COVERT OPERATIONS IN NICARAGUA ALLEGED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000100110004-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 8, 2007
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: March 10, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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-RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.
PROGRAM ABC W o r l d News T o n i g h t
STATION W J L A TV
ABC Network
DATE March 10, 1982 7:00 PM CITY Washington, D. C.
SUBJECT Covert Operations in Nicaragua Alleged
FRANK REYNOLDS: The President of the United States was
asked today whether this country is carrying out covert operations
against Nicaragua. The Secretary of State and the Secretary of
Defense were also asked the same question, and all three gave
basically the same answer, no comment, which does not necessarily
mean yes, but also may not mean no. So tonight we begin this
broadcast with what we have learned about U. S. intentions in
Nicaragua and Central America. First, here is Carl Bernstein.
CARL BERNSTEIN: President Reagan, according to high
level sources, has authorized an extensive program of covert
CIA operations aimed at Nicaragua's Sandinista government. As
described to ABC News, the covert operations fall into three cate-
gories: paramilitary, political, economic and propaganda.
The paramilitary operations are to be undertaken by a CIA
directed force of 500 or more men drawn from the security services
of Venezuela, Colombia, Chile and other Latin American countries,
by another 1,000 man commando force being trained by Argentina at
the behest of the Reagan administration and as reported last month
by ABC News White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, and by special
action teams of former members of such elite U. S. military units
as the Green Berets. These teams, said to be comprised of fewer
than a dozen men each, are expected to engage in highly sensitive
intelligence collection and demolition work, according to some
sources.
The paramilitary operations are to be directed from a
chain of commando camps in Honduras, near the Nicaraguan border.
Some administration and intelligence officials, contrary to pub-
lished reports, are attempting to picture the operations as somewhat
limited in scope, scaled back, they say, from more ambitious plans
OFFICES IN: WASHINGTON D.C. 0 NEW YORK ? LOS ANGELES ? CHICAGO ? DETROIT 0 AND OTHER PRINCIPAL CITIES
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that called for extensive sabotage of such Nicaraguan targets as
power plants, roads and bridges. These officials insist that de-
stabilization of the Sandinista government is not the objective
and that the operations are basically intended to disrupt what
the Reagan administration insists is a steady flow of arms sent
by Nicaragua to leftist guerrillas in El Salvador.
According to several sources, the President's approval of
the covert operations came after months of planning and debate, in
which some high level officials warned that the secret operations
could prove embarrassing and eventually fail.
Carl Bernstein, ABC News, Washington.
While not denying secret operations in Nicaragua, Secre-
tary Haig strongly asserted today that the U. S. was not engaged in
any attempt to upset the government in Nicaragua.
SECRETARY OF STATE ALEXANDER HAIG: We never topple any
government. We just want governments to be -- to live by rule of
law and peaceful change.
DUNSMORE: Also today, there was phase 2 of the adminis-
tration's effort to muster public support for its Central American
policy, a briefing for a group of well-known American foreign policy
specialists. Following that briefing, which included intelligence
not to be made public, the question was were they convinced by the
evidence that Nicaragua is directing the guerrillas in El Salvador.
FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM ROGERS: Anyone who
heard the briefing would have to be convinced that the government's
position is sound.
AMBASSADOR SOL LINOWITZ: I found what we were shown to be
credible and quite persuasive.
AMBASSADOR ROBERT STRAUSS: I felt that the Department
put on a rather impressive bit of evidence.
DUNSMORE: Meanwhile, in response to yesterday's CIA
briefing on the military build-up in Nicaragua, the Nicaraguans
today denounced the U. S. for violations of their air space. Min-
ister Jaime Wheelock denied virtually all of the CIA's assertions.
He also had a plausible reason for the lengthening of several air-
port runways: to make them usable for larger passenger planes.
The Nicaraguans then produced a contract with a Washington
engineering, Wilbur Smith Associates, signed by the Somoza regime
in 1976, dealing with the expansion of civil aviation.
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A spokesman for the company today confirmed the contract,
but noted that given the limited demand, Nicaragua was building much
ahead of its non-military needs.
Also today, Secretary Haig told a congressional committee
that a cutoff of military assistance to El Salvador would be a fatal
blow to the government there.
Finally, high administration officials today admitted
the upcoming elections in El Salvador won't solve their problems,
and they say that, at a minimum, the U. S. is going to have to send
in from 250 to 300 U. S. military advisers.
Barrie Dunsmore, ABC News, the State Department.
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