CIA SHIP POSES TAX PROBLEMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP02-06341R000302420030-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 3, 2011
• Sequence Number: 30
• Publication Date: April 7, 1975
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/08/03: CIA-RDP02-06341 R000302420030-4
p t y for harvest,' The Los Ang?
'
nod
l
(
.
,
u
es from the y tax
w.hatexer?-the shi 's
( assessor, Philip P other
[f ocean floor. E. Watson, uses, he said, ``I'm
said his
1rILS enabled search parties n,no otsGlbeen onitt Es- vtiMs seboa It's was.
notes f on e the sa
bl
notbuilt beyond a r brine
'roemmm to confine their efforts to a plorer since * _ and CIO
(e
much smaller area than the and has been ?~o~ember, 1973,~i realm of Possibility that
B Ceorg 1sub-detection system could officials about it iforS morel~thlis thin a !glut venturer in
y George L Staff Jr- 1 have targeted.
ng is Washington Staff Writer The sub was than a year, g?" The assessor said
II finally pinpointed with e hill put the ship on the tax
t of Govern- het of a s th He said he agreed lswunless cu-
P specially equipped breed not to putt
eat ownership; sworn papers Summa can do
underwater sled. it on the tax
m rolls in .1974 be-1 Tent iGofvielers onnershipi
required under federal law After a maiden %'037"e from cause
state that billionaire Howard the Sun Shipyards at Chester
still t undert way on ythej i erty declaration next month.
11Iar
1
P
i
19
te t
sa
,
a.,
tllu Summa .
t arrived in Long Beach
74, lien date. But; The CIA's concern over the
es' Corp, is the; , he says he made clear to Los Angeles tax rolls is of the
some-
Calif., ~in the fall of 19;3. On Summa officials that he plan what puzzling in light
~ploret, reportedly financed by; Oct_ 2, 11th District Coast ned to come back at them the:
Guard officials there gave the fact that the submersible currently
the Central Intelligence Agency-I ship's captain, James M. llliles,; next year, both about the 61I0 HDIB-1, the ich is.
gency, mar Explorer and the fillIB?based up the coast at Redwood
' a temporary, one-year;
The tax assessor of Los An.;. "certificate of enrollment,
mollmet a submersible barge, or sub'` City has been on the San 1:.(a-
l geles County said lie agreed and! marine tractor, that was built! teo County tax rolls-as pri
forget about a breed to ! license" for the vessel. Ito go with it. vale
potential S9'' Miles, in turn, surrendered! Finally on Jan. 31, 1975,1 two yea sperty-for the past+
'? million tax bill for the vessel ' .,
i when CIA representatives se-;; earlier certificate obtainedlWatson said, an FBI agent es. There, the Lockheed iUls-
creel , in Delware and said the Glo
y assured him it was goy- coned fuut' men to his office
Space Co.
' and
ernment property, f Imar Explorer would be de- and told him the
, the de
sites signe
1--f ed "
" f
t
y were
t
and
rom
l
ostensibl
o ntiscellaneou
s" serv-1
!e own owner of
t But the ship's license, filed! .""
ice in domestic commerce, the CIA." The assessor said' the bare, has been
under oath with the U?S? ii paying g
the CIA caatio e
Coast Guard, says it belongs'
tax 8 After "having taken and!keep the vessel's real mission related or'eqOth
I to the Hughes empire. f subscribed
mac1tiret
he the also oath affir required secret and asked that he keep and other fixtures-for a total
I by law," med that it off the tax rolls, the of $376,439 in 1973 and 197.1.
The conflicting reports i the Summa Corp. was he sole grounds that the government San Mateo tax assessor Jack
could pose a dilemma for the l owner of the ship and that it really owned it.
Hughes organization. If the!: would not be used "in any 1 Watson said he understands ? the barge III Estes said his records indicate!
Summa Corp. owns the ship, it h trade or business whereby the, that the Glomar Explorer's real lion, but he assessed it at only-'
may have to pay substantial i, revenue of the United States+ value might be as much as J 1-per cent of that amount in
federal, state and local taxes. ImaY be defrducied-"
If the government owns the 1,I '.%J00 million. At one point, he ? the name of oceanographic Mil re-
vessel, its license to es is now working for( said, the CIA representatives search. He said a Lockheed of.
ply the:: Esso off the Ivory Coast arid asked him to assess the ship at ficial told him by affidavit
waters when it recovered part j could not he reached for corn- I only I of a sunken Soviet submarine; ment. But his daughter indi-i per cent of standard t that this was its exclusive
summer would seem to value instead of the standard function. But this year,
last Estes
l, cated that his service as mas-125.per cent. The 1 per cent as- said, he's inclined to have been invalid. Under U.S.i; ter of the Glomar
Explorer' - - .
shipping laws, "no marine cto
~
'
e.
t last much Past the day I
i ument shall be considered, toll didn
he h
ad it regitd
sere and Ji
be in force longer than thelI
vessel to which it is -ranted is I'
owned as stated in the docu-I He brought it from Pttila-
merit lIdelpttia to Long Beach and
The 618-foot ship that was it," she said.
, the
Hughes Glomar Explore
r, sal- The new captain who. re-
vaged portions of a nuclear- placed him was a Ion,-time
armed Soviet submarine from i I employe of Global Marine,
the Pacific Ocean floor at all Inc., the marine exploration
depth of 16,000 feet. Normally, and drilling firm that de- I
it would have been almost im-i signed and operated the ship
possible to find, but the subs for Summa Corp. Under fed.
-
happened to have gone down
seven years ago within the
range of the government's)
Missile Impact Location Sys-
tem (MILS). Its devices are '
much more accurate than the!
!Navy's sub-detection system,!
,which amounts to micro
!phones planted on the ocean
floor.
Built at the CIA'S behest
and reportedly financed by
t
of that size m usty re - __ s...
port, a d they simply reas- Guard certificate
t
t
s
a
es tht
a sured him verbally that Lockheed is "the sole owner"
Coast Guard masters on certificate "or'
change ; Hughes "had noinvestment in of that vessel, but Shick de-
theeither the boat or the bare." ; dined comment when asked if
such vessel shall not be The assessor said he finally Lockheed was the barn
deemed" an enrolled and 1i- agreed to "assume it [the Glo owner. ge's real
tensed vessel.
mar Explorer] was the prop- Similarly, when asked about
The Glomar Explorer's cer- erty of the United States" and the Glomar Explorer, a
tificate shows no other captain keep it off the tax rolls where spokesman for the Summa
but Miles. The man who re-, its real value would have-to be, Corp. would say only that "gt reco cached coucomml
nt, tbut his 1f whatttl e a sessment rate. matter ! tied by Gfor Summa lobal Marino and h
wife said she was as surnrk a it
she d
minasth
E aer te sub-raising ment"
xplorer was publicly pro about the sub-raising expedi- ex-'
claimed as a deep-sea min ro- tion. peabout 750 miles! !
/northwest of the Hawaiian is-
ship with a generally ackno~vI- "It was a shock to me," she I land of Oahu, became
public
said. "All he told the was that !last month.
'it was a mining ship." - - ..
-
P. P
( abil'i
T
oses
qx
v
r P
~u atson and raise the
used exclusively for fishine or rate to 25 per cent
.
oceanographic research, but 7 -"I don't think It's in oceano-
not for commercial mining' graphic research now." he
ships. said. He said the equipment,
As'a result, Watson said, the unlike the barge, has always
ship should be taxed on a 25 carried a 25
per cent assessment level if it ?ment, since Lockh cent assess.
d never
belongs to Summa but not at made an is
sue about tht
a:
all if it belongs to the govern- Oscar A. Shick, Lockheed's
went. -He. said he asked for a project manager, refused to
letter, which he promised to say whether the Summa Corp.
keep secret, attesting to U.S. or. anyone else reimburses
ownship, but the CIA repre- Lockheed for the taxes it is
sentatives refused s
Approved For Release 2011/08/03: CIA-RDP02-06341 R000302420030-4