CAREER DIPLOMAT NAMED TO HANDLE CONTRA FUNDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302440030-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2012
• Sequence Number: 30
• Publication Date: September 7, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/01: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302440030-9
ARTICLE
ON PAGE
WASHINGTON POST
7 September 1985
Career Diplomat Named
To Handle Contra Funds
By John M. Goshko
Washington Post Staff Writer
President Reagan yesterday ap-
pointed Robert Werner Duemling, a
career diplomat and former ambas-
sador to Suriname, to head the new
office that will administer $27 mil-
lion in humanitarian aid for antigov-
ernment guerrillas in Nicaragua.
The White House announced last
Friday that it had decided to distrib-
ute the aid for the counterrevolu-
tionaries, known as contras,
through a Nicaraguan Humanitarian
Assistance Office that will be under
the policy control of the secretary
of State but separate from other
parts of the State Department.
Reagan won a major victory last
month when Congress, overcoming
previous opposition in the Demo-
cratic-controlled House, voted to
renew aid to the contras.
Congress s ecified that the funds
can be used only for food, clothing
and other humanitarian purposes,
.and it barred the Defense Depart-
ment and the Central me f ence
Agency from any role in disbursing
the funds.
Many congressional opponents of
Reagan's Central America policies
have voiced suspicion that the ad-
ministration might stretch the de-
finition of "humanitarian" to include
equipment that the contras might
use in their campaign to overthrow
the Sandinista government.
In order to ease these suspicions
and prevent the new office from
becoming embroiled in controversy,
administration sources said they
wanted the program to be run by a
career State Department official
who would give the office a low pro-
file.
Duemling, 56, has been a foreign
service officer since 1957 and
served as ambassador to Suriname
from 1982 to 1984. Most recently,
he has been serving with the State
Department's management staff.
"We are mindful of congressional
concerns and will consult with the
Congress on assistance to be of-
fered through the office .... "said
State Department spokesman Ber-
nard Kalb.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/01: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302440030-9