INVESTIGATORS SAY BRIEFING OF HELMS AIDE PRECEDED INTELLIGENCE LEAK TO CHILE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000200860005-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: August 6, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Investigators say briefing of Helms aide
UTeCedecl intPlli~tPnrP leak to C:hi1P
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200860005-4
BALTIMORE SUN
k-r% 6 August 1986
say Stephens Broening
Washington Bureau of The S
un
in the Chilean military had been
compromised by the disclosure to
WASHINGTON - Within ho Urs Chilean authorities that the United
--~- States had the document.
after an aide to n. Jesse Helms. News that the Chileans were
R-N C=a given an intelligence aware of the leak came during a visit
briefing on Chile last month. secrets to Chile July 13-18 by Robert S. Gel-
were betr2yed to th Chilean mill- ha,,,i ^ A-.#,. ^ , ._.__. _--~-__
t r shin acco di t
o ?1- state. The information was quickl
ministration offs i I.s lose in an in- relayed to the State Department in y
veatigation of the senator and his
Washington, which informed the
?WL
The disclosure was said by these
officials to involve information that
the United States had obtained a
confidential report by the Chilean
armed forces on the military's in-
volvement in the death of a young
Chilean resident of the United
States.
Sources said the armed forces re-
port sharply contradicted initial
Chilean allegations that the victim,
Rodrigo Rojas de Negri. 19, had acci-
dentally set himself on fire July 2
during a demonstration in Santiago,
the Chilean capital.
Eyewitnesses to the 'Incident
have said that uniformed men with
blackened faces beat Mr. Rojas and
a young woman and set them on
fire. Mr. Rojas died four days later;
the woman survived. An investigat-
ing magistrate has indicted a lieu-
tenant for manslaughter in connec-
tion with the death.
Administration officials would
not say exactly when the United
States got the confidential report,
but they suggested that its receipt
played a role in the repeated insist-
ence by the U.S. government that
Chilean authorities thoroughly in-
vestigate the Rojas death and punish
any wrongdoers.
On July 9, State Department
spokesman Bernard Kalb said eye-
witness accounts of the incident
"should be critical in determining
the facts" in the Chilean investiga-
tion. Two days later, on July 11. Mr.
Kalb said that for the Chilean In-
quiry to be credible, It "must take
into account" eyewitnesses "as well
as other relevant factual informa-
tion."
Administration officials said they
could not reveal how the United
States had obtained the confidential
Chilean report or whether a source
Senate Select Committee on Intelli-
gence. The committee on July 18
asked the Justice Department to in-
vestigate a possible breach of confi-
dentiality.
Sources close n the investigation
said they had no cause to believe
that Senator Helms or Christopher
Manion. the aide who got the secret
briefing on Chile by the In Committee. had themselves Based
secrets to the Chileans
One administration official said
he understood the information was
conveyed to a senior Chilean in San-
tiago by telephone from Washington.
Under Senate rules, ( is forbid-
den for sena ors or committee staff
members to divulge classified infor-
mation received at Intelligence Com-
mittee briefings except at closed sec-
inns
Senator Helms has reacted
strongly to reports that he and his
staff are the object of an investiga-
tion. On Monday, he accused the
State Department of trying "to intim-
idate me and harass me."
The senator and the State De-
partment have long been at odds
over aspects of U.S. policy in Latin
America, an area of special interest
to Mr. Helms, who is chairman of
the Senate Subcommittee on West-
ern Hemisphere Affairs.
In the case of Chile, the State De-
partment is trying to push the dicta-
torship into a transition to democrat-
ic government. Mr. Helms supports
the dictatorship as a bulwark
against communism in the hemi-'
sphere, and he came to the regime's
defense during a visit to Chile July
9-13. Mr. Helms said, among other
things, that U.S. Ambassador HarryBarnes had "planted the American'
flag in the midst of a communist ac-
tivity" by attending funeral services
for Mr. Rojas. -
slat
partment hrlnw.i a car g
f- riefirw
Committee. so the . as one official
.ni,t it "we rn?Id pia ? fmm t e e
sheet music."
A briefing was set up for the sen-
ator, officials said, but Mr. Manion,
the senator's chief aide on the For.
eign Relations Committee, attended
in his stead. The officials said the
briefing was held during the week of
July 14-18.
Details of the confidential Chilean
armed forces report apparently were
disclosed to the senator's aide in an'
attempt to bring Senator Helms and
his staff over to the State Depart-
ment's side, said officials who did
not attend the briefing.
Attempts to reach Mr. Manion by
telephone yesterday were unsuc-
cessful.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200860005-4