CIA RUNS 'BOMB SCHOOL'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01365R000300210064-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 29, 2004
• Sequence Number: 64
• Publication Date: December 12, 1973
• Content Type: NSPR

J C) C 1 '~ a 'r,~ ~ . S ; e e 12 DEC 1973
l +_ Its MIKE KI .11t1?; and \ X\1'1' ti?I'E1\
'A~p e ot~Release 2005FON/h3\rGxIArR{)P88-01365RO003002a.OD 4-4 . u (o . -'
c3 A year ago. ? State of Siege." the most recent film of noted movie
dire ?t ('
c
t
Hidden away in Texas.
ot os
a?(.tt t as. leveled a series of startling charges at. the
l' S
government
..:
At one point in the 1'ilnt. it t'ruguayait police officer was shown
receiving training; in the niattttfacture and use of cxptosiv(, devices
all a secret police homl school in the southwestern I'niled States.
Later the same officer was linked to if right-wing IIruguattn
'Iteath Squad'' implicated in the murders isome wi-form ,'d u?it}
t t
C explosives., of prominent !'ruguavan radicals.
,~w{ b'ZIJ "or mnst .\nterican viewers and movie critics. these scenes
appeared as mere cinematographic flourishes in a controversiaW Blinn \i,w til?tt 1),
d
c pill gnu r,t
oe untenis unearthed by sen..lames
:\hourezk show beyond it doubt that the film was
tmerr.ingl)? accurate in its picture of t'.S. "counterinsurgency"
programs in Latin America. '
The existence of the Ahourezk papers was first disclosed this
year in lack Anderson's syndicated ca.tunun of Oct. it. Pacific.News
has now received if I'll]] set of the papers which were used in
:preparing the following story.
Th
d
u
e
oc
ments reveal that Inc US i i ft'
... governments,nac. training foreign policemen in bomb-making at if remote desert
t ! earnp in Texas. In response to Sen. Abourezk'
s inquiries
the
i
,
:\gency for international Development (AID) has no"-
U_ acknowledged that its Office of Public Safety rOPS) is providing
C."
.such rnshuc'hon. .
At'the U.S. Border Patrol .\cad.emv in }.ps 1. resnos. Texas.
foreign policemen are taught the design. 'manufacture and
'potential uses of homemade bombs and incendiary devices by ('iA
instructors. At least 165 policemen-mostl front the third world
countries' of Asia. Latin .\ntcrica, and' Africa-have taken this
"technical investigations course" since it was first offered in 1969.
Sixteen or more t'ruguayans have received such frail iing.
All costs of the training. rated at $1750 per student, are borne by
All). Students in the technical investigations course first attend a
four-week preliminary session at the International Police Academy
1PAI in Washington. D.C. There they are treated to lectures on
such subjects as: basic electricity I "Problerits involving electricity
as applied to explosives"), introduction.to bombs and explosives.
Incendiaries ("a lecture-demonstration of incendiary devices")
and assassination weapons. ?
After completion of the preliminary course, the "trainees" are
flown to the Los i?'.resnos camp for four week "field sessions." All
lectures at Los Fresnos are delivered at an outdoor. "laboratory"
`'''presided over by ('IA instructors. The action lectures deal with
such (opics: as: characteristics of explosives. electric printing,
electric firing devices. explosive charges, homemade devices.
fabrication and functioning devices and incendiaries. According to
:\l1) these sessions include "practical exercises" with "different
types of explosive devices and 'booby-traps.' " t In the film State of
Siege. sample bombs are shown being exploded in buildings.
automobiles and in a 'public plaza' filled with dummies. r
In if memorandum to Sen. Abourezk. 'AiD official Matthew
Ilarvey argued that the technical investigations course was set up
to help foreign policeman develop ' "countermeasures" a>;ainsl
terrorist attacks on hanks. corporations and embassies.
In order to d:'yelop counter?nu'asures, Ire claimed, the trainee
must first stu(:\? "bonne laboratory techniques" used "in the
nuutufacttire (if c?xplosiyes and incendiaries." (holy Ihen. according
to the:\ll) ar'gu'cteinl, will he be able "to lake preventive action to
protect; lives anal property."
Alt hoagie Harvey stressed the defensive nature of the training
program. he remitted that the 1)cpau trrit'nl of Itefense found I!'e
subject scatter so inherently sensitive that it refused to provide
instructors for he course.
All) \\as thin forced to seek help front the ('iA. Indeed. once a
"trainee" hec'o,nes proficient in bomb techniques. there is no
stopping hint front using them offensively against criminal en-
terprises or, as in ''State of Siege." against opponents of it ruling
Approved For Release 216'IOI3 : CIA-R[3P8,8-01365R000300210064-4
OOntinuec1