a policy based
chiefly on applying force. To the extent
that it now removes the threat of lava-
' sion, it torpedoes that policy. . -
. For removing the threat only makes
sense if simultaneously a negotiating
passage is opened?something the ad-
ministration has not yet done: Other-
wise it risks encouraging its foes to be-
lieve that they have just seen the United
States blink, big, and if they hold on the
_United States mayaventually. blink its
way right out of Central America.
1 find it almost impossible to imagine
that a conservative president such as
00400040001-2
Ronald Reagan is prepared to ignore the
principal thrust of American postwar
policy and?at least on his watch?to
see parts of Central America "lost" to
armed, Marxist-led, Soviet-linked revo-
lutionary forces. Jesse Jackson and Gary
Hart talk as though they could live With
that outcome. The prospect agitates
Walter Mondale greatly, though he is
not sure what could be done at this late
date to prevent it. But for Reagan the
prospect is unthinkable, right?
How, then, does he intend to prevent
-"a slide in that direction as long as he
rules out an American intervention on
? the one hand and fails to move toward a
? negotiated solution on the other? The
narrow altErnative he reserves for him-
self is to keep on pursuing the policies
that have brought him to his present,
deepening discontent One result of
those policies is the current. crisis of aid.
Here lies the trouble Reagan has
courted by having the Pentagon and
CIA run his policy. The danger is not
that these agencies mean to sneak the
United Statesjnto__a wan_or_even that
they will lose contras much anxious
and hostile comment on the American
and Latin left suggests. The danger is
that Casey and Weinberger?even
Weinberger, with his passionate aver-
sion to messy TiiiTh-World military in-
volvements?may leave the president
no other way of averting El Salvadori-
Reagan's intent is to be strong. His
grasp of his dilemma is weak. Central
America is torn and he is tearing fur-
ther, not mending.
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L.\
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1,F.; 7- I CIE AFFT-11.12:
ON G
WASHINGTON TIMES
27 April 1984
STAT
Casey apologizes to Senate committee
permit the committee to carry out its
By George Archibald oversight function," the panel said in
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
a statement issued by senators after
yesterday's meeting.
"The director of central intelli-
gence agreed in that assessment,"
the statement said.
"The committee and the CIA have
agreed on the need for more thor-
ough and effective oversight proce-
dures. especially in the area of covert
action;' the statement continued.
"The committee will move promptly
to develop new procedures to ensure
that the Senate will be fully and cur-
rently informed."
Senators said the panel and CIA
officials will meet again May 2 to dis-
cuss such procedures. The commit-
tee will also "reorganize" its staff,
Mt Moynihan told reporters.
"The Central Intelligence Agency
has pledged its full cooperation in
this effort and recognizes the
requirement to provide the commit-
tee with prior notice of any 'signifi-
cant anticipated intelligence
activity: as provided by the Intelli-
gence Oversight Act," said the com-
mittee statement.
"At the request of the committee,
and in light of the director's
acknowledgment, Sen. Moynihan
withdrew his resignation as vice
chairman," the statement concluded.
Sen. Barry M. Goldwater, R-Ariz.,
chairman of th..; committee, said,
William J. Casey, director of the
Central Intelligence Agency,
apologized yesterday to members of
the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence for the CIA's failure to
inform the panel fully on American
involvement in the raining of Nicara-
guan harbors.
According to committee mem-
bers, the apology came in a stormy
closed session in which senators and
Mr. Casey had "a spirited, sharp
exchange" about the CIA's incom-
plete disclosure of the U.S. role in the -
harbor mining that started in early
January
The apology led Sen. Daniel Pat-
rick Moynihan, D-N.Y., to agree to
stay on as vice chairman of the panel.
He had resigned Wednesday, protest-
ing that the CIA had broken its "rela-
tionship of trust" with the Senate
committee.
Mr. Moynihan helped write the law
that requires the CIA to keep its con-
gressional oversight committees
"fully and currently informed of all
intelligence activities," including
"any significant anticipated intelli-
gence activity"
"The committee agreed that it was
not adequately informed in a timely
manner of certain significant intelli-
gence activity in such a manner as to
"They [the administration) have a
very heavy responsibility to us. We
received a complete briefing on the
history of the decision by the pres-
ident to use mines in harbors in Cen-
tral America."
Mr. Moynihan said the committee
was assured that no other covert
actions were going on in Central
America beyond those already
revealed to the panel.
Sens. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, and
Richard Lugar, R-Ind., who jointly
drafted the committee statement,
stid the CIA director admitted that
the panel was inadequately briefed.
There was "a very spirited, sharp
exchange [with) strong statements
made on both sides," said Mr. Bent-
sen. "Mr. Casey said, 'I apologize; he
used that word," he reported. The
CIA director promised to be "not a
little more forthright ?a damn sight
more forthright. I have confidence in
Mr. Casey," Mr. Bentsen added.
"The bipartisan character of this
committee has been extremely
important" in resolving the dispute
with the CIA, said Mr. Lugar. "It
[intelligence oversight] does not
work well if these issues become
polarized," he added.
"The CIA was very wrong not to
have informed the committee. It was
a dumb thing," said Mr. Bentsen.
"Now it's time to have a cease-fire
between the committee and the CIA,"
he added.
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ARTICLE APPEARPIpproved For Relea4R2Ogttiggg :f3lOgRIDPM9MC190400
ON PAGE 27 April 1984
Senators Get
Apology From
Casey on Mining
? Ey DON SHANNON,:
Times Staff Writer --
WASHINGTON?CIA Director
William J. Casey :apologized to the
Senate Intelligence Committee at
closed-door meeting Thursday -for
failing to informit adequately about
the CIA's keY iole'inthe?mining Of
Nicaraguan ports,-. :committee-
said in a statenient. -
Casey's acknowled.genient,?irlidF
in a spirited -three:hour-session With--;
? committee member-, helped per-
suade Sen. Daniel Patrick Id ayTan=
?(D-N.Y.) to =withdraw :his resigna-
tion as vice chairman of the panel.
Moynihan had -resigned to protest
CIA briefings On the-mining opera-
tion that he said. Were Ticit adequate
under the law, Which .states that the
agency must: 'keep -"congressional
intelligence oversight -panels '"fully
and currently informed?"-'
= Bipartisan Spirit
On behalf ofAhe committee, Moy-
nihan , read a statement that de-
clared: '.'At the: conclusion of this
review, the committee agreed that
it -was not adequately informed in -a .
timely manner of -certain significant
intelligence activity in such a man-
ner as to permit the committee to
carry out its oversight function: The
director of central intelligence con-
curred in that assesarnent:", -
. After the meeting, at which Depi"
uty Secretary of State.Kermeth W.."
Darn and other 'CIA -,.officials also
testified, both Democratic and Re-
publican ccirnmittee members ex-'
? pressed their - satisfaction at -the
restoration: of the-bipartisan spirit
that has preVailed on. the panel in
_
.; the past. ? ;
Chairman 'Rai-17 .Goi'd water