HOUSE PANEL: END CIA AID IN NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090053-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 53
• Publication Date: May 4, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090053-5
4RTIC1 APPEARED
ON PAGE
MIAMI HERALD
4 MAY 1983
Douse Panel:
End CIA Aid
In Nicaragua
By ALFONSO CHARDY -
Herold Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Ignoring a last-minute plea from CIA Director
William Casey, the Democratic-controlled House Intelligence Commit-
tee voted Tuesday to end covert U.S. aid for Nicaraguan exiles fight-
ing against the leftist government in Managua.
The straight party-line vote of
9-5 -constituted a severe blow to
President Reagan's embattled Cen-
tral American policies.
The vote set the stage for the
first major test of Capitol Hill senti-
ment since Reagan appealed to a
joint session of Congress last week
to support his approach to the
strife-torn region.
"This is a great day in Managua
- an exciting day in Managua for
the Sandinistas, a great'..morale
boost," Republican committee
member C.W. (Bill) Young of Flori-
da said w7m l er sarcasm. Young
opposed the action and unsuccess-
fully attempted to modify the vote
with a CIA-backed amendment.
The bill is a long way from be-
coming law. It must pass the House
Foreign Affairs Committee and the
full House, and go through a similar
process in -the Republican-con-
trolled Senate.. Reagan could then
-veto it. _
Congressional sources said Rea-
gan apparently has the votes to turn
.back a similar attempt in the Senate
Intelligence Committee. After a
two-hour meeting Tuesday, the Re-
publican-dominated panel pub off
action until Friday on an amend-
ment by Sen. David Durenberger
(R., Minn.), to terminate funding.
Asked at a diplomatic reception
about the House panel vote, Reagan
told reporters: "What we're doing
is perfectly proper. We'll keep right
on fighting. If they [the committee
members) want to be irresponsible,
that's their business."
White House, CIA and State De-
apartment strategists hope to undo
the House committee action before
:,,the bill ever reaches the President.
The CIA's Casey argued Tuesday
that the U.S.-funded covert opera-
aions in Nicaragua were essential to
. the United States' credibility in
Central America. In their heavy
lobbying against the bill, adminis-
Ftration officials had contended that
two Central American governments
might fall - Honduras and El Sal-
vador - if the U.S. covert actions
were discontinued.
Committee member Wyche
Fowler (D., Ga.) said Tuesday's ac
tlon would make continuation of
covert activities "difficult." He indi-
cated that the committee expects
the CIA to start winding down the
covert operation soon and to order
the anti-Sandinista exiles to begin a
withdrawal from Nicaraguan terri-
tory.
A provision in the bill that would
give the CIA 45 days to "disengage"
from the anti-Sandinista forces did
not appear in the version approved
by the committee. Staff members
said a specific time limit was ap-
proved, but would not be made pub-
lic. Fowler said the change was
made to permit a "safer" with-
drawal of the CIA-backed forces, so
the Sandinistas would not be
warned in advance.
The committee, which met for
five hours, also approved an $80-
million fund to help "friendly" na-
tions in Central America to interdict
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved
Nicaraguan and Cuban arms ship-
ments to Salvadoran guerrillas and
insurgents in other nations of the
region.
Details of how the committee
wants the S80-million fund spent
have not been spelled out, but some
members say the Pentagon could
replace the CIA in providing intelli- !
gence data, equipment, arms and
communications and transportation
equipment to the governments of
Honduras, El Salvador and Guate-
mala to stop the flow of arms from
Nicaragua and Cuba to insurgents
in their regions.
One thing committee members
made clear is that the CIA must not
administer the program. "Assist-
ance under this section shall be pro-
vided openly, and shall not be pro-
vided in a manner which attempts
to conceal United States involve-
ment in the provision of such assist-
ance," the bill says.
The committee dropped a flat
prohibition on taking any military
action "against" Nicaragua, which
appeared in the original wording.
Fowler said the restriction was de-
leted to allow the United States to
assist Honduras in case of a Nicara-
guan attack on that country.
"Our committee has done what
the majority of the members of the
committee believed had to be done,
and that was to cut off covert oper-
ations in Nicaragua," said Rem~ EEd~d-
ward Boland (D., Mass.), chair-5n5
of the intelligence panel and princi-
pal author of the bill.
"By and large, I think that what
this committee has done is in the in-
terests of our government, and I
think that what we were doing in
that area was counterproductive,"
Boland said.
"The bottom line," Boland said,
"was that covert action ought to be
cut off, and we ought to turn that
action into an overt action, and
that's exactly what we did."
Fowler, responding to Young's
criticism that the vote would aid
the Sandinistas, said that the action
"in no way could be construed as a
favor to the Sandinista govern-
ment."
"It was a decision of our commit-
tee that the covert-action policy of
the United States was simply con-
trary to the best interests of the
United States of America. It was
having the opposite effect for
which it was initially intended. In-
stead of helping remove repression
and remove censorship by the San-
COIVITv
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090053-5
2.
dinista government, in fact it was
strengthening internal support for
the Sandinistas, and strengthening
international support for the Sandi-
nistas."
Committee aides said that Casey
and Thomas Enders, assistant secre-
tary of state for inter-American af-
fairs, addressed the committee be-
fore the vote in a last-minute appeal
to spare the covert operation, au-
thorized about 18 months ago.
"They asked not to do it, and in-
stead to support congressman
Young's compromise amendment,"
said a committee member who
asked not to be identified since he
was providing classified informa-
tion from the closed session.
"They told us nothing new in
their appeal, and Young's amend-
ment was defeated 8-5," the
congressman said. The amendment
would have allowed the covert op-
eration to continue unless the Unit-
ed States secured an agreement
with Nicaragua to stop Salvadoran
arms shipments.
"Casey told us that disengage-
ment would be very difficult and
dangerous and could lead to sub-
stantial deaths among FDN [Nicara-
guan Democratic Front] members,"
the congressman said. "We told him
that this point was debatable, since
the CIA had told us earlier that the
FDN forces moved in and out of
Nicaragua and into Honduras at
will and with no major risk."
He also said that Boland and the
other Democrats who voted to cut
off aid essentially want the admin-
istration to "take the hint" and
begin negotiations with Nicaragua's
government to reduce tensions in
Central America.
"We want dialogue, not war, and
this is the message of the vote," the
congressman said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090053-5