ADMINISTRATION SAYS CIA WILL NOT TAKE PART IN DEMOCRACY PROMOTION PLAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200920015-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 16, 2010
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: February 7, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/16: CIA-RDP90-
ASSOCIATED PRESS
7 February 1983
)0806 R000200920015-2
ADMINISTRATION SAYS CIA WILL NOT TAKE PART IN DEMOCRACY PROMOTION PLAN
WASHINGTON
BY R. GREGORY NOKES
STAT
A senior State Department official said Monday there will be no CIA
.nvciverent in President Reagan's proposed $65 million program to promote
ce nocracy around the world.
Lawrence S. Eagleburger, the undersecretary of state, said the possibility of
:n.:luding covert CIA activities in the program was discussed, but was rejected
at senior levels of the administration.
"There will be no CIA involvement," Eagleburger said. "Anything done under
this program will be done in full view of the public and will be submitted to
the Congress for approval."
Eagleburger spoke at a news conference that seemed to have been called
primarily to dispel what the administration felt were mistaken impressions about
the. program, which President Reagan first unveiled in a speech to the British
Parliament last June.
Reagan had said the program would reflect a commitment by the United States
to engage more vigorously in a peaceful "competition of ideas and values" with
the Soviet Union.
Eagleburger said CIA involvement "would kill" the program because it would
serve as "a pretext to discredit the entire project."
In addition to speculation about possible CIA involvement, Eagleburger said
another false impression is that some of the $65 million would be used for a
public relations campaign to try to promote installation of U.S.-made nuclear
missiles in Western Europe.
Not only is that a wrong impression, said Eagleburger, but the program isn't
aimed at Western Europe. He said its primary aim would be to strengthen
democratic institutions where such institutions are now weak, or threatened,
such as in many nations in Latin America, Africa and Asia. He did not name any
countries.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/16: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200920015-2