JACK ANDERSONS WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND COLUMN - WASHINGTON POST 5 MAY 1971 - TITLED 'LAOTIANS ACCUSED IN HEROIN TRAFFIC'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 28, 2009
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: May 19, 1971
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/10/28: CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
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., Ill.),
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
the practice. "
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.
DOJ Review Completed.
CRC,
air-i')nnV
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/10/28: CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/10/28: CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
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 domination" 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 Helms, 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. "
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/10/28: CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/10/28: CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
This is in Y?wsponse to your letter 'of. con-
cerning stories carried in Ramparts Magazine and in ti; syn.l
dicated column of Jack Andersen alleging CIA involvoma*nt in
the trafficking of opium used by U.S. troops In South Vietnam.
Such, charges appear to be part of an effort to discredit
agencies of Government such as the U.S. military, the .FBI, the!
.Department of State and the CIA which in point of fact are
working actively with,the BNDD in our world-wide effort to
curtail international dru traffic.
Actually, CIA has for sometime been this Bureau';, strongest
partner in identifying foreign sources and routes of,the il-
legal trade in narcotics. Their help has.includedbo.th direct
support in intelligence collection, as well as in intelligence
analysis and production. Liaison between.our''twolageneies is
close and constant in matters of mutual interest. Much of the
progress we are now making in identifying overseas narcotics
traffic can, in fact, b';; attributed to CIA cooperation.
In Burma, Laos, and Thailand, opium Is produced by
tribal peoples beyond the political reach of the national.
,governments. Since the 1950's this Southeast Asian area has
become a massive producer of opium and is the source of 500-
75a metric tons annually, which is about half the worlc's
ilaicit supplies', although up to now less than ' ten percent
of the heroin entering the' U.S,, comes from Par Eastern pro
dupti9n..
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/10/28: CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
 ,, Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/10/28: CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
The dimensions of the drug problem and the absence of
any strong political base for control purposes has been a
dilemma for United Nations opium control bodies operating
in Southeast Asia for many years. Drug traffic, use, and
addiction appears to have become accepted as a fact of life
in the area and, on the whole, public attitudes are not
conducive to change.
The U.S. Government has been concerned that Southeast
Asia could become the major source of illicit narcotic.; for
U.S. addicts after the Turkish production is brought under
control. The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, with
.the help of CIA and the Department of State, has been working
to define and characterize the problems so that suitable
programs to control and eliminate opium, such as the present
U.N. pilpt project in Thailand, can be implemented. I'll- it;
probable that opium production in Southeast Asia will be
finally controlled only with further political development
in these countries.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/10/28: CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/10/28: CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
Journal - Office of Legislative Counsel Page 2
Wednesday - 19 May 1971
7. Briefed Frank?Slatinshek, Assistant Chief 25X1
Counsel, House Armed Services Committee, on latest information regarding
Soviet ICBM silos. Slatinshek said it was not necessary for us to brief
Clairman Hebert at this time, but he would mention it to the Chairman at the
first opportunity.
25X1
25X1
8. Talked to Thad Murray, in the office of
Senator William Spong, who confirmed the Senator's reluctance to put in the
Congressional Record a letter from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous
Drugs praising the Agency's cooperation with the Bureau's efforts to deal
with the drug problem in Southeast Asia. ,
in the Congressional Fellowship program
the Agency's participant 25X1
and said he would be serving
in for the second half of the
program and asked if we could refer him on a non-attributable basis to a
reliable, unclassified source of information on the relative missile situation.
After checking with FMSAC, I referred him to the
studies put out by the London Institute of Strategic Studies.
10. I Called Mr. Pettibone, in the Civil Service
Commission, with regard to certain technical aspects of the cost-of-living
amendment now pending in the Congress (S. 1681).
11. Received a call from Mary Swann, in the offi25X1
of Representative F. Edward Hebert (D. , La. ), who requested a personnel
interview for After checking with Office
of Personnel, I advised Miss Swann that an interview had been set up for 10:00 a.11
Thursday, 20 May 1971.
12. I I Delivered to the offices of Senators ZDA-I
Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.), Hubert Humphrey (D., Minn.), George McGovern
A, S. Dak.), Fred Harris (D., Okla.), Edmund Muskie (D., Maine), Mike
Mansfield (D., Mont.), and J. W. Fulbright (D., Ark.) FBIS items in which
their names were mentioned.
SECRET
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/10/28: CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/10/28: CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
CONFIDENTIAL
JOURNAL
OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL
Tuesday - 18 May 1971
Per her request, sent an application form 25X1
to the office of Representative Walter Flowers (D. , Ala. ).
2. Dorothy Fosdick, Senate Subcommittee on 25X1
National Security and Int al O erations staff, called and asked if there
was any new information i n She said Senator Jackson 25X1
had asked her about this. After checking with Mr. Duckett, I tole her that
we had some material that had just been received but was still being worked
on. She asked if this would be processed in a couple of days and , told her
I was quite certain it would. She asked us to let her know if there was anything
significant.
3. I received a call fro OSI, who
said he had a letter from asking if
we would look into employment opportunities in the Agency for a friend of
his, who is currently on the staff of the Senate Antitrust
and Monopoly Legislation Subcommittee. I told Newton I would get in touch
with
4. Paul Hartman, CI Staff, called and inquired
as to the repository for Hamilton Fish's hearings of 1930 by his Special
Committee to Investigate Communist Activities in the U. S. Hartman is
interested in the testimony of who testified before the
Committee on 24 July 1930. I told Hartman I would check with the House
Internal Security Committee on this and be back in touch with him.
5. CI Staff, called to say he is
forwarding to us a copy of a draft reply from the Bureau of Narcotics and
Drugs to an inquiry from Senator Spong about alleged involvement in drug
traffic in Southeast Asia. would like our comments tomorrow
morning.
CONFIDENTIAL
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/10/28: CIA-RDP73B00296R000300060008-5
25X1