DATA SOUGHT ON NSC-REBEL CONTACTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504870055-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 55
• Publication Date: August 17, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504870055-1
Y
ARTICLE APPLE -
ON P!1GE
WASHINGTON POST
17 August 1985
Data Sought on NSC-Rebel Contacts
Rep. Barnes Asks for Papers on Officer's Nicaragua Activities
By Joanne Omang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.),
chairman of the House Foreign Af-
fairs subcommittee on Western
Hemisphere affairs, asked the
White House yesterday to turn over
all documents relating to contacts
between Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L.
North of the National Security
Council staff and leaders of the reb-
els fighting the government of Nic-
aragua.
In a letter to Robert C. McFar-
lane, President Reagan's national
security affairs adviser, Barnes said
published reports about North's ac-
tivities "raise serious questions re-
garding the violation of the letter
and spirit of U.S. law prohibiting
support for the Nicaraguan rebels."
Saying he seeks "to clarify the
circumstances surrounding Lt. Col.
North's activities," Barnes asked
McFarlane to provide Congress
with "all information including all
memoranda and any other docu-
ments" regarding North's contacts
with rebel leaders since the law
banning support was passed last Oc-
tober.
Reports in The Washington Post
and The New York Times described
North as the center of an informa-
tion and referral network that main-
tained ties among the rebels, ad-
ministration officials and leaders of
the New Right who provided finan-
cial and political support to the
counterrevolutionaires, or contras.
The Post identified North by name;
The Times did not.
North is one of four NSC staff
members with responsibility for
Latin and Central America. Adolfo
Calero, head of the largest Ni-
caraguan contra group, has said he
has met frequently with all four.
Administration officials have ar-
-gued that t the law barred any "entity
in-
of the United tates government
volved in intelligence activities"
from supporting the rebels but that
the clause - not apply to the Na-
tiona Security Council.
Barnes disagreed. "It would be
stretching ie integrity the law
to suggest that this prohibition was
not intended to cover the NSC."
Barnes wrote. "President Reagan
himself in his executive order on
t Fe nation's intelligence agencies
describes t e as the hi est
government entity with responsi-
bility or intelligence activities."
Barnes noted that the so-called
Boland amendment arre. aid
"for the purpose, or which would
have the effect, of supporting di-
rect or indirectly military or ara-
miitary operations" of the Ni-
caraguan insur ents.
ort s activities "clearly have
'the effect of supporting' the Ni-
caraguan rebel movement," Barnes
wrote. "The press reports suggest
that, despite congressional intent
during this period, direct U.S. sup-
port was provided to .the Ni-
caraguan rebels."
Earlier this week, Common
Cause asked the House and Senate
intelligence committees to inves-
tigate NSC involvement wit the
rebels "to ensure the accountability
of the executive branch to the Con-
ress."
Common Cause President Fred
Wertheimer also asked them to
make public the way that $27 mil-
lion in new humanitarian aid to the
rebels will be administered "to en-
sure that the aid is not used for mil-
itary purposes."
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504870055-1