MANY WHO AID CONTRAS LINKED TO SPY AGENCY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130027-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: October 10, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504130027-3
~""~~E APFFA~fD
FILE ONLY
Many Who Aid
Contras Linked
to spy Agency
By DOYLE McMANUS
and SARA FRITZ,
Times Staff Writes
WASHINGTON-As the Rea-
gan Administration on Thursday
repeated its denials of any involve-
ment with anAmerican-manned
cargo plane shot down in Nicaza-
gua, 'evidence mounted that many
of the people involved in the
contras resupply operation have
worked on CIA projects in the past.
The chairmen of the House and
Senate Intelligence Committees
said they believed the CIA's deni-
als.
In addition, Assistant Secretazy
of State Elliott Abrams said that
statements of the sole surviving
crewman, captured American Eu-
gene Hasenfus, should not be taken
seriously while he is in the hands of
the Nicaraguan regime, Hasenfus
said Thursday that two CIA offi-
cers had directed the operation to
resupply Nicaraguan rebels.
Nevertheless, increasing refer-
ences to the CIA resulting from
inquiries into the backgrounds of
those involved in the ill-fated mis-
sion earlier this week have revived
questions of whether the agency
had an informal connection with
the flight.
For example, The Times learned
Thursday that William J. Cooper,
the Nevada aviator who piloted the
ill-fated cargo plane, and who
appears to have played a key role in
organizing the flight, was once one
of the CIA's chief pilots in South-
east Asia.
Congress has barred the CIA
from aiding the contras since 1984.
Both chambers have approved a
new program of 1101) million in
CIA-administered aid for the reb-
els, but it hoe not yet reached final
passage. be ~n prison for 30 yeazs."
Hasenfus, who spoke to report- ~ Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.),
ers at a government press confer- chairman of the House Intelligence
ence in Managua, said the resupply Committee and a leading opponent
operation was based at the head- of U.S. aid to the contras, said he
quarters of El Salvador's air force, does not believe that the CIA was
involved.
"I don't think the four men were
CIA. I don't think the plane was a
CIA asset. I don't think it was a CIA
operation," Hamilton said. "It is my
Ilopango base, and was run by two
CIA men whom he identified as
Max Gomez and Ramon Medina.
Retired Maj. Gen. John K. Sing-
laub, aformer CIA officer who is
one of the contras' most vocal
supporters, told reporters in Wash-
ington that Gomez is a former CIA
employee who now works as an
adviser to the Salvadoran air force.
"It's my understanding that at
one time he was employed by CIA,"
Singlaub said, "perhaps during the
Bay of Pigs operation"-the 196I
invasion of Cuba sponsored by the '
CIA.
Both Cooper and Hasenfus once
worked for Air America, the CIA-
owned airline that ran clandestine
operations in Indochina until 1975,
according to Hasenfus.
"These guys ail stay in touch
with each other," an aide to the
Senate Intelligence Committee
said. "You may even find a guy
who's still with the agency who
was hanging out with his buddies
and might have gone on one of
these flights. But, if he did, it was in
clear violation of CIA policy."
"There is a large group of unem-
ployed or underemployed pilots
who have airplanes and are vying
for hauling jobs in Central Ameri-
ca," Singlaub said. "Business is not
good. I hope it'll be better once the
$100 million is passed."
CIA spokeswoman Kathy Pher-
~`son said, "We didn't have anything
to do with the guy, We didn't have
anything to do with the plane. And
we can say that, instead of our
usual 'No comment,' because a
plane that flies in and drops sup-
plies would violate congressional
restrictions. We have not and will
not violate congressional restric-
tions."
Abrams told the Associated
Press that he believes Hasenfus
was pressured by his Sandinista
captors into making his chazges of
CIA involvement.
"I'm confident they aze telling
him if you say the things we want
to hear, you'll be out in no time," he
said. "If you don't cooperate, you'll
impression that the CIA has not
violated the law,"
Sen. Dave Durenberger (R-
4 '.Minn. ), chairman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee, said he is
"fairly confident that the CIA has
been trying to keep its hands
clean" as long as a congressional
ban on aid to the contras remains in
force.
"But somebody in the United
States government knows who
these people ai'e," he added, dis-
puting Administration spokesmen's
insistence that they do not even
know who was behind the supply
flights.
Despite Durenberger's measured
expression of confidence in the
CIA, a spokesman for the commit-
tee said it is checking the 34
American-sounding names that Ne
Sandinistas say they found in the
airplane's records to see if any have
been employed by the CIA.
And not all members of Congress
were equally convinced.
"That plane doesn't take off with
what it took off with without the
CIA knowing about it," said Rep.
Michael D. Baznes (D-Md.), chair-
man of the House Foreign Affairs
subcommittee on Latin America
and a frequent critic of American
policy in Central America. "An
independent operation wouldn't be
operating out of Ilopango. Nothing
happens there that we don't ap-
prove."
The CIA has assured the Senate
committee that it is not funding the
contras indirectly, through allied
countries or other intermediaries,
an aide said.
Several contras officials have
said that the five rebel airplanes
based at Ilopango were bought
with the help of donations from
Saudi Arabia. The Senate Intelli-
gence Committee aide said Thurs-
day that the CIA has said flatly that
the Saudi government is not fund-
ing the contras.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504130027-3