DANGER IS WITHIN, CONSERVATIVE EX-SPY SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201150058-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2010
• Sequence Number: 58
• Publication Date: November 18, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP9O-00806ROO0201150058-9
MADISON STATE JOURNAL (WI)
18 November 1983
an er is---within
w
conservative ex-s.py.
says
Bt, Roger A. Gribble
O T'he State Journal -
1 W H ITEW ATER - Peter James, a
former CIA spy who decided to go
public, nJed the alarm Wednesday
ni~bt at UW-Whitewater. -
.The nation is in danger, said
Junes, who also worked for Air
F?Fce intelligence during the early
1970s. ? But he said the danger comes
Mare from within than from outside.
;Recent developments in Central
America, including the invasion of
Grenada, highlight that danger, he
4rned, adding, "Reagan is a master
at-subtly controlling information."
:aiames, on a nationwide speaking
tour, said the Reagan administration
probably knew there wasa weapons
cache on Grenada. It excluded the
American press from the invasion be-
cise it expected stiff opposition and
didn't want a lot of negative reports
coming out of the island during the
irM al phases of the attack, he said.
".James, speaking on the subject
"The Castro Connection," has visited
Cuba three times in the past 2%
years. Ile argued that U.S.'policy to-
wiard Cuba since Castro came to
Peter James
power has dictated its actions in ica, he argued, given Kissinger's role
other Central American nations. in backing the bloody overthrow of
The U.S. trade embargo against the Allende government in -Chile.
Cuba for the past 20 years and the
current travel embargo have kept the
American public in the dark about
Cuba, and that's the way the adminis-
tration wants it, James said.
He encountered no animosity from
Cuban civilians.or government offi-
cials during his visits, he said, even
though he had revealed his former
.CIA ties. Cubans seem to dissociate
American visitors from American
government. policies, he said.
The Cuban government is fearful
of an invasion and has armed civil.
ians, who form a militia to protect
Cuba in the event of aninvasion, he
James said the arms found on
He called the Kissinger Commis
sion "nothing but a time-delaying tac-
tic. "I suspect the Reagan administra.
tion has set in motion, through covert
operations, a plan where Nicaragua
will be resolved by the time the com-
mission reports. In the meantime, the
U.S. brings more troops into sur-
rounding countries. The commission
is a deliberate attempt to mislead the
public." - ?
James said he is also alarmed that
the Reagan administration has
turned the intelligence community
loose to undo some of the damage (to
the administration) resulting from
the Watergate affair.
"The administration will back the
Grenada were probably intended for ; intelligence agencies even if they
similar use by civilians there as part: break the law," he said. "Reagan even
of a militia force, rather than being pardoned some agents in New York
destined for other countries. who broke the law."
James said he has a conservative James. said he did his spying for
background and some of his books the CIA and Air Force while on the
have been endorsed by. a conserva- payroll of Pratt and Whitney Aircraft
five book club, but the current admin. as an aerspace engineer. He is-able to
istration doesn't like much of what he disclose that role-he said, because he
says during his talks.
"I find myself playing the role of
devil's advocate. I want'to keep a lot
of my conservative friends honest,"
he said during an interview. Even
though be is unhappy-with the admin-
istration, he said, he has also been dis--
appointed with liberals because they
have provided no constructive alter-
natives.
"I find myself, with a conservative
background, coming up with alterna-
tives the liberals should be offering,"
he said.
James said the American press
has been discredited since the Iranian
hostage crisis, when the American
public became tired of being bom-
barded with bad news.
He, was surprised, be said, that the
press and the American public put up
with the press being excluded from
the Grenada invasion.
Henry Kissinger was the worst
possible person to-put in charge of the
fact-finding mission to Central Amer-
was never on the government payroll
and thus never signed a security oath.
At first his spying consisted of
"picking the brains" of Russian scien-
tists and engineers at conferences he
attended, he said. later it involved
compiling political dossiers on Soviet
officials.
James said he finally decided to
give his reports to audiences in the
form of talks rather than to intelli-
gence agencies, and he has concen.
trated his efforts in providing infor.
mation the public cannot otherwise
obtain.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP9O-00806ROO0201150058-9