MEETING BETWEEN STEVE BERRY, HOUSE PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE (HPSCI) STAFFER AND , C/LA/DDO

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
0001332110
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
U
Document Page Count: 
3
Document Creation Date: 
June 23, 2015
Document Release Date: 
September 16, 2010
Sequence Number: 
Case Number: 
F-2001-01650
Publication Date: 
March 2, 1984
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PDF icon DOC_0001332110.pdf93.4 KB
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OLL 84-0819 2 March 1984 SUBJECT: Meeting between Steve Berry, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Staffer and Dewey Clarridge, C/LA/DDO 1. Today at 4:00 p.m. in Dewey Clarridge's office Steve Berry, HPSCI staffer met with Mr. Clarridge and OLL. 2. Steve Berry called me earlier in the day to say that some Minority Members had some concerns which he believed should be brought to the attention of Dewey Clarridge as soon as possible. He asked me if I could arrange a meeting with Mr. Clarridge at Headquarters to discuss three items: a. the Death of Father James Carney (American citizen) who died in Honduras while traveling with a band of Cuban-trained Honduran guerillas; 3. Mr. Berry told C/LA/DDO that the Minority Members of both HPSCI and the HFAC were concerned about a recent letter received by Congressman William Broomfield (R., MI), Ranking Minority Member of HFAC which was from a constituent of his, describing the death of her brother allegedly at the hands of Honduran and U.S. military authorities. Mr. Clarridge explained to Mr. Berry that I had already been in contact with Mr. Broomfield's office over the matter, and he was currently pulling together all the information LA Division had concerning the death of the American priest. Mr. Clarridge said that the letter was full of lies and that information we had indicated that Father Carney died of ALL PORTIONS APPROVED FOR RELEASE^ DATE: 29-Jun-201 0 (b)(1) (b)(3) starvation in the El Aguacate area of Honduras, which is a very rugged remote area of the country. Dewey Clarridge said that they learned from defectors who had escaped from the insurgent group that Father James Carney was emaciated and in a weakened condition, and, in fact, had to be carried by the guerillas when they were forced to move by advancing Honduran army units. Mr. Clarridge said that a Honduran army unit pursuing the rebels discovered a badly decomposed body of a non-Central American which was lying in a hammock. The Honduran soldiers said that there was some religious lit- erature near the corpse. Putting all the facts together, they later concluded that the body in the hammock must have been that of Father James Carney. No efforts were made to recover the body at the time it was discovered and later efforts to locate it were unsuccessful. 4. Mr. Clarridge suggested that since Mr. Broomfield was a friend of the Agency's and supported our efforts in Central America, we should take extra pains to satisfy his concerns and address the charges in the constituent's letter. Mr. Clarridge said that he would allow a man who had interviewed three of the detectors from this rebel group, to brief Mr. Broomfield on all that he knew about the death of Father Carney. Arran ements are now being made to set up a meeting between__________ and Mr. Broomfield. This seemed to satisfy eve erry's concerns. Distribution: Original - OLL Record 1 - OLL Chrono OLL (8 March 1984)