LAOTIANS ACCUSED IN HEROIN TRAFFIC

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73B00296R000100040034-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 31, 2002
• Sequence Number: 34
• Publication Date: May 19, 1971
• Content Type: REPORT

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Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000100040034-0
19 May 1971
SUBJECT: Jack Anderson's Washington Merry-Go-Round Column -
Washington Post 5 May 1971 - Titled "Laotians Accused
in Heroin Traffic"
The Anderson column states in part:
". . . a congressional investigation has
confirmed our earlier allegations that the
Central Intelligence Agency is involved in
the Laotian heroin operations.
"The investigation was made by Reps. Robert
Steele (R., Conn.) and Morgan Murphy (D., 1111. ),
both members of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee.
"Steele is preparing a report that will allege
CIA Air American aircraft have been used to
transport the drug from northern Laos into
the capital city of Vientiane.
"It says, however, there is no evidence that the
CIA had any official policy of letting its planes
be used to move the drugs. Furthermore, it
adds that the agency has now cracked down on
1L _ _.r.t ,. 11
Looking to what may be considered a prime allegation by
Mr. Anderson that CIA Air America aircraft are used to transport
opium/heroin, it is just plain not true.
As for Mr. Anderson's allegation that Messrs. Steele and Murphy
will report such a finding to the House Foreign Affairs Committee or its
Chairman, Representative Morgan, direct contact with Messrs. Steele
and Murphy is recommended. However, it is noted that although many
releases have been made by Messrs. Steele and Murphy to the press and
in other quarters, they have not mentioned Agency involvement or Air
America complicity.
Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000100040034-0
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 Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000100040034-0
The position of United States Government agencies operating in
Southeast Asia in regard to drug traffic is probably no more clearly
shown than in a propaganda broadcast (1969),by the Pathet Lao that they
are going to live as they wish and grow, opium whereas the Meo tribesmen
under "imperialistic dorziination" cannot.
The CIA has never been a knowing party to any drug trafficking.
Its efforts have been, to discourage the growth of opium and in certain
areas the efforts have had limited success. The observation of
Mr. Roland Paul, a former investigator for, the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee who made a study of the Indochina area for that Committee
last year, is somewhat pointed in this regard. He, writes in the April
issue of Foreign Affairs., _"In passing it may be interesting to note that
because of their long association with the American agency (CIA), the
hill tribes have shifted their agricultural emphasis from opium to rice. "
Air America has, been' alert to the, problem of smuggling of opium
and counteractions have been taken by the airline for several years.
Tight controls and'spotchecks have been exercised over all aircraft and
personnel. In those few instances where Air America personnel have
attempted narcotic 'smuggling, prompt action has been taken in close
coordination with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs which
has the prime responsibility worldwide within the U. S. Government in
such matters.
Mr. Richard 1 elms, Director of Central Intelligence, in a rare
public appearance, touched on this subject of drug traffic in an address
to the American' Society of Newspaper Editors on 14 April of this year:
"There is the arrant nonsense, for example, that the
Central Intelligence Agency is somehow involved in the
world drug traffic. We are not. As fathers, we are
as' concerned about the lives of our children and grand-
children as are all of you. As an Agency, in fact, we
are heavily engaged in tracing the foreign roots of the
drug traffic,for the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous
Drugs. ' We hope we are helping with a solution; we
know we are not contributing to the problem. "
Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000100640034-0