EX-PENTAGON AIDE'S ROLE IN START OF CONTRAS AIRLIFT TOLD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130023-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: October 21, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504130023-7
LOS ANGELES TIMES
21 October 1986
Ex-Pentagon Aide's Role in
Start of Contras Airlift Told
J By DOYLE McMANUS, Times Stan Writer
WASHINGTON-A former high
Pentagon official played a major
role in setting up a secret air supply
network for Nicazaguan contras
and acted at the suggestion of a
White House aide, U.S. officials and
rebel sources said Monday.
Richard V. Second, a retired Air
Force major general and former
deputy assistant secretary of de-
fense, was "a key player" in Wash-
ington who helped set up a system
of cazgo planes based at Ilopango,
El Salvador's main military air
base, the sources said.
The supply network was re-
vealed Oct. 6, the day after Nicaza-
guan troops shot down a C-123
cazgo plane carrying guns and
ammunition for the rebels, killing
three crewmen and capturing one.
The surviving crewman, Eugene
Hasenfus of Marinette, Wis., went
on trial in Managua on Monday on
chazges of violating Nicazaguan
security laws.
Hasenfus has said that he be-
lieved the supply network, which
used at least five cargo planes
based at Ilopango, was a CIA
project. But U.S. officials and rebel
sources insist that the system was
actually organized by private sup-
porters of the contras' cause-some
of whom acted at the suggestion of
Reagan Administration aides.
A contras official said that Se-
cond was introduced to rebel lead-
ers by Lt. Col. Oliver North, a
National Security Council aide who
had overseen the CIA's former
program of aid to the rebels. A U.S.
official said he understood that to
be true.
"Second is a key player," the U.S.
o?ficial said, speaking on condition
of anonymity. "He is one of a very
small group of people who really
ran this thing. North was another."
` ~ "The general has helped us a
.great deal, ever since Congress cut
pH our money." a rebel source said,
referring to the ban on U.S. gov-
.ernment aid enacted in 1984. "He
,,has helped us with money, he has
helped us find munitions and he has
helped us with the air supply."
Under the lyS4 law, the Reagan
aldministration was prohibited
~~rom giving the rebels military aid
~r directly helping them obtain it
.from other sources. The Adminis-
;iration has denied any connection
3"vvith the contras' military opera-
tion, except for giving general
~bncouragement to private donors
.who wished to help.
Second, who left the Pentagon in
8983 and now runs a military
technology trading firm, did not
,respond to several requests for an
interview. But on Sunday, he told
r'~he Long Island (N. Y.) newspaper
~ ve told them what I think they
,Aught to do and how they ought to
'
Sesign their efforts, so you can say,
em how to structure certain
--o- - ????., ~ ..a.,~ w ~r~ 1i1W. taut
~'m not commanding the contra air
force. If I were, I'd be down there."
In the past, Second has denied
any direct role in aiding the con-
$t'as. But the telephone records of
;safehouaes" used by the contras
supply network in San Salvador,
'.and obtained by Newsday on Sun-
day. tied the retired general direct-
ly tothe operation.
A IDese~ Calb
The records, for July through
September, showed a dozen calls to
the Virginia offices of Second's
firm, Stanford Technology Trading
Corp., and several more to a nearby
residence through which reporters
reached Second on Sunday.
Second told Newsday that he
could not eipisin the calls.
"I run Stanford Technology," he
said. "I never talked to any of them.
I never heard of Hasenfus. I don't
know anything about safehousea in
El Salvador."
But contras sources and the U.S.
official said that Second helped set
up the Salvador-based operation,
which was directed on the ground
by a former CIA operative, Feliz
Rodriguez.
Several contras sources said that
Second had obtained funding for
the operation from donors in Saudi
Arabia. "This thing cost a lot of
money, and it was coming from the
Saudis," one source said.
The Saudi government has de-
nied giving any aid to the rebels.
Several sources said the donors
were apparently Saudi private citi-
zens.
Second retired as the pentagon's
chief Middle East arms salesman in
1983 after successfully negotiating
the sale of AWACS radar surveil-
lance airplanes to Saudi Arabia-a
project on which North also
worked
Congreamea'a IatenHoae
The contras sources said that
Second also had helped them obtain
weaponry in the past, but they
refused to divulge any details.
In 1983, Second testified that he
had met several times over a
10-Year period with Edwin P. Wil-
son, aformer CIA official convicted
of smuggling weapons and explo-
sives to Libyan leader Moammar
Kadafi. Justice Department offi-
cials said then that they believed
Second and Wilson had had finan-
cial dealings, but Second was never
accused of any crone.
Several members of Congress
have announced that they intend to
investigate the links between the
Administration and the private aid
network, but some have acknowl-
edged that there is little clear
evidence yet that the Administra_
lion broke the law.
Congress gave final approval last
week to E100-million in new assist-
ance for the contras, including
militazy aid, so the ban on Admin-
istration help to the rebels has
expired.
Assistant Secretary of State Elli-
ott Abrams said Monday that he is
confident Congress will find no
wrongdoing in the Administra_
lion's conduct.
"If the whole picture of what
we're doing is laid out, then you can
see clearly that these kinds of
private activities have nothing to
do with the U.S. government," he
said.
"None of us is engaged in any
activity that is prohibited by Con-
gress-none whatsoever," he said
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504130023-7