REPORT ON PANAMA GENERAL POSES PREDICAMENT FOR U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505090010-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 10, 2010
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: June 13, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

AM s APPEARED
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WASHINGTON POST
13 June 1986
Approved For Release 2010/08/10: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505090010-3
Report on Panama General
Poses Predicament for U.S.
By Charles R. Babcock
and Bob Woodward
Washington Poet Staff Writers
Panama had "clearly deteriorated" in
recent years.
"We lost a lot of intelligence-as-
wit Marcos, too," the -aide
'__M
said, referring to the recent ouster
of Phlip ins resident Ferdinand
Marcos- "Hilt it is a question of how
-Fong do you abide a character like
Noriega?"
A senior Reagan administration
official said yesterday that "in the
past, we've needed" Noriega but
added that the detailed allegations
published and broadcast yesterday
may force a reevaluation.
The White House declined. com-
ment yesterday beyond saying that
"it is basically a Panamanian affair."
At the State Department,
spokesman Bernard Kalb said, "We
find these allegations to be disturb-
ing and that examination of these al-
legations would appear to be a mat-
ter for consideration by the govern-
ment of Panama."
A spokesman for Noriega has de-
nied the charges, and the Panama-
nian Embassy had no comment.
Besides being the location of the
Panama Canal. which v reaty is to
pass from U.S. control by the year
20 Panama is the site of U.S.
military and intelligence operations
for Central America.
The headquarters of the mili-
tar 'sSoutern Command is there,
as are bases for reconnaissance
planes, and a National Security
Agency listening post that gather
s
signals intelligence from several
countries, according to officials.
"There are so many targets and
opportunities ... ovtets, u ans.
the Nicaraguans, Noriega himself,'
one well- laced source said, de-
scribing the area as "an intelligence feast.
A rding to a range of sources,
Panama is so centrally and strate-
gics y oca e that other na ions
operate stepped-up intelligence-col-
lection efforts there.
In mid-198 , for instance,
sources said. members of a secret
U.S. Army intelligence unit were
sent to Panama for spying and bug
The Reagan administration has
been assessing for several weeks a
secret new intelligence study show-
ing that Panamanian Gen. Manuel
Antonio Noriega is involved in
smuggling drugs and weapons,
money laundering and contacts with
Cuban intelligence personnel, ac-
cording to informed sources.
The report, one source said. was
compiled by the Central Intelligence
Agency and presents the administra-
tion with ,a serious policy dilemma
about how to handle a longtime dip-
lomatic and intelligence ally at a vital
strategic location in Central America
Noriea, who heads Panama's
defense forces and formerly ran its
intelligence service, in effect runs
the country. He has ono been what
one U.S. official called a key ro-
vider and facilitator" for the CIA
apd U military intelligence in
Panama, the sources-said.
The New York Times and NBC
News detailed many of the allega-
tions against Noriega yesterday, in-
cluding one that he was involved in
the decapitation slaying last fall of a
political opponent who publicly ac-
cused him of drug trafficking.
The intelligence community is
split about how to deal with the
problem, the sources said.
Several officials said that, for
years, Noriega provided such good
information that officials felt it nec-
essary to overlook allegations of
misdeeds. Other officials, however,
said the charges against him have
been so well documented that they
cannot be ignored.
Some of the allegations were dis-
closed last month by administration
officials at a closed Senate Foreign
Relations Committee hearing. An
aide to Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.),
chairman of the subcommittee on
Western Hemisphere affairs, said
yesterday that the hearing was
needed because U.S. relations with
gin o rations targeted iet
an u an aci
a so was instructe mine
t e ease i ity of planting a listening
evice in as "safe house" frequently
us'Tc yNoriega, sources said.
i e igence as etermined _
that its Soviet counterparts operate
a company there as a "cover" for
their Central America operations,
according to one source.
Perhaps the most serious allerta-
tion t at surfaced yesterday was---
TFie New York Times report that
highly sensitive intelligence infor-
mation tied orie a to the eca
nation slaving last September of .
Dr. Hugo Spadafora, a leading critic-..
0 one a. The Times quoted an
unidentified U.S. official as saying
the information showed that o-
riega waste originator of the
idea."
Nori ega allegedly told several
aides before the slaying, "I want
that guy's head," The Times re-
ported. Spadafora's head was found
later in a U.S. mailbag in Costa Rica
near the Panamanian border.
intelligence sources yesterday
would neither confirm nor deny that
intelligence showed such direct in-
volvement by Noriega in h _ slaving.
Intelligence sources said the U.S.
government has been familiar with
many of the allegations a ou No-
riega for years and has tried to con-
trol his activity. do you think
we wanted to bug his safe house]?"
one source askkeedyesterday.
National security adviser john M.
f' Poindexter met last year with No-
riega and, according to one source,
urged him to end his involvement
with narcotics traffickers and intel-
ligence services such as Cuba's,
which are associated with the So-
viets.
Sources confirmed yesterday
that Noriega has been involved with
companies and individuals known to
be narcotics dealers.The general al-
legedly has interests in a staggering
sizable number of businesses and
has accumulated a significant per-
sonal fortune, they said.
Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.),
chairman of the House Select Com-
mittee on Narcotics Abuse and Con-
trol, said yesterday that he expects
to hold hearings on the allegations.
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 Approved For Release 2010/08/10: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505090010-3
GEN. MANUEL ANTONIO NORIEGA
... drug, weapon smuggling alleged
The panel's senior xepunucan,
Benjamin A. Gilman (N.Y.), echoed
the senior administration official, say-
ing, "If the charges are true, then we
must reassess our entire relationship
with the government of Panama."
Central America correspondent
Edward Cody contributed to this
report.
a
Approved For Release 2010/08/10: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505090010-3