BRIEFING OF STAFF MEMBERS FROM THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89B00552R000100100046-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 21, 2004
• Sequence Number: 46
• Publication Date: September 4, 1975
• Content Type: MFR

Approved For Rise 2004/11/03 : - 100100046-8
4 SEP 1975
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT . Briefing of Staff Members from the
House Committee on Intelligence
25X1
1. Introduction. On 3 September 197SI __11 25X1A
using the alias
briefed the Staff Members of the House
Committee on Intelligence on the Agency's performance
in the International Narcotics Control Program in Burma.
The briefing started at 1030 hours and continued until
approximately 1215. The Staff Members from the House
Committee on Intelligence who attended were: John L.
Boos, Roscoe Starek and Cheryl Yamamoto. Also in at-
tendance were of the Review Staff and Mr.
2. Briefing. The Staff Members were provided with
a brief b.c ground on the international narcotics situ-
ation in 1971 leading up to the Administration's
"declaration of a war" on heroin in September 1971, and
the Agency's enlistment in this effort. The relative
size of national illegal opium growers was sketched by
way of focusing attention on the Golden Triangle as the
principle arena for our operations. The Burma operating
milieu was sketched along with the Who, Where and How of
the international narcotics scene in SEA. The Staff
Members were briefed on the ground rules for operations
in Burma, the Agency's role in 25X1A
and the command and control channels in which the
Station operated. The way in which the priority was
established for this target was described, as well as
the Headquarters-Field relationship. As the briefing
progressed there was opportunity to example this re-
lationship citing specific operations. Three examples
,Of covert action were provided the Staff Members, i.e.,
E2, I
Approved For Release 2004/11/03 :
L BY
8000100100
25X1 C
25X1
25X1
 S~CgET
Approved For Rise 2004/11/03
Wb100100046-8
25X1
25X1 C
I To the extent that they could e asc ,
the results of the Agency's efforts in the Golden
Triangle during this period were described in terms
of the impact on the domestic heroin market. (An out-
line of the briefing is on file in
3. Questions Posed by the Staff Members from the
House Committee on Intelligence. The Staff Members
pose several questions, some of them relating to the
possibility of another dimension of Agency relation-
ships with narcotics figures beyond intelligence collec-
tion. and covert action. Specifically, the questions
were these:
A. Q: Did the Agency have a relationship
with LO Hsing-han?
A: This was answered in the negative.
When later on in the briefing Staff Members returned
to this question, went to some length to
state that to the best at is knowledge no Agency
officer had ever seen or met with LO Hsing-han, or
engaged in any dealings with him either directly or
indirectly. Since this subject seemed to give the
Staff Members some difficulty, they were invited to
phrase the question again in any manner they chase.
Mr. Starek explained that the Staff Members felt they
had to get the question on the record and the answer
to it.
25X1A
B. Q: How much money was spent on the
international narcotics program?
A: In FY '71 there was no separate
budget for this program and such agents who were
funded for narcotics intelligence collection probably
received less than total. In FY '72 total ex-
penditures were a roximately In F )L-1 25X1A
expenses were In FY '74 a total of was 25X1A
programmed. ': Mr. Boos asked how much of this
had actually been expended. He was answered that this
figure was not immediately available but would be given
to him i memorandum at an early date.
(ACTION: 25X1A
to break out is Figure an
Approved For Release 2004/11/03: z
25X1
 Approved For RR{pse 2004/11/03
25X1
2R 100100046-8
C. Q: At what point was the Cabinet Committee
on Narcotics notified of the Agency's covert action
operations against international narcotics targets?
25X1A
25X1A
A: I responded that normally the
Cabinet Committee was informed of covert action in this
field after the operations had been completed. The
Cabinet Committee does not normally function as a formal 25X1A
approval mechanism, he explained. Since, in Burma, the
activities under question were taken by the Burma Govern-
ment itself, albeit at the suggestion of
and on the basis of the orma 25X1
approvals were deemed unnecessary an were n ought.
Overall approval for the interdiction of international
narcotics channels had already been given at the highest
level.
D. Q: Did the Peoples Republic of China en-
gage in opium trafficking?
A: In the normal sense of the word, no.
However the PRC did purchase opium in BCP-controlled
areas of Burma and shipped that opium into China, where
it is believed to have been consigned to pharmaceutical
factories. I elaborated that the Agency had
taken a hard look at charges that the PRC was involved
in the opium traffic but had not found the intelligence
to substantiate these charges. He said it was apparent
that the charges stemmed from hostile propaganda trace
able to the Soviet Union and the Republic of China.
25X1
25X1
25X1A
Approved For Release 2004/11/03 : 9B00552R000100100046-8
25X1
 25X1 Approved For Release 2004/11/03 : CIA-RDP89B00552R000100100046-8
Approved For Release 2004/11/03 : CIA-RDP89B00552R000100100046-8
 Approved For P j,pase 2004/11/03 : C
B00552R100100046-8
25X1
the Staffers not put this information in. their notes.
The Staffers did not wholly consent to this reasoning,
but did not pose further questions along this line.)
4. Comment. As was the case when 0 briefed
the Staff Members on 27 August, they appeared to be
focused more on covert activities and approvals for
such activities than they were on our intelligence
collection efforts against this target.
25X1A
25X1A
Approved For Release 2004/11/03P'89B00552R000100100046-8
25X1
 UNCLASSIFIED INTERNAL ^ F_ ewiL ^ CONF'FIENTIAL ^ SECRET
COMM
SUBJECT: (Optional)
FROM:
EXTENSION
NO.
1322
DATE 4 September 1975
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
OFFICER'S
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
RECEIVED
FORWARDED
INITIALS
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
1. Review Staff
SECRET
2.
F 25
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
-qrPDrT
15.
2
FORM
3-62
610 uSEDITIONSUSV SECRET CONFIDENTIAL USE ONLY
UNCLASSIFIED