NORTH IMPLICATED IN CONTRA SUPPLY THROUGH PORTUGAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201820031-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: January 10, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201820031-8
ARTICLE APPEAVA9
ON PAGE ~D
NORTH IMPLICATED
IM CONTRA SUPPLY
THROUGH PORTUGAL
By STEPHEN ENGELDERG
Speasl to The New York Tiers
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 - Carnes-
sional investigators have found evi-
dence that Lieut. Col. Oliver L North
coordinated many arms shipments to
the Nicaraguan rebels through Portu-
gal, according to Congressional
sources.
The disclosure calls into question re-
peated denials by the White House of
charges that Reagan Administration
officials were defying the Congres-
sional ban on direct or indirect aid to
the rebels, who are known as contras.
It also comes as details of the unre-
leased Senate Intelligence Committee
report on the Iran-contra affair are
being' made public by political support-
ers and opponents of the Administra-
tion.
Unauthorized Release Denounced
Senator David L. Boren, the ' Okla-
homa Democrat who is the new chair-
man of the committee, today de-
nounced the unauthorized release to
NBC News of the first draft of the re-
port, which he said was incomplete and
inaccurate.
That draft was the subject of internal
disputes in the committee from the day
it was written. It was the work of aides
to Senator Dave Durenberger, a Minne-
sota Republican and former chairman,
and was immediately challenged by
other staff members.
When an aide to a Democratic Sena-
tor discovered that White House offi-
cials were reviewing the report in the
committee's offices, he demanded that
their notes be torn up sad their brief-
cases searched before trait left the
committee room, to }tow any un-
authorized release,
NBC News reported tonight that Mpj.
Gen. Richard V. Secord, a retired Air
Force officer, had kept William J.
Casey, the Director of Central Intelli-
gence, fully informed about the
progress of the shipments to the Nica-
raguan rebels. NBC, quoting an uniden-
tified source, said the C.I.A. directly as-
sisted the supply operation by telling
the crews where to drop the weapons,
what routes to take and how to avoid
Nicaraguan defenses. According to
NBC, the C.I.A. station chiefs in Hon-
duras and El Salvador were providing
the intelligence information.
NEW YORK TIMES
10 January 1987
Congressional restrictions at the
time allowed intelligence sharing with
the contras but barred the agency from
indirectly or directly assisting rebel
military actions.
Congressional investigators said
they had uncovered new details about
Colonel North's ties to the supposedly
private network that was providing
military aid to the Nicaraguan rebels.'
The investigators found that Colonel
North, as a member of the National Se-
curity Council staff, had been involved
in clandestine arms shipments paid for
with money that had been funneled
through a Panamanian company.
1985 Incident Recounted
They recounted one incident in early
November 1985, in which the Israeli
Government was trying to deliver
Hawk missiles to Iran by way of Portu-
gal on behalf of the United States. Ac-
cording to American accounts, Al
Schwimmer, an Israeli businessman,
erred by allowing an Israeli-chartered
plane to take off from Israel before
landing rights were secured in Portu-
gal. Israeli officials say Colonel North
had neglected to obtain the required,
permission.
In any event, the Israel plane flew
halfway to Portugal and then was,
forced to turn back, on "its last drop of,
fuel," when Israeli officials said they
knew of nowhere else in Europe in
which they could land a plane filled
with Hawk missiles, according to Is-1
raeli officials.
Colonel North then cast about for a
plane to carry the arms to Iran. His
first thought, according to congres-
sional sources, was to consider using a
plane being prepared to fly from Lis-
bon with arms for the contras. This
flight was scheduled to make a de-
livery to Bocay, a Nicaraguan village
near the Honduran border that has
been the site of contra activities. An
airstrip used by the contras is nearby
on the Honduran side.
Involvement Was Denied
Asked in October if Colonel North or
other Administration officials had been
involved in arms shipments to the con-
tras, Elliott Abrams, an Assistant Sec-
retary of State, echoed the remarks of
several other Administration officials
when he said, 'I deny it."
"The intelligence committees have
kept looking at it and looking at it," he
added, referring to investigations of
the question in 1985. "They have never
found anything. There's a reason for
that. It's because this is not factual"
A senior Administration official said
recently that Portugal had been serv-
ing as a primary transshipment Point
for arms to the contras. A spokesman
for the Portuguese Embassy in Wash-
ington said tonight that his Govern-
ment had not authorized anq such
flights and was not aware of them-
As of November 1985, Congress had
barred any agency associated with in-
telligence activities from directly or
indirectly aiding the contras.
But Colonel North has told associates
that he believed these restrictions ap-
plied only to the spending of Govern-
ment money and that as a White House
aide he was free to help the contras
with advice and coordination, accord-
ing to Congressional investigators.
The investigators' knowledge of how
the private supply network operated is
sketchy.
GO/
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201820031-8