SPACE RESEARCH CORPORATION, ET AL.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M01032R000700020001-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 27, 2006
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 3, 1979
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Release 2006/11/27: CIA-RDP81 M01 032R09
OGC 79--1080
3 December 1979
r Rc -721np~
MEMORANDUM FOR: Executive Secretary
Office of Legislative Counsel
Inspector General
OGC Has Reviewed Director, NFAC
Associate Deputy Director for Science &
Technology
Associate Deputy Director for Administration
Attn: Director of Security
Attn: Director of Personnel
Associate Deputy Director for Operations
STAT Attn: C/IMS/FPLG
Special Assistant to the General Counsel
SUBJECT: Space Research Corporation, et al.
1. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is supervising an
investigation by the U.S. Attorney in Vermont of alleged
violations of the Arms Export Control Act by certain organi-
zations and individuals. In coordination with elements of
the Directorate of Operations, I have already had extensive.
informal dealings with DOJ and the Office of the Secretary
of Defense concerning this case. DOJ has now formally
requested information concerning several persons and organi-
zations (listed in the attachment) and also for comments
concerning allegations by an attorney representing several
of the potential defendants that his clients had "substantial
contact" with the CIA during the time the alleged offenses
were committed. In the event of a trial, it is highly
probable the defense attorney will expose such alleged
"connections" in an effort to show not only that the U.S.
Government had knowledge of the alleged illegal activities,
but to embarrass the Government regarding its relations with
certain foreign governments.
2. This case, in essence, involves the alleged exporta-
tion by the Space Research Corporation, located in North
Troy, Vermont, of approximately fifty thousand 155 mm
artillery shells, two artillery control radar vans, eight
155 mm "Long Tom" artillery barrels, and related technical
data, from the United States to Canada and then, by way of
Antigua or Spain, to South Africa, in 1976 through 1978.
MOER'I/CDF Pal: es, 1 thru 4
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 STAT
3. It is alleged by the attorney for Dr. Gerald V. Bull
and Rogers L. Gregory that both men have had contacts with
the CIA, and that some of these contacts were made during
the period of the alleged illegal activities involved in
this case. These contacts were supposedly with "high level
officials and offices" within the CIA, and specifically the
"Directorate of CIA," which we interpret to mean Directorate
of operations, and an individual named Richard Bissell.
Bissell allegedly made contacts with the Department of'State
on behalf of Bull, Gregory and Space Research Corporation.
It is also alleged that at the time the violations were
occurring Intelligence Community agencies were aware of
them.
4. The attorney for Messrs. Bull and Gregory also
claims that he will be able to show at trial that during the
period of these alleged violations, 1976-1978, Intelligence
Community agencies were aware that Israel obtained artillery
shells from Space Research Corporation and diverted these
shells and related materials to South Africa. He states
that this would be relevant to this case in that it would
tend to cast doubt on the Government theory that his clients
shipped shells to South Africa through Spain and Antigua.
Moreover, he alleges that it is well known that the Agency
was aware of and aided, by action and inaction, in the
illegal exportation of South Africa. He has referred
to the book written by as one "source" to
substantiate his allegation on this point. Finally, it is.
asserted that Intelligence Community agencies have substantial
information regarding the exportation of computer systems
from the United States to Israel which were diverted to
South Africa.
5. In addition to the allegations by this attorney, I am
also attaching an article from the 5 August 1979 edition of
The Washington Post, which is representative _of several
press accounts of an Agency connection with South African
acquisition of U.S. weapons and equipment.
6. I request that you provide us, as expeditiously as
possible, with your comments concerning the specific allegations
made regarding the CIA, as well as any information you have
regarding any current or past association or contact with
the attached list of defendants and in the case of the listed
business organizations, with any of their entities. Would
you also please furnish us any information regarding your
knowledge of the subject matter of this investigation.
7. While I feel it is likely that some of the allegations
made fall into the realm of fantasy, we cannot deal with the
Department of Justice until we receive your comments.
Please be assured that I will furnish no information to DOJ
without prior coordination with the originating office.
 Approved For Release 2006/11/27: CIA-RDP81M01032R000700020001-3
Please also note that at this time there is no question of
furnishing any information to a court or prospective defendants.
DOJ is only trying to ascertain what, if any, substance
there is to these allegations and whether there are issues
affecting foreign policy or intelligence sources and methods
which must be considered prior to making a decision on STAT
whether to prosecute certain individuals.
8. Thank you for your cooperation and assistance.
Anorov d For Release 2006/11/27: CIA-RDP81M01032R000700020001-3
 Approved For Release 2006/11/27: CIA-RDP81M01032R000700020001-3
Approved For Release 2006/11/27: CIA-RDP81M01032R000700020001-3
 muggli
{j(I'~ M01 5t0Zate
rms
To South
rice
ley Dc r d C. -'tfarti*
and dohs Wallah
A T ABOUT' 8 o'clock on the even ag of
Aug. 25. 19,., the West G.n^?
freighter Tuzels!and eased alone-side the
wharf in the harbor of SL John's, the ram-
shackle capital of the tiny Caribbean -.crt
island of Anti . - Doti-a rke:s began ; u g
her bold with metal containe s label-,d ''s-.eel
forging-s," which were to be slopped to Bar-
bados. 250 miles to the eouth. Then there
was an accident. Dockworker :\fortley Whita
remembers it
"The crane on the dock, it collapsed, aid
fl-- crane, the boom, everything went down
the bold. Tea big, heavy book fell down
one of the containers flew open- I see the
same big bullet shells we unloaded for this
company before."
accident. He knew the American oompamy
that was shipping the center t-a, Space Re-
"arch Corp, tested artillery shels for the
U.S. military in Antigua and Barbados; and
he had become accustomed to unloading
thousands of the shells at a time
But the falling crane broke open some-
thing more than a container of 155-mm artil-
]cry shels- It revealed the first gum pea of
what the U.S. Customs Service considers as
intricate arrr sm;hmg scheme in which an
American-Cam-aim tr nit:c_s fi-m ~:th
close rent^bon nes i_" iuegany suppbe4 .
apartheid government of South Africa with
a} ard1 155-mm R' ens t~ at have 2) t
greater -1=n th n sa~?Ld S lyer ~~
and no l!-3
T=-- cnn pr- y, SRC. clarges, w h-ch are mn?~ed in - :c
U.S. govern 2cnt dr-=--- - c - -
ments state that come 55,0:0) arti?iery shells,
along with the erpertse to duplinte t_h_em.
Kere exported from the United Staten and
Canals to South Africa is IV77 and 2878
thanks in part to the Pentsgoz, wl~ t`wit-
tiruiy sh,' P?ed at "A 1,700 c( t_ e roc.- xis to
Antigua an gels eharte rind by the U.B.
Navy.
And some U.S. oreiaals fen that govern.
went involvement in the schf. - may Mend
beyond unwitting complicity, that
tr bona
at the CIA or the Defense Department, eager
to counter Cuban military involvement in
Angola-. may have joined with Space Re-
search and concocted a plan to bypass the
16-yrar?old arms embargo against South
Africa- As one high-reeking State Depart-
meat o::cal p::.: it it is i:. xivs5:e to
me that so.necne. either in the Penton or
in Lang;ey. did not at least know about this
operation or. r9ore likely, have a hind in it"
At the Pentagon, an internal memo on the
Affair warned officials of "possible spill-over
' CrS3:~n9"
Over the years Specs Research, wboss
1 adquart.ers rr ddi.a the bo--der between
-'vr:nc:andQ ebe.c,haddaaaz=-?!lbut
steady buains with the Defense Dep.art-
'inent - $9 mi non worth since 1963, includ-
ore con'_az-t to test erg t-inch e:-il'ery
'ehe''s at the com~ny's .kntie-t_s t--St ranie.
Under the leaders :io of a ballistics genius
.rr-d Gerald Bull, SRC had developed a
~rcr!awide :-putation for !need zg the
rye of conventional ar?r"e w ?-r no lxa in
ax:-acy. In 1972, Defense Se :e:ary Melvin
Laird pra_ied &ul's "EI:ro er:i :c: :!l ca-
p~bility and clear a number of
high-ranking officers, includL^ an up-and-
coming admiral named S;a afield Turner,
"visited SRC's North Troy, Vt-, he.adquarters-
Fallowing the 1973 Mideast war, the Pen-
tagon aaczetly arranged for Israel to pur-
chase from SRC some 50,(s)O rounds of ape-
Lslly shaped 175-mm shells that were cape-
Ile of resrhing downtown D cue from
hardened emplacements on the Goan
"rI :ch a, ens it .`.:, n: eo=pcn - cifctal.
:'.3tlePe_'=boac t^eCIAnin'e^ ' r
ar-*_^ P^ eta for the South Afric m despite
the arms embargo, in an erupt to counter
Cuba's growing military prexnce in south-
':m Ate?
Fc.,er CIA officer Jotsn S_-,c." at one
' .:.e bead of the agency's Angcs teak force,
bra written that in October. 1975 "the South
Aft icsna requested, through the CIA station
t! ft- in Preo::a. cm_ lice for their
155-mm bowitzzra,- apparently for use
?.inst Cuban troops in Anzola- According
to SVxk--ell, the request was endorsed by
~~z:._..- CLk'E!`:rd_??.a. nburr?e-
=tly r ~' by A er as diptc gets
who re:uj to oo-='k ice such a violation
ci the ar= embargo. The scheme never got
But a well-informed aaurce sa,,-s the CIA
p uemtly assig:red a US. military man to
th Africa find the 15,5r rn shells
ftusy wanted to match the rm=e of the Cu-
> Eotiist?r;asde 122-mm g-ba.-re!ed
! r- a ---
 Apprc red For F~ele e 2( 6111127 : CIA-RDP$rfM
Acr-rdir4 to a , t. 22.1 8, Stara ~W'hM tK
par=ent cable to the U.S. embassy in Bar-
aadoe, Customs agents determined that at
list 1.700 155-mm projectilem" were hauled
by truck from the Canadian aide of the SRC
plant to Port Canaveral, Fla., where they
were loaded abosr3 Navy-cl;.artered vessrls
and, shipped to Antigua - all under a U.S.
government bill of lading. The quantity was
"far more than nec~.ry for testicg." the
cable continued, "and the ultimate destine.
tion of the items is in question" - particu-
!arly a?^ce the only cn tTe_-tt the Pent?_zon
had wit?: SRC for t.esti 1SJ-mm she',:; d&S-
igrsted White Sands, N.M., es t i9 test ai:,e
Other government dx.n cn_s a - there
Rea not much doubt about the "ultins.at.a
destination" of the munitiom One internal
memo reported that the Cuatotns fnveetiga-
tion had concluded that "sL'egatiors of gun-
running to South Africa by Space Research
Corp. through its fwaities on Barber and
Antiftsa . . . are in fact true.
The U.S. embassy in Barbados tried to
warn the Ant'g= grnern-menu that SRC
W&5 wing the island to help cover an arms
smuggling schema
0
On the morning of July 1? 14-3. John
-Eddy, deputy chief of the U.S. mission in
Barbados, which serves the end;e eis:ern
Caribbean. met with Pr-_mier Bird end
briefed him on what Customs had found. Ac-
cording to it State Department report, Bird
stared out the window and said: "This is dif-
ficult I will be in serious trouble-"
At 3.30 that afternoon, as Eddy was
waiting in the local airport for a flight to
Barbados, the report continued, he was ac-
costed by Warren Hart, a sometime FBI in-
formant and former chauffeur at the US.
Naval Air Station in Patuxent, Md. The 5-
foot, S-inch, 220-pound Hart said he knew
about Eddy's private meeting that mto,ning
with Pre ier Bird and warned the diplomat
to back off. He reinforced his case by dis-
pi8ying a -38-caliber revolver tucked in his
belt
Other peculiar things began to ha-ppen. An
SRC employe, a Barbadian named Carleton
Braithwaite, visited Eddy at the ambaasy
and. according to State Department o#fic-ia a,
be tcid Eddy ebout a t:ec-ic acriden' in Brus-
aea in which an SRC employs had died after
falling dorm a flight cf s+.ai.re No. said
Braithwaite when Eddy asked if the man
hid a Zraki g probirm "Prop'.a die in
ferny ways."
The inv-etigation continued un.sbatb3?-
when, two months later, a secret cable from
then-lie. Am'uebador W
Ortiz rr?ort,.ed that Barbaadoe Prime Mini,s-
trz Henry (Tom) Adams had told him that
Space Raasrch vas conaocted to U.S. intel-
Iizenca.
1032 R00~7~00020001-3
thn net a c~smtngly
fron~.d denim from the CIA's Carlucci, a
different claim surfaced. This time it v. as in-
timated that SRC a being punished by the
CIA for rr.~ to go along with a CIA arms
nu.-gjing ecb.eme, and that two members of
the e.nb y staff were CLA a ante. A month
later. Adams repeated that cha.-gv to an as-
tonshed Cyan Vance as the secretary of
state was preparing to leave Barbados after
an of icisl visit
'I'bis Last claim directed at tuwo innocent
mtn s4 -s dxcaed to failure. alt-ho"n not be-
fc:-e one of th.cee fasely accused of CIA ties.
C s i^s B: s. hid co-mm-ed sriude. Last
Nov. 22, the gonernmer.ts of Ant:t.ia and
Barbados finally ordered Space F.e search to
leave t i.l_nds- In Rutland. Vt-. a federal
grand jury is iavrstsgati.g the case, and, ac-
cor'c g to one government memo. "It is ex-
pected that indictments of SRC officials for
illegal arms salsa will be handed down within
t."
a few
But if the indictments come they will be
too late, at least to Ch---4e -matters in Preto-
ria. On April 2_3. South African Prime Minis-
ter Pieter W. &3Eha announced that his
country had developed. "in record time," a
new lone-came armor and shall.
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 Approve
cannon. Accordina to this source, the mili-
4.ary man found a supplier in Bru eels where,
Coincidentally, Space Research had a eubsid-
*lary. Indeed, a former SRC official remem-
bers that the firm was contacted through its
.Brussels sales office by South African gov-
ernment representatives.
From time to time. SRC it.-,elf has hinted
of vague connections to U.S. intelligence.
The arms smuggling scheme, in fact, bea.^c a
atiking rr_.emblance to the one concei%ed by
t -e CIA. But Deputy CIA Director Frank
Carlucci has persoca!ly assured the State
'Department that the `CU d sat bas e
and never his had any connec-tion R:th
SRC," and there is nothing more than ci.r-
eutr..atant.al evidence to contradict him-
The evidence against SRC, on the other
hand. is substantial
D D
It first came to light two )--z ago, during
a casual conversation between an Antiguan
dockworker axjd the crew of.the -frei hter
TuFela]and.
"We are on the deck," remembers l-o tg-
shoremsn Mottlev White, "and the sailors,
most of them is Portug??.ae e fellow, are sitting
on the boat and they ask us whet kind of
government did we have, was it back or
white' We said: 'We have a bark govern-
ment.' And one of them, he shake his head
and he say- 'It's a pity you have a black gov-
ernment encourag:ng shipping these things
from here to South Africa."'
Later that night, White returned to the
Tugelaland to look for some keys he had lust.
After ha found them, he turned to go home
and said to the ship's captain: "Say hello to
your wife and family from Antigua-"
"We won't be going home for more than
six months," the sailor replied.
"You're cot going home?" asked White.
"No," s---Id the mptain. "We're going to
South Africa with this cargo."
If that was so, it apparently wou]d have
been the second time that year that 155-mm
-:.hell, purpo-madly being shipped from Space
R4*es..n h~s'J; artier. on the U S.-Cana-
dian border to ttet ranges in Antigua or Bar-
bados had actually been carried to South
Africa aboard the Ti:.selalsnd (which, al-
though re i tered in Hamburg, was a South
On .Lerch 14, 1977, the freighter Moura.,
docked in St. John's, An ig,:a, and unloaded
20 ccatai ere of shells marked "rough steel
forg r g's' for Space ?.arch. The ConLai.:.ers
sat on the dxk for sccc t two month3 under
the watchful e'ei of the black-bereted Anti-
ua Ca'-`eL e Force - a 300-roan :security
taros a.^..:ed, t.a1~ and paid by Space R.e-
~earrh On C. ifi, 197;, the fmigh:er Lin-
.
dinga Coral depost:rd 16 morn sates of
'Sroulrb steel fo.-gangs.
When the Tugela and pulled into St.
John's nine days Ist.er, 36 crates containing
10,.336 shells were waiting for hag. According
to cum= declarations signed by SRC'e
shipping agent, the Tugelal8nd took aboard
all 36 cost:: en. as well as two radar vans.
one gem assembly and other equipment, and
set a o'. ma for Canada. But according to
Lloyd's Sh p' g Intel ence, the Tugel-
aland ren uocied some-wwhtro else - in
Cats .~ S u A_fnca., co June 7.
The Tt4e'-a*a^ d r e:._rn ed to to
pica up an aid Lo a'? 8-2 to--s of m.:lions
in At arse, but this time the s:. led con-
tainer and the loge-lipped crew altered
r,-enta. The Ant ,a-~: s Workers Union accused
the government of Premier V.C. Bird of col-
with Space Research to smuggle
arms to South Africa. Except for it joint re-
-art by the BBC, Boeon teiieraicn station
i GBH and the Ce.nadi_sn Broadcsting
Company, though, the charges arOu--ed little
interest outside the eastern Caribbean.
C1 In offic'sl W4 -ton. there se-erced to be
lime incL:.a:io: to get to the ber.,cm of the
case.That . deUS.dip:c asintheCar-
ibbean even more suspicious of American
ecmp::ci:y in the scheme. "The boredom in
Was:^_ing an was thundering," one diplomat
said. ".Much too loud."
What efforts there were to investigate
SRC "re repeatedly frustrated by the Anti-
guan government, which evidently was more
interested in the revenue SRC could provide
than in finding out what the company gC-
tually was doing on the isL tL A trim of tel-
evision reporte.-a was also chased away at
r.mpoint by the Antigua Defense Force, and
US Ct sta. nt Gordon ?Mo uoe, who ar-
ri, 3C~ntieia dAp-t1".3,1973to x-.na
belated i.ve tigat.i.on, got whit be c:e3 "a
:song and dance" from lxal authorities.
But Monroe saw enough to conclude in his
report that SRC's Antigua operation was
"cep tainiy a cover for eo= ething," t!:-hough
be added that it V n3 a 'poorly prepared
cover," noting that SRC': lone teat g'..m on
the island had not been fired in some time,
despite a contract with the U.S. Army for
.
The Cl stones S.C.-Vice fir ally began a full
investigation of SRC, and en July 4, 1978,
rent Barry Greiner reported that the com-
pany hid ^ade at le -2-5, sewn shipments of
a*-ys to South A= n tL:ocgh Ant. . a or
Barbados, five in 19-1, and two in I9. S.
Customs ia~ halos also uncovered evi-
dence that in at least one stance Pen-
tagon '}radver'really financed the first leg of
the journey through the Caribbean to South
!'t 7