SALVADOR JUNTA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01554R003300210013-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 6, 2004
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: October 17, 1979
• Content Type: MF

Approved Fo r I(ease 2005/01/13 47 RDP80B015 4 003300210013-3
Tape 27
Side A, 1/16 - 1/8 OCT 1979
cc: DDNFA
MEMORANDUM FOR: National Intelligence Officer for Latin America
D C I
There is very great interest downtown as to the political complexion
of the proposed members of the Salvadoran junta. As fast as information on
their background and political coloration becomes available, shoot it into
0
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Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP80BO1554R003300210013-3
 ON Pr1Cs1:_,~2
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6 October 1979
Cartef s advisers split
on nature of -troops
Invui..s W ahtneWn Burs" tions with the Soviets.
WASHINGTON - Several_of the Secretary-,of State Cyrus Vance
"wise men" who counseled President emphasized that point at a news con-
Carter during the,uproar over Soviet ference Sept -S;. when he first an-
forces in Cuba concluded that it was nounced that- the United States con- i
virtually. impossible to prove . that : sidered. the presence of- the Soviet i
;hose troops constituted-a; "combat' brigade in Cuba.to be "a very. serious.
unit, it-hasbeemlearned.. matter.' and would. not accept "thee
The result was that.:the;President ; statusquo." was unable, to -achieve one of his "It is-the, combat nature of the unit
major goals in setting- up the 15- which is a matter of serious concern
member.. "Wise men'-: group,- to dis- -, to us," he said Two days later, -Presi-
credit Soviet contentions that the dent Carter, said flatly: "We have
unit in Cuba was used only-for train- concluded..-.,that a.Soviet combat
ing. ..-- -- - - unitis currently stationed in Cuba."..'
In effect several members-of the The Soviet Communist Party news.
group, after being exposed to all top. paper, Pravda, rejected the combat-
secret intelligence data, refused to brigade charge as "totally ground-
support the President on the, most less' in a front-page editorial Sept. 10.
basic issue in the case- whether the The paper said a Soviet training
brigade involved was. in fact, a'.'com- unit had -been based in Cuba since...,
bat" brigades just after the Cuban missile crisis-in
...there ?- was 'no _. isagreement 1962, and that "neither the number
among the 'wise men' about the cen- nor the function of the Soviet person-
tral facts - that there- were tanks nei, have changed -throughout all
and guns and missiles, and that they, these years.
(the- Soviet troops) were- equipped In his speech: to the nation Monday
and structured so that they could be - about the Cuban brigade. President,
used for- combat," said one source Carter acknowledged, thatthe Soviets
intimately,-familiar; with:-all of the would not admit the unit was a com-
details. bat force.
"However, several of theta d - He did not flatly- assert that it was,
don't want to say exactly.how many but said that."we..have. persuasive
- questioned whether we could be evidence-that there is a.combat bri-
totally sure it could be characterized
as a combat unit- ~- A top-level: White House. official
"it was a question ofiangnage:' : - ? .said a few days before the President's
By the time the-"wise-men"-group : speech- that one of'the? administra=
was formed, however,- the- language- tion's major - objectives in. forming -
.
in U.S.- charges already had become- the council- of "vrise men" was. to try
the central issue in the dispute.: - to convince the public; through cred- -
The group, headed_by Washington. ible former.:-government officials.:
lawyer and.former secretary- of de-- that the Soviets were not telling the ..
fense Clark Clifford? was. formed. in: truth on the "combat'' issue: -
midSeptember. The administration. - The-"wise men".. includedJormer
early in September had publicly de- - intelligence and -military officials
scribed the unit _ as a -combat bri- who served _ the, nation-Auzing. the-;;
gade'? and had made ZIT-character- last 30 years. : , 1 -- --
Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP80BO1554R003300210013-3