July 13, 1986
C.I.A. Regaining Role With Contras
By James F. Clarity, Richard Levine and Milt Freudenheim
When Congress refused to extend military aid to the Nicaraguan rebels in 1984, it underlined the point by ordering the Central Intelligence Agency to stay out of the remaining assistance operations, which were described as humanitarian.
But the House of Representatives was in a different mood last month as it narrowly approved $100 million in new, mainly military, aid for the insurgents, or contras: the provision specifically banning C.I.A. involvement was not reinacted.
And last week, Reagan Administration officials said the intelligence agency would be resuming day-to-day responsibility for managing the insurgency.
The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to add its approval of the aid this summer.
Some State Department officials said they would rather have given a larger role in managing the insurgency to the Defense Department, but the Pentagon preferred to keep its distance, while William J. Casey, the C.I.A. Director, actively sought the responsibility.
Under the terms of the House bill, the contras are to be supplied with antiaircraft weapons as a priority. Diplomats in Managua said last week that perhaps 15 new Soviet-made helicopters had been unloaded in Nicaragua since early May.