CIA DENIES COVERT OPERATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000301700006-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: May 13, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/01/11 : CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301700006-3
RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 [phone]
ABC World News Tonight
STAnoN WJLA-TV
ABC Network
DATE May 13, 1985 7:00 PM CITY Washington, DC
CIA Denies Covert Operations
PETER JENNINGS: The Central Intelligence Agency said
today it had nothing to do with the car-bombing in Beirut at the
beginning of March which killed 80 people.
In yesterday's Washington Post there was a report that a
Lebanese group which had been trained by the CIA had gone off on
its own and set the car bomb. Today's denial by the agency has
not meant the end of the story.
Here's ABC's Ann Compton, in Washington.
ANN COMPTON: the car bomb that Friday morning in
suburban Beirut left 80 Lebanese dead, but not its intended
target, a militant Shiite leader, Muhammad Hussein Fadallah,
thought to be responsible for attacks against U.S. installations.
The Washington Post reported this weekend the bombing
was carried out by a group indirectly connected to the Reagan
Administration's anti-terrorist plan. The bombing prompted the
CIA to cancel training for a Lebanese unit recruited to counter
terrorism. But today, the CIA is insisting the people it trained
were not the same ones who set off the car bomb March 8th.
EDWARD DJEREJIAN: The CIA never conducted any training
of Lebanese security forces related to the events described in
the Washington Post's story on May 12th.
COMPTON: But on Capitol Hill, the reports have re-
kindled suspicions about CIA covert operations running out of
control.
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REPRESENTATIVE PATRICIA SHCROEDER: What in the world
are we doing using tax dollars to finance hit squads in the
Middle East?
COMPTON: The Vice Chairman of Senate Intelligence,
Patrick Leahy, revealed he's investigating a half-dozen covert
operations. But he supports attacking the terrorists before they
can attack Americans.
SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY: The U.S. must be able to stop
terrorists. If that requires preventive strikes, then the United
States must be in a position to do that.
COMPTON: Leahy complains the CIA should go after
terrorists with its own forces, not surrogates who operate beyond
American control.
But tonight, the Administration is more concerned these
headlines might provoke reprisals by the terrorists. U.S.
embassies are on alert.
Approved For Release 2010/01/11 : CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301700006-3