PRESIDENT APPROVED 'HARASSMANT' PLAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87B00858R000200160002-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

tP" Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/23: CIA-RDP87B00858R000200160002-5
STAT
President Approved
`Harassment' Plan
By Lou Cannon
and Don Oberdorfer
Waehingto? Poet Staff Writers
The CIA decision to mine harbors
in Nicaragua was approved by Pres-
ident Reagan on the recommenda-
tion of White House national secu-
rity affairs adviser Robert C. McFar-
lane and the Pentagon, despite "mis-
givings" expressed by Secretary of
State George P. Shultz, informed
administration officials said yester-
day.
These officials said that the pro-
posal was presented to Reagan as
part of a "scaled-down" CIA plan of
"harassment" to cripple the economy
of Nicaragua and make it more dif-
ficult for its Sandinista government
to aid leftist rebels in nearby El Sal-
vador.
"As presented to the president,
the whole plan was one of harass-
ment of the Sandinistas," said one
official. "It did not focus on the min-
ing."
The official declined comment on
the extent of Reagan's involvement
in or knowledge of the mining deci-
sion, saying only that it was "part of
a package" that was. discussed with
the president.
Other parts of this package in-
cluded increasing from 15,000 to
18,000 the U.S. financed "contra"
guerrillas opposing the Sandinistas
and redirecting their activities to
emphasize attacks on power.plants,
bridges and other economic targets.
Administration officials gave con-
flicting signals yesterday about
whether the mining of Nicaraguan
ports would continue.
One official. said the question of
whether to continue the mining was
"under review at high levels." A Re-
publican congressional source, who
was highly critical of the administra-
tion for jeopardizing Capitol Hill
support for rcddMieutal aid to El Sal-
8ee 91O$ A14, CM. I
vador, said of the mi* operation, " flay law
no choice except to aMndm it."
But another official said that the contras con-
sider the handmade acoustic mines, which explode
noisily but are unlikely to sink a ship, to 6e "high-
ly cost-effective."
'IWre a small force facing a large Nicarfeguan-
army," said this official. "The mines are like a sign
that says, `Beware of the dog.' "
Nonetheless, the prevailing view within the ad-
ministration seemed to be that there at least
would be a pause in the controversial mining op-
erations.
In Rome, Alfonso Robelo, leader of the Dem-
ocratic Revolutionary Alliance, one of the princi-
pal anti-Sandinista groups, said that the mining
would be stopped if the Sandinista government
lifted news censorship.
The mining operation was discussed in a Na-
tional Security Planning Group meeting chaired
by Vice President Bush in February, according to
one official. White House and State Department
officials who asked not to be identified said that
Shultz was intially skeptical of it, apparently be-
cause of the possibility of diplomatic protests like
those that have been made by France and Great
Britain.
According to another official, after a mine laid
by the CIA-backed rebels damaged a Soviet tank-
er in the Nicaraguan -port of Puerto Sandino on
March 20, Shultz expressed "very profotmd mis-
givings" but never made a formal objection to the
policy.
One source sugested that the discussion of op-
tions may have been inhibited because'the admin-
istration does not formally acknowledge that the:
CIA is backing the forces fighting the Sand nistes.
At his news conference last week Reagan de-
dined to comment on specific tactics being tried
to undermine the Sandinista regime.
But he said Nicaragua, was "exporting revalu'
tion to El Salvador' and added, "As long so they
do that, we're going to try and inconvenience that
government of Nicaragua until they quit that kind'
of action."
The laying of mines in Nicaraguan harbors was
controversial even within the CIA, according to
one official in the agency, who said.there was "not
a consensus" on whether to support it duging the
planning stage.
The CIA views its involvement as a "holding
action" until the covert war could be stepped up if
Reagan is reelected in November, according to a
senior administration official.
The White House yesterday disclaimed any
such political strategy, but Reagan has said on
several occasions to senior officials that he does
not intend to "lose any country to communism on
our watch."
Last week a RspnMim pskical sh in die.
cussing the upcoming proeidentieh 'deetiah eam-
paign eW that a "6g4t came' can be made for the
a6ni64ihpa priicy.: et supporting the govern-
ment in Bl Salvador and harassing the Sandinistas
.m Nicaragua; "This isn't Central Europe or Cen-
tral Asia or Central Africa," he said. "It's Central
America."
His point, which has been made at other times
by,administration strategists and pollsters, is that
the American people, think that the United States
has vital interests in Central America, even if they
would not accept the same argument for U.S. in-
volvement in Vietnam or Lebanon. The strategist
said that he expects that administration policy in
Central America will be debated in the fall elec-
tion and that the issue ies on balance, "a plus" for
Reagan.
While Shultz was the only senior official known
to have voiced objections to the mining operation,
the administration's subsequent manuever to
avoid consideration of the action by the Interna-
tional Court of Justice also was questioned by
White House chief of staff James A. Baker III and
White House counsel Fred F. Fielding, according
to one official.
Nevertheless, this official said, Baker and Field-
ing agreed to go along with the administration's
announcement that it would not abide by dec-
sions by that body, known as the World Court,
concerning Central America for the next two
years.
Baker reportedly wound up directing the-strat-
egy under which guidance was hastily prepared for
the State Department last Friday in anticipation
of questions about a decision by the Nicaraguan
government to take its case against the mining
operations to the World Court.
The State Department legal office, informed at
mid-week that Nicaragua would take its case to
.the World Court, quickly erne up. with four pre.
cedeflts for tiops saying that they would not
accept World Court decisions in particular mat-
.ters.
While the State Department cites this as sound
legal precedent for its action, some administration
officials and Republican members of Congress
were critical of the administration's decision to
mine the harbors and then declare its indifference
to the court.
One official said that the administration was in
the position of both "advocating the rule of law
and showing little respect for it."
The criticism was directed primarily at CIA
Director William J. Casey for proposing the min-
ing activity and at national security adviser
McFarlane and Secretary of Defense Caspar W.
Weinberger for supporting it.
"Nobody likes to oppose the CIA on a matter
like this, but there should have been more discus
sion about the diplomatic consequences with the
president," d one official in an implied criticism
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/23: CIA-RDP87B00858R000200160002-5