THOSE TITILLATING HIGH-LEVEL RESIGNATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000600190014-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 15, 2005
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: March 14, 1986
• Content Type: NSPR

For Release M1d5A99*4T RDP91-00901R00060019 014-0
l~- 14 March 1986
Those Titillating High-Level R
By STEPHEN ENGELBERG
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, March 13 There
is nothing like a high-level resigna-
tion to get people talking in this city.
After all, this Is where a shift of
White House office assignments and
the type of plane given a senior offi-
clal.for a foreign trip can set off days
of speculation.
When somebody actually leaves the
Government, vague official state-
ments citing the ever-popular "per-
sonal reasons" are seen as inherently
suspect. Journalists, lobbyists and
players in the power game suspect
that darker meanings lurk just be-
neath the surface of such seemingly
innocuous announcements.
So it was .the other day when the
White House announced that John N.
McMahon, the No. 2 man at the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency, was ending
his 34-year career with the agency.
The White House said he was;leaving
for unspecified personal reasons. But
the speculation began immediately
and has continued, both in print and
among those who follow the twists
and turns of the intelligence agencies.
Did he jump? Was he pushed? Was
his leaving some kind of protest?
Critics of the agency, contending
that Mr. McMahon had opposed cov-
ert aid for insurgencies in Afghani-
stan, Angola and Nicaragua, saw his
resignation as proof that those pro-
grams would soon be stepped up.
Tass, the Soviet press agency, offered
a similar hypothesis. And two conser-
vative groups that had been pushing
for Mr. McMahon's dismissal im_
mediately claimed credit.
All of which led Mr. McMahon to
vehemently deny all the theories,
which made some of the speculators
all the more convinced that their as-
sertions were correct.
Goals of the Lobbying Groups
The conservative lobbying groups,
Free the Eagle and the Federation for
American Afghan Action, have been
pushing for a more confrontational
American policy in Afghanistan.
They would like the United States, for
example, to provide expensive Amer-
ican-made arms to the rebels fighting
the Soviet-backed government of Af-
ghanistan. Foreign-made arms are
now provided to the guerrillas on
what officials call a "covert" basis,
meaning the weapons cannot be di-
rectly traced to American sources.
But the two groups have also been
trying to build their reputations, and
a letter-writing campaign against
Mr. McMahon has beeiSi a primary
tactic.
The groups said repeatedly that
Mr. McMahon was opposing an in-
crease in the size of the Afghan pro-
gram. Officials said his concern was
that more aid would only be lost as it
is moved through Pakistani middle-
men to the Afghan guerrillas.
"We said, 'Hey, McMahon's the
bad guy,' " recounted Neal Blair,
president of Free the Eagle. He said
that as a result of his group's efforts,
more than 10,000 letters were de-
livered to Donald T. Regan, the White
House chief of staff.
The conservative lobbying groups
have had mixed success in getting
people to believe their claims in
Washington, but they seem to have
had little trouble, convincing Moscow
of their prowess.
Tass, in its article on Mr.
McMahon's resignation, said the
White House had been pressured by
"the ultra-reactionary group Free the
Eagle." This assertion is a favorite
theme of the Soviet press, which regu-
larly portrays Mr. Reagan as being a
prisoner of the far right.
Tass also suggested that Mr.
McMahon had resigned in protest,
saying he had "dared to express
doubts on the utility of giving military
aid through the C.I.A. channels to the
anti-Afghan rebels."
McMahon Is `Dismayed'
All of this apparently infuriated
Mr. McMahon and led some allied in-
telligence services to think that the
agency was undergoing some sort of
internal upheaval. Within a few days
the C.I.A. was issuing a statement
under Mr. McMahan's name intended
to quell all the speculation,
"I have been dismayed and an-
gered by the reaction of those in the
press and special interest groups who
have sought to interpret my retire-
ment from C.I.A. as an expression of
discontent with the President's poli-
cies," he wrote. "Nothing could be
further from the truth. I must draw
the line when these uninformed and
erroneous reports provide fodder -
as indeed they already have - for
propaganda in the Sandinista press in
Nicaragua and others abroad."
Administration officials who have
known Mr. McMahon for years say
that there was no hidden meaning in
his retirement and that he had talked
about leaving Government service
for several years.
These associates contend that, in
this case, it was accurate for the
White House. to say he was resigning
for personal reasons. The timing of
Mr. McMahon's decision, they said,
was linked to such prosaic factors as
pending Federal legislation that
would lessen pension benefits to reti-
rees.
It is true, they say, that Mr.
McMahon has sometimes been a
doubter when it comes to expanded
covert programs. But they say he had
proven to be a loyal soldier once a
particular policy was decided.
"Why wouldn't he have left years
ago if he had such problems with cov-
ert programs?" one official asked.
Others said that Mr. McMahon, to
all indications, had retained the confi-
dence of William J. Casey, the Direc-
tor of Central Intelligence, who is a
leading proponent.of the Administra-
tion's covert aid to insurgencies.
Mr. Blair, of Free the Eagle,.is not
persuaded.
"McMahon was right in the middle
of this, and it appears he lost out," he
said. "The indications are persua-
sive."
Asked if he knew for 'a certainty
that Mr. McMahon had been forced
from his job, Mr. Blair said:
"I can't think of one resignation
where we've ever. really known what
happened."
Approved For Release 2005/12/14: CIA-RDP91-00901R000600190014-0
 WASHINGTON POST
14 March 1986
Those Allegations Against a CIA Deputy
Approved For Release 2005/12/14: CIA-RDP91-00901R0006
There are only three accurate parts
of The Post's March 5 story entitled
"CIA Deputy Chief McMahon Re-
signs," These a=
^ John McMahon resigned as
deputy director _lutelli_
gen-ce;
^ The picture is indeed of Mr.
McMahon;
^ Deputy Director for Intelligence
Dr. Robert Gates has been nominates)
by the president to succeed Mr.
McMahon.
Numerous allegations against Mr.
McMahon contained in the rest of The
Post's story are false. Notably:
^'The Post implies that Mr.
McMahon retired because an "inter-
agency group in charge of covert
operations decided on a significant es-
calation of four paramilitary opera-
tions." That is incorrect. As Mr.
McMahon said, and as the White
House's announcement of Mr.
McMahon's resignation stated, he re-
tired for purely personal reasons. The
Post leads its readers to believe that
its "anonymous" sources know Mr.
McMahon's mind better than he does.
f The Post asserts that "the depar-
ture of McMahon ... clears the way
fora more activist policy of CIA inter-
vention that' t is agency s erector
William J. Casey, has been promot-
ing." s e Post should be aware
whatever administration is in power-
President Reagan's in this case-
makes oreign policy not the ral
Intelligence Agency. The CIA's func-
tions are o co ec , ana yze and dis-
seminate information on forei policy, I could go on, but enough said.
developments to those who do make It is a pity that a distinguished
policy-the president and his National agency officer and public servant who
Security Council-and to assist them has given 34 years of his life in out-
in the decision-makin process. Mr. standing service to his country should
Casey is an adviser tote NbC, but is be so maligned when he regretfully re-
not a voting member. 'tires for truly personal reasons.
The CIA also is charged with con- GEORGE V, LAUDER
ducting counterintelligence overseas Director, Public Affairs
afid undertaking such other activities Central Intelligence Agency
Washington
as the president may direct. ch deci-
sion by the president to task CIA with
such activities, sometimes referred to as
"covert action," is re rted to the over-
sight committees in Congress within 48
hours, Lost suggests, have its own foreign poli-
cy Mr. McMahon's presence or depp -
ture from the a ens will not in itself
decide the course of U.S. foreign policy.
^ According to The Post,
"McMahon opposed increased U.S. in-
volvement in Third World conflicts."
Nothing could be further from the
truth. As Mr. McMahon has stated, "I
support the president's policies in Af-
ghanistan, Nicaragua and the Third
World at large and execute his direc-
tives to the fullest extent." Congres-
sional testimony makes clear that Mr.
McMahon is not discontent with the
president's policies in these areas as
The Post and others have alleged; he
has, in fact, been a strong supporter of
these policies.
^ The Post reports that a lobby has
taken credit for Mr. McMahon's resig-
nation. Such a claim by a misinformed
and misguided group is absurd and de-
serves no further comment.
Approved For Release 2005/12/14: CIA-RDP91-00901R000600190014-0
 Approved Release 2005/12/14: CIA-RDP91-00901 R000600190014-0
Casey's
choices at
the CIA
ARNOLD BEicRMAN
hen President Reagan
appointed William
Casey director of Cen-
tral Intelligence in
1981, he selected a man who had sev-
eral qualifications for the post.
First, during World War II he had
served in the Office of Strategic Ser-
vices, a more modest version of
what in time became the CIA.
Second, Mr. Casey knew inti-
mately Washington's bureaucratic,
byways, having served earlier in
several executive government posts.
Third, Mr. Casey, unlike several of
his immediate predecessors, had no
illusions whatsoever about the So-
viet Union.
Fourth, and probably most impor-
tant, he enjoyed the fullest confi-
dence of President Reagan, an
attribute in which many of Mr.
Casey's forerunners under other
presidents had been notably defi-
cient.
Mr. Casey's first designee to a
leading CIA post almost brought
him down. As his deputy director for
operations, the "chief spook:' as he
is known at Langley, Mr. Casey ap-
pointed not someone from the CIA
itself but an "outsider," a business-
man who had reportedly done a f irst-
rate job in the 1980 Reagan pres-
idential campaign. The appointee
suddenly found himself being inves-
tigated for alleged crimes, and be-
fore he had even warmed his seat he
withdrew, rather than allow himself
and the administration to be
dragged through the mud.
T he following year, 1982, when
Adm. Bobby Ray Inman, the
legendary intelligence pro-
fessional, retired as deputy director
of Central Intelligence, Mr. Casey,
under pressure from Congress, took
an "insider," John N. McMahon, then
CIA executive director, to replace
Mr. Inman. Mr. McMahon resigned
WASHINGTON TIMES
19 March 1986
his post last week, effective Marcn
29, apparently on his own volition.
Succeeding him as second-ranking
official at the CIA was another mem-
ber of the CIA career bureaucracy,
Robert M. Gates, the agency's
deputy director for intelligence.
Prior to this appointment, which re-
quires Senate confirmation, Mr.
Gates was chairman of the CIA's Na-
tional Intelligence Council, which
analyzes all information collected by
U.S. intelligence agencies.
This replacement of one high CIA
official by another demonstrates the
tremendous power the CIA career
bureaucracy has developed over the
years. In addition, career officers
are today endowed with an impor-
tant action base in the House and
Senate intelligence oversight com-
mittees. These bodies constitution-
ally outrank the CIA itself because
they are empowered to oversee the.
agency's activities and finances, no
matter how secret, how confidential,
and how sensitive.
No classification can truly ex-
clude the committee members from
knowing, if they want to, whatever
the CIA knows and does. In other
words, while Mr. Casey nominally is
on the top of the Central Intelligence
pyramid, his subordinates have in-
evitably developed a lateral relation-
ship with powerful congressional
leaders, some of whom have indi-
cated that they put greater trust in
CIA career officers than they do in
Mr. Casey himself.
What gives the career officers
even more muscle is that, as the di-
rector of Central Intelligence, Mr.
Casey has, as is the case with any
executive in-chief, a limited time
span for dealing with issues and de-
cisions. There is simply too much to
do in an agency like the CIA, even for
the director. He must, therefore, se-
lect those issues which have a prior-
ity for him and in, Mr. Casey's par-
ticular situation, for the president.
S uch a priority issue for President Reagan is the Strategic
Defense Initiative. Whatever
one says about Mr. Reagan's putative
waffling on various issues and what-
ever suspicions may be raised
among some ultraright commenta-
tors about his anti-Communism, Mr.
Reagan hasn't yielded an inch on his
No. 1 priority, the SDI. The pres-
sures at home and abroad to compro-
mise with the U.S.S.R. have been
enormous .but he hasn't budged,
perhaps bn the assumption that if
the United States wins on SDI, all
other Soviet-U.S. issues may lose
their confrontational significance.
Nicaragua is another priority is-
sue for Mr. Reagan. Thus Mr. Casey
has made the president's handful of
priorities his own; the CIA career
officers can take care of the other
issues.
T o some extent both men share
a belief that when they are
right they are right, and they
will not be moved. Such an example
was afforded the inner Washington
world when Mr. Reagan let it be
known that he was planning to meet
at the November summit in Geneva
one-on-one (except for interpreters)
with Mikhail Gorbachev. There were
protests, entreaties, warnings from
many directions that it would be a
calamity for Mr. Reagan to meet
alone with the Soviet party general
secretary. Mr. Reagan paid no atten-
tion to all the advice and spent five
hours alone with Mr. Gorbachev.
'Ib return to the instant subject,
the appointment of Mr. Gates to suc-
ceed Mr. McMahon may be a tri-
umph for the CIA career bu-
reaucracy and, indeed, Mr. Gates is I
probably an excellent appointment,
judging by his past record. The point
is that, so far as Mr. Casey and his
patron are concerned, on those is-
sues which both men regard as top
priority they will neither yield nor
compromise, regardless of Con-
gress or the CIA bureaucracy.
Arnold Beichman, visiting
scholar at the Hoover Institution, is
studying congressional oversight of
the intelligence agencies.
Approved For Release 2005/12/14: CIA-RDP91-00901R000600190014-0
 U.S.NEWS & WORLD REPORT
ON FACE Approved For Releasq 20 IZI 4 I Cy RDP91-00901 R000600190014-0
TOMORROW
A LOOK AHEAD FROM THE NATION'S CAPITAL
UPROAR The resignation of the CIA's No. 2 man, Deputy Director John McMahon,
AT THE is just the overt side of the covert turmoil inside the agency.
CIA
Intelligence insiders say McMahon was fired and that Director Casey
was behind it. Administration aides accuse McMahon of leaking inside
information to Congress and the press, but behind the accusations is
McMahon's long resistance to Casey's plans for more covert aid.
McMahon had hoped to survive as the agency's conscience, but that only
put him at further odds with Casey. Casey's commitment to Reagan has
offended CIA professionals dedicated to nonpartisanship, but it gave
him the leverage to oust McMahon. The new deputy director, Soviet
expert Robert Gates, is more enthusiastic about backing anti-Marxist
"freedom fighters," but he will meet opposition from the agency pros.
Many of them are now expected to leave "the company."
Approved For Release 2005/12/14: CIA-RDP91-00901R000600190014-0
 '~~~ 1 For Release ' '~MaQih94~1 tA-RDP91-00901R000600190014-0
(bk
By STEPHEN ENGELBERG
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, March 13 - There
is nothing like a high-level resigna-
tion to get people talking in this city.
After all, this is where a shift of
White House office assignments and
the type of plane given a senior offi-
cial.for a foreign trip can set off days
of speculation.
When somebody actually leaves the
Government, vague official state-
ments citing the ever-popular "per-
sonal reasons" are seen as inherently
suspect. Journalists, lobbyists and
players in the power game suspect
that darker meanings lurk just be??
neath the surface of such seemingly
innocuous announcements.
So it was the other day when the
White House announced that John N.
McMahon, the No. 2 man at the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency, was ending
his 34-year career with the agency.
The White House said he was leaving
for unspecified personal reasons. But
the speculation began immediately
and has continued, both in print and
among those who follow the twists
and turns of the intelligence agencies.
Did he jump? Was he pushed? Was
his leaving some kind of protest?
Critics of the agency, contending
that Mr. McMahon had opposed cov-
ert aid for insurgencies in Afghan..
stan, Angola and Nicaragua, saw his
resignation as proof that those pro-
grams would soon be stepped up.
Tass, the Soviet press agency, offered
a similar hypothesis. And two conser-
vative groups that had been pushing
for Mr. McMahon's dismissal im-
mediately claimed credit.
All of which led Mr. McMahon to
vehemently deny all the theories,
which made some of the speculators
all the more convinced that their as-
sertions were correct.
Goals of the Lobbying Groups
The conservative lobbying groups,
Free the Eagle and the Federation for
American Afghan Action, have been
pushing for a more confrontational
American policy in Afghanistan.
They would like the United States, for
example, to provide expensive Amer-
ican-made arms to the rebels fighting
the Soviet-backed government of Af-
ghanistan. Foreign-made arms are
now provided to the guerrillas on
what officials call a "covert" basis,
meaning the weapons cannot be di-
rectly traced to American sources.
But the two groups have also been
trying to build their reputations, and
a letter-writing campaign against
Mr. McMahon has been a primary
tactic.
The groups said repeatedly that
Mr. McMahon was opposing an in-
crease in the size of the Afghan pro-
gram. Officials said his concern was
that more aid would only be lost as it
is moved through Pakistani middle-
men to the Afghan guerrillas.
"We said, 'Hey, McMahon's the
bad guy,' " recounted Neal Blair,
president of Free the Eagle. He said
that as a result of his group's efforts,
more than 10,000 letters were de-
livered to Donald T. Regan, the White
House chief of staff.
The conservative lobbying groups
have had mixed success in getting
people to believe their claims in
Washington, but they seem to have
had little trouble convincing Moscow
of their prowess.
Tass, in its article on Mr.
McMahon's resignation, said the
White House had been pressured by
"the ultra-reactionary group Free the
Eagle." This assertion is a favorite
theme of the Soviet press, which regu-
larly portrays Mr. Reagan as being a
prisoner of the far right.
Tass also suggested that Mr.
McMahon had resigned in protest,
saying he had "dared to express
doubts on the utility of giving military
aid through the C.I.A. channels to the
anti-Afghan rebels."
McMahon Is 'Dismayed'
All of this apparently infuriated
Mr. McMahon and led some allied in-
telligence services to think that the
agency was undergoing some sort of
internal upheaval. Within a few days
the C.I.A. was issuing a statement
under Mr. McMahan's name intended
to quell all the speculation.
"I have been dismayed and an-
gered by the reaction of those in the
press and special interest groups who
have sought to interpret my retire-
ment from C.I.A. as an expression of
discontent with the President's poli-
cies," he wrote. "Nothing could be
further from the truth. I must draw
the line when these uninformed and
erroneous reports provide fodder -
as indeed they already have - for
propaganda in the Sandinista press in
Nicaragua and others abroad."
Administration officials who have
known Mr. McMahon for years say
that there was no hidden meaning in
his retirement and that he had talked
about leaving Government service
for several years.
These associates contend that, in
this case, it was accurate for the
White House. to say he was resigning
for personal reasons. The timing of
Mr. McMahon's decision, they said,
was linked to such prosaic factors as
pending Federal legislation that
would lessen pension benefits to reti-
rees.
It is true, they say, that Mr.
McMahon has sometimes been a
doubter when it comes to expanded
covert programs. But they say he had
proven to be a loyal soldier once a
particular policy was decided.
"Why wouldn't he have left years
ago if he had such problems with cov-
ert programs?" one official asked.
Others said that Mr. McMahon, to
all indications, had retained the confi-
dence of William J. Casey, the Direc-
tor of Central Intelligence, who is a
leading Proponent-of the Administra-
tion's covert aid to insurgencies.
Mr. Blair, of Free the Eagle, is not
persuaded.
"McMahon was right in the middle
of this, and it appears he lost out," he
said. "The indications are persua-
sive."
Asked if he knew for a certainty
that Mr. McMahon had been forced
from his job, Mr. Blair said:
"I can't think of one resignation
where we've ever really known what
happened."
Approved For Release 2005/12/14: CIA-RDP91-00901ROO0600190014-0
Those Titillating High-Level Resignations
 Approved For Release 2005/12/14: CIA-RDP91-00901R000600190014-0
WASHINGTON POST
14 March 1986
Those Allegations Against a CIA Deputy
There are only three accurate parts
of The Post's March 5 story entitled
"CIA Deputy Chief McMahon Re-
" These are
sign,
^ John McMahon resi ned as
deputy direct r I~ int?Ili-
genncce;
The picture is indeed of Mr.
McMahon;
^ Deputy Director for Intelligence
Dr. Robert Gates has been nominates)
by the president to succeed Mr.
McMahon.
Numerous allegations against Mr.
McMahon contained in the rest of The
Post's story are false. Notably:
^ The Post implies that Mr.
McMahon retired because an "inter-
agency group in charge of covert
operations decided on a significant es-
calation of four paramilitary opera-
tions." That is incorrect. As Mr.
McMahon said, and as the White
House's announcement of Mr.
McMahon's resignation stated, he re-
tired for purely personal reasons. The
Post leads its readers to believe that
its "anonymous" sources know Mr.
McMahon's mind better than he does.
^ The Post asserts that "the depar-
ture of McMahon ... clears the way
fora more activist policy of CIA inter-
;
vention t Ft" i t is agency s Z _
William J. Casey, has been promot-
ing." As The Post should be aware
whatever administration is in power-
President Reagan's in this case-
makes reign policy, no the_ axaL
Intelligence Agency. The CIA's func-
tions are o co, ect, ana yze and dis
seminate information on forei olio I could go on, but enough said.
developments to those who do make It is a pity that a distinguished
policy-the president and his National agency officer and public servant who
Security Council-and to assist them has given 34 years of his life in out-
in the decision-making process. Mr. standing service to his country should
Casey is an adviser tote MiU, but is be so maligned when he regretfully re-
no a vo In mem r. tires for truly personal reasons.
The CIA also is charged with con- GEORGE V. LAUDER
ducting counterintelligence overseas
and undertaking uh other activities
as a President may trect. ch deci-
sion by the president to task CIA with
such activities, sometimes referred to as
"covert action " is reported to the over-
sight committees in Congress within 48
hours, bince the CIA does not. as
Post suggests, have its own foreign poli-
cy, Mr. McMahon's presence or dept
ture from the agency will not in itself
decide e course of U.S. foreign licy.
^ According to The Post,
"McMahon opposed increased U.S. in-
volvement in .Third World conflicts."
Nothing could be further from the
truth. As Mr. McMahon has stated, "I
support the president's policies in Af-
ghanistan, Nicaragua and the Third
World at large and execute his direc-
tives to the fullest extent." Congres-
sional testimony makes clear that Mr.
McMahon is not discontent with the
president's policies in these areas as
The Post and others have alleged; he
has, in fact, been a strong supporter of
these policies.
^ The Post reports that a lobby has
taken credit for Mr. McMahon's resig-
nation. Such a claim by a misinformed
and misguided group is absurd and de-
serves no further comment.
Director, Public Affairs
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington
Approved For Release 2005/12/14: CIA-RDP91-00901R000600190014-0