LETTER TO THE HONORABLE LES ASPIN FROM RICHARD HELMS DIRECTOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 4, 2005
• Sequence Number: 29
• Content Type: LETTER

. Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D. G. 20505
The Honorable Les Aspin
House of Representatives
Washington, D. C. 20515
Dear Mr. Aspin:
In my letter of June 28, 1972, I advised you that a thorough
investigation would be undertaken of the "substantial new evidence"
you stated you had received from Mr. Alfred McCoy indicating that
CIA is implicated in fostering the drug traffic in Southeast Asia.
You later provided me a copy of an undated letter from Mr. McCoy
constituting .this "new evidence. " In our investigation we reviewed
CIA activities which might have been a basis for the items cited in
Section IV of Mr. McCoy's letter and interviewed the three Laotian
individuals quoted by Mr. McCoy. As the remainder of this letter
and the enclosures herewith will show, the findings of this investiga-
tion are that the "new evidence" supplied by Mr. McCoy in fact is not
"substantial. r"
The individuals cited by Mr. McCoy to support his charges are
General Ouane Rathikoun, General Thao Ma and Kia Su Yang (Ger Su
Yang). We interviewed each of these individuals in the course of our
investigation. Enclosed with this letter are summaries of these
interviews. As you will see, General Ouane Rathikoun took issue
with each of Mr. McCoy's allegations and stated that he was prepared
to deny them publicly and categorically. General Thao Ma stated that
he had heard "rumors" of trafficking on American aircraft but that he
did not know of any actual instance of such. Kia Su Yang denied making
the statements attributed to him by Mr. McCoy, but our appraisal of
him is that he is undependable and could have done so. However, our
other evidence of aircraft visits to Long Pot at that time indicates that
there was no regular traffic which would have presented the opportunity
Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
 . Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
for organized movement of the sort suggested, and that Air America's
rules and procedures at that time effectively barred any but isolated
and inadvertent carriage of small amounts of drugs by individual pas -
sengers on the company's planes, certainly no "fostering" of that
traffic.
Miss Flora Lewis' article in the Washington Post of 23 July 1971,
also cited in Mr. McCoy's letter, implied a recent initiation of rules
and procedures against the transport of drugs on Air America's air-
craft; in fact, this was only an incremental imp r yer~.ent of a long -
~f!qr-pr$ A-y
standing effort. Her article was alsol er oneou n stating g that I had
told a secret Congressional hearing ofearlier involvement in
drugs.
CIA's position on this matter can be simply stated as follows:
a. The opium trade has existed in Southeast Asia for gener-
ations. This trade depended upon the market, and until recently
the market for Southeast Asian opium was in Southeast Asia.
The increase in the opium trade and the appearance of heroin
were a result of the increased market, in part due to the pres-
ence of large American military forces in Vietnam.
b. CIA at no time allied with, abetted or engaged in the drug
trade in Southeast Asia. From its earliest days in Southeast
Asia, CIA took steps to ensure that it would not be involved in
the drug trade.
c. When this drug trade became a matter of concern to
Americans, as distinct from a local Southeast Asian problem,
CIA engaged in a variety of programs to attack it. These efforts
are by no means totally successful, but they have had substantial
impact.
Our difference with Mr. McCoy is not merely a debate over the
quality of his scholarship. His charges and implications have been
repeated by editorial writers throughout the nation and could create
a myth of CIA involvement in the drug traffic. In fact, CIA has not
Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
 Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
been involved and is actively engaged in fighting against this traffic.
Mr. McCoy's charges do a great disservice to this fight and to the
man, sincere people in CIA who are at least as concerned about this
problem as Mr. McCoy.
I trust that this will reassure you that the CIA is in no way
''implicated in fostering the drug traffic that ruins the lives of tens
of thousands of Americans. "
Sincerely,
Richard Helms
Director
Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
 Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
Summary of Investigation
1. On 17 July a senior CIA officer met with General Ouane Rathikoun
and showed him an abstract of the McCoy testimony before the Foreign
Operations Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a
copy of the McCoy article in the July issue of Harper's magazine. The
officer explained to Ouane that the McCoy charges had received consider-
able publicity.
The officer noted that Ouane reacted forthrightly and without any
suggestion of embarrassment. Ouane provided the following responses:
a. He had never had a three-hour interview with any American
writer on the subject of opium traffic. He did not remember
McCoy by name although it was possible he may have talked to
him.
b. He scoffed at the McCoy charge about Vang Pao. He in-
sisted that Vang Pao had nothing to do with trafficking. He also
dismissed as ridiculous the McCoy contention in the Harper's
article that Vang Pao prostrated himself before Ouane and begged
for forgiveness.
c. Concerning Air America's alleged involvement in opiu
nonsense. First, it would never have been necessar
t
~
y
o
use
Air America given the availability of the Royal Lao Air Force
(RLAF) on the one hand and, secondly, because of the ready
access to other commercial aircraft moving freely within and
out of the country.
d. He rejected the idea of Military Region II as a source of
opium production. He noted that the Meos in that area have been
so thoroughly displaced from their former producing areas that
the Meo users of opium are forced to rely on opium imported
from Burma.
e. He likewise attacked McCoy's contention that General
Thao Ma "refused to carry opium for General Duane" and simi-
larly dismissed out of hand McCoy's charge that Vang Pao sus-
tained his role in the Laos narcotics trade by opening a heroin
laboratory in Long Tieng.
Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
 Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
The officer in trying to evaluate Ouane's veracity, noted that
Ouane made a convincing case in his own behalf; that Ouane has probably
divorced himself from whatever connections with the traffic he formerly
possessed and that his defense of Vang Pao and Air America rings true
in that he would appear to be under no obligation to cover up for either.
2. The Officer met again with Ouane on 25 July at which time
Ouane reiterated his earlier positions. He stated categorically that
neither Air America nor Vang Pao was involved in narcotics traffic.
He said that if McCoy is attributing those allegations to him (Duane),
McCoy is lying.
3. General Thao Ma, former Chief of RLAF, was contacted in
Bangkok, Thailand, on 24 July 1972. The interviewing officer noted that
General Ma did not appear to possess close association or detailed knowl-
edge of narcotics trafficking during the period that he served as Com-
mander in Chief of the Royal Lao Air Force. When asked about possible
Air America involvement in narcotics traffic, General Ma stated that he
had heard rumors that narcotics had been moved on their aircraft but
knew of no actual incidents or cases.
4. On 11 July 1972 an officer met with Kia Su Yang (Ger Su Lang).
Yang related the following:
a. He had talked to two foreigners "last year" who were in-
terested,in village life and took many pictures in Long Pot. He
denied that he had discussed the opium trade with them and denied
that he had made statements regarding Vang Pao officers collect-
ing the opium harvest and transporting them back to Long Tieng.
b. The Long Pot sector provided very poor land for opium
cultivation. He said that the Long Pot Muong grew only enough
opium for local consumption but that the Lao Theung groups did
grow- some opium for sale. However, all of the latter opium was
sold to Muong Kassy and Vang Vieng, not Long Tieng.
The interviewing officer gained the impression from Yang's
manner that Yang is an undependable opportunist. The officer reasoned
that Yang may have related the tale as McCoy printed it.
Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B0041.5R000300230029-9
 Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
5. A review of Air America flight logs into Long Pot shows only
thirteen occasional and sporadic visits between March and August 1971,
with time on the ground of thirty minutes or.less. These visits were by
different types of helicopters and without apparent pattern among fourteen
pilots and eleven flight mechanics. Mr. Yang's allegation that the Meo
officers were left at Long Pot for a "few days" and picked up again is con-
tradicted by the sequence of the teal visits
6. Air America h s r1ong~had rules and procedures against smug
gling, including narcotics These stem back to its earliest days, e----
Air America's personnel indoctrination and inspection--//
systems are equally long-established and its security personnel have[lonj
engaged in a variety of actions to prevent smuggling on company aircraft.
Any employee involved in smuggling has been subject to immediate dis-
missal and a few have been terminated. Passengers occasionally were
found trying to transport small quantities of opium (and were refused per-
mission to do so) but no authorized transport occurred, and any which
evaded controls could only have been isolated cases and small in quantity.
As the narcotics problem has grown over the past few years, a series of
steps were taken by the company to improve these rules and procedures
against smuggling. The following statement of Mr. Paul Velte, Managir.g
Director of Air America, presents the current status of this effort:.
"Mr. Alfred W. McCoy today told the Senate Foreign Operations tU6-
Committee: 'In Northern Laos, Air America aircraft and heli-
copters chartered by the U. S. CIA and USAID have been transport-
ing opium harvested by the agency's tribal mercenaries on a regular
basis.'
"This statement is utterly and absolutely false. AA and USAID
have cooperated in a security program which effectively prevents
the carriage of drugs on any of the airline's equipment. This pro-
gram is constantly being reviewed to make sure that drug smugglers
cannot misuse the company's facilities. There is an intensive pro-
gram of inspection of both passengers and cargo carried out in close
collaboration with local and U. S. authorities. At up-country sites,
inspectors inspect all baggage of passengers and crew members
departing from their stations. All cargo placed aboard up-country
sites is inspected by members of the inspection service. All baggage
of persons departing Vientiane on AA, CASI and Lao air development
Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
 Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
are inspected. Where boarding passengers refuse to submit to
inspection or are found to have contraband in their possession,
they are denied the right to board the aircraft and their names
are turned over to local Lao authorities. Through these and
related measures, attempts by individuals to carry opium on
company airplanes have been detected and prevented. These
small time smugglers and users are the greatest threat and
the security inspection service has constituted an effective
deterrent.
"Through its many years in the Far East, AA and its employees
have been well aware of the dangers of drug use and the drug traffic.
It has been the policy of the company and its many loyal employees
to do everything in their power to oppose any traffic in drugs. To
this end there has been close cooperation between the company and
U. S. and local authorities concerned with the drug problem.
"If Mr. McCoy or any other individual can bring any proof that
any Air America employee has been connected in any manner with
the drug traffic, appropriate disciplinary action will be taken and
the matter referred to the proper authorities. "
-4-
Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230029-9
 Approved F
OFFICIAL ROUTING SLIP
Approved
FORM N0. 237 Use previous editions
1-67
TO
NAME AND ADDRESS
DATE
INITIALS
Legislative Counsel
2
3
4
T
5
6
ACTION
DIRECT REPLY
PREPARE
REPLY
APPROVAL
DISPATCH
RECOMMENDATION
COMMENT
FILE
RETURN
CONCURRENCE
INFORMATION
SIGNATURE
Remarks :
The attached has been prepared by the
Executive Director. He asks for your
review and comment ASAP. FYI: The
letter will probably be published in the
Congressional Record, after which addi-
tional publication is anticipated.
C 21
/ Dd
"-C
DD,S
FOLD HERE TO RETURN ENDER
FROM: NAME. ADDRESS AND P NO.
DATE
O/Executive Director 7D59
For Ret
14 Au 7
25X1A