NYT: C.I.A. Reportedly Ignored Charges of Contra Drug Dealing in '80's

Related:

29 January 1998, CIA: OIG: Allegations of Connections Between CIA and The Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States: Volume I: The California Story

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/10/world/cia-reportedly-ignored-charges-of-contra-drug-dealing-in-80-s.html

October 10, 1998

C.I.A. Reportedly Ignored Charges of Contra Drug Dealing in '80's

By JAMES RISEN

Despite requests for information from Congress, the Central Intelligence Agency repeatedly ignored or failed to investigate allegations of drug trafficking by the anti-Sandinista rebels of Nicaragua in the 1980's, according to a newly declassified report.

In a blunt and often critical report, the C.I.A.'s inspector general determined that the agency ''did not inform Congress of all allegations or information it received indicating that contra-related organizations or individuals were involved in drug trafficking.''

Beginning in 1986, the subject of contra drug trafficking became a focus for critics of the Reagan Administration's policy toward Nicaragua, who charged that the C.I.A. was shielding drug smugglers to protect its anti-Communist covert action program in Nicaragua.

That year Congress imposed a fund cutoff for any contra group that had members involved in drug trafficking. Despite that ban, the C.I.A. failed to tell Congress about allegations it had received against at least eight individuals with contra ties.

During the time the ban on funds was in effect, the C.I.A. informed Congress about drug charges against only two other contra-related people.

In addition, the agency failed to tell other executive branch agencies, including the Justice Department, about allegations against 11 contra-related individuals or entities.

The report quotes many active and retired C.I.A. officers who served in Central America as saying they either did not hear or did not believe allegations of drug trafficking involving the contra rebels, with whom they worked closely. It also makes clear that the agency did little or nothing to investigate most of the drug allegations that it heard about the contras and their supporters.

In April 1987, the Director of Central Intelligence, Robert M. Gates, wrote in a memorandum that it was ''absolutely imperative that this agency and our operations in Central America avoid any kind of involvement with individuals or companies that are even suspected of involvement in narcotics trafficking.''

The C.I.A. investigation that began almost a decade later, however, found no evidence that the memorandum was distributed to anyone other than Mr. Gates's deputy for operations, Clair George.

The new study is the second volume of the C.I.A.'s internal investigation prompted by a 1996 series of articles in The San Jose Mercury-News, which claimed that a ''dark alliance'' between the C.I.A., the contras and drug traffickers had helped finance the contra war with millions of dollars in profits from drug smuggling. The series also alleged that this network was the first to introduce crack cocaine into South Central Los Angeles. The first volume of the C.I.A. inspector general's report, issued in January, dealt primarily with the specific allegations raised by the Mercury-News series and dismissed its central findings.

The second volume is the result of a broader inquiry into long-unresolved questions about the contra program and drug trafficking.

In all, the report found that the C.I.A. received allegations of drug involvement by 58 contras or others linked to the contra program, including 14 pilots and two others tied to the contra program's C.I.A.-backed air transportation operations.

The report indicates that information linking the contras to drugs began to emerge almost as soon as the contras came into existence, and before it became publicly known that the C.I.A. was supporting their effort to overthrow the Marxist-led Government in Managua.

Different version archived at http://www.namebase.org/hitz.html

CIA Said to Ignore Charges of Contra Drug Dealing in '80s

By James Risen
New York Times
October 10, 1998

WASHINGTON -- Despite requests for information from Congress, the CIA repeatedly ignored or failed to investigate allegations of drug trafficking by the anti-Sandinista rebels of Nicaragua in the 1980s, according to a newly declassified internal report.

In a blunt and often critical report, the CIA's inspector general determined that the agency "did not inform Congress of all allegations or information it received indicating that contra-related organizations or individuals were involved in drug trafficking."

Beginning in 1986, the subject of contra drug trafficking became a focus for critics of the Reagan administration's policy toward Nicaragua who charged that the CIA was shielding drug smugglers to protect its anti-Communist covert action program in Nicaragua. That year Congress imposed a fund cutoff for any contra group that had members involved in drug trafficking. Despite that ban, the CIA failed to tell Congress about allegations it had received against at least eight individuals with contra ties.

During the time the ban on funds was in effect, the CIA informed Congress only about drug charges against two other contra-related people. In addition, the agency failed to tell other executive branch agencies, including the Justice Department, about drug allegations against 11 contra-related individuals or entities.

The report quotes many active and retired CIA officers who served in Central America as saying they either did not hear or did not believe allegations of drug trafficking involving the contra rebels, with whom they worked closely. It also makes clear that the agency did little or nothing to investigate most of the drug allegations that it heard about the contras and their supporters.

In April 1987, the acting director of central intelligence, Robert Gates, wrote in a memorandum that it was "absolutely imperative that this agency and our operations in Central America avoid any kind of involvement with individuals or companies that are even suspected of involvement in narcotics trafficking." The CIA investigation that began almost a decade later, however, found no evidence that the memorandum was distributed to anyone other than Gates' deputy for operations, Clair George.

The new study is the second volume of the CIA's internal investigation prompted by a 1996 series of articles in The San Jose Mercury-News, which claimed that a "dark alliance" between the CIA, the contras and drug traffickers had helped finance the contra war with millions of dollars in profits from drug smuggling. The series also alleged that this network was the first to introduce crack cocaine into South Central Los Angeles. The first volume of the CIA inspector general's report, issued in January, dealt primarily with the specific allegations raised by the Mercury-News series and dismissed the newspaper's central findings.

But the second volume is the result of a broader inquiry into long- unresolved questions about the contra program and drug trafficking. In all, the inspector general's report found that the CIA had received allegations of drug involvement by 58 contras or others linked to the contra program. These included 14 pilots and two others tied to the contra program's CIA-backed air transportation operations.

The report indicates that information linking the contras to drugs began to emerge almost as soon as the contras came into existence -- and before it became publicly known that the CIA was supporting their effort to overthrow the Marxist-led government in Managua. In September 1981, as a small group of rebels was being formed from former soldiers in the National Guard of the deposed Nicaraguan dictator, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, a CIA informant reported that the leadership of the fledgling group had decided to smuggle drugs to the United States to support its operations. Eight months later, another report indicated that one prominent leader of the group, Justiniano Perez, was a close friend of a known trafficker.

The agency's response also set something of a pattern. "No information has been found to indicate any action to follow up or corroborate the allegations," the report said. Similarly, it said, it found no information that the CIA followed up on FBI information about the Perez matter.

The omissions of information were often glaring. In 1986, for example, Alan Fiers, then chief of the CIA's Central American task force dealing with the contras, responded to questions raised by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., about specific contra members and contra-related companies. According to the report, Fiers responded to Kerry's questions about a contra logistics coordinator named Felipe Vidal by providing a sheet of information about his convictions for illegal possession of firearms in the 1970s, but without any mention of Vidal's arrests and conviction for drug trafficking.

The report said that in at least six instances, the CIA knew about allegations regarding individuals or organizations but that knowledge did not deter it from continuing to employ them. In some other cases, the agency decided the allegations were not substantiated.