SECURITY EXPERTS DIFFER ON EFFECTS OF CIA'S MINING

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00552R000605890002-3
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
August 23, 2010
Sequence Number: 
2
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
April 21, 1984
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00552R000605890002-3.pdf108.62 KB
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STAT if~e~ on ~f~ec Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23 :CIA-RDP90-005528000605890002-3 WASHINGTOfJ POST 21 April 1984 ~e~F~y ~xpe~ - By Joanne Omang -- - and Walter Pincus - ww~u,awn rose watt wpeeia Former national security affairs ad~~iser Brent Scowcrofx said yester- day that the CI___A's mining of harbors in Nicaragua "is hurting the, CIA," harming Reagan administzat~on ef- forts to deal with the leftist Sandi- nista government in Nicaragua and reducing the ability of the United States to use covert action as a pol- icy tool - In addition, Adm. Bobby R. Inman, former deputy director of the CIA and dsector of the National ~ecarity Agency, said that, with few exceptions, such covert operations are a bad idea because they seldom are supported by the American pub- lic. Another senior intelligence com- munity figure, former CIA director ~i'illiam E. Colby, said t~Fie degree of agency involvement. in the mining of NICEragUBP. waters was no different from its participation in other covert paramilitary operations worldwide. Scowcroft, a retired general who has served over the past two years as a part-time .adviser to President Reagan on arms control and strate- gic weapons, told reporters at a Brea];..?ast meeting that the mining controversy has "got in the way of a serious debate over Nicaragua" and that something must be done to limit the Sandinista regime's appar- ent desire t,o export revolution. However, covert action "will be less available in the future" as a pol- icy instrument because of the cur- rent debate, he said. "I think the recent furor is hurting the CL4, and that's too bad," be- causeihe agency is just recovering from criticism during the ]ate 1970s of its ea.*lier covert operations, Scow- croft said. He was a national security adviser .to presidents _ Nixon and fiord. ~; -- _ _- - -- - `In fact, -he.edded, if the mining was done "as an act to convince Nic- aragua? to stop exporting arms, per- haps "we should have done it overt- ly" in order to be .more effective. Other possible open actions might .include "a blockade or a quarantine," he said. Scowcroft-said covert. operations should be small in order to avoid discovery. "You employ covert op- erations to disassociate the United States fmm the activities," he told reporters. "When they get as massive as this seems to 'be, then they are more difficult" to keep secret and "tend to be counterproductive," he said.- -- - ----- -- Inman expressed similar views. "I'm not prepared to cast an absolute vote, but if you are going to decide i you've got to do something beyond i diplomacy and trade,T he said, "do it overtly. Do it large. Do it fast. And get out fast. Don't get involved in one that's going to have along-term commitment. If it does, that's not ; going to be sustainable." Inman, interviewed at the com- puter research consortium he heads ~ in Austin, said most covert opera- tions start because of frustration with diplomacy and overt action, or ; for domestic political reasons, not ,' because covert action is the best way to deal with an international prob- lem. ' But' public consensus that a ac- tion is appropriate is essential to its success, Lzman said "If you caru~ot build a consensus that holds, the policy is in trouble," he said. Colby, in an appearance taped for broadcast today on Cable News Net- work's "Newsmaker Saturday," said that, in actions during the 1~J60s in Laos and Cuba's Bay of Pigs, agents 'were providing :logistics, communi- cations, ..air .transportti training, things of that nature, and liaison, coordination, but not going ovt to the patrols and in the fights" In Nicaragua, "it was consistent with what I said: ,~1,Q offioera were more than 12 miles offshore in the boats, providing support for the ac- tual operation going m as distinct from the CIA officer being on the boat" gouig m to lay the mines, Colby said. Colby, who was C.~d director from 1973 to 1976, said members of the intelligence committees in Congress understand the degree of CIA par- ticipation in covert actions and that he would have briefed them on the mining "the way I understand it was done on this occasion." Some committee members, in- cluding Senate Intelligence Commit- tee chairman Barry Goldwater (P.- Ariz), said they were not properly briefed in advance. Both houses of Congress last week approved non- binding resolutions condemning the mmmg. Serious questions about White House staff coordination and re~lew of CI,~ covert operations in Nicara- gua also were raised yesterday by a former Nizon aide who asked not to be identified. This former official, said he be- lieved that the "international impli? cations" of the CIA mining operation had not been adequately reviewed "and probably fell through the cracks" in the White House staff. Internal competition and conflicts among presidential ad~*isers and Cabinet members, this former aide said, had led to a breakdown in the re~~iew process that had worked in previous administrations. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23 :CIA-RDP90-005528000605890002-3