EX-CIA DIRECTOR CASEY DIES

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000604940001-1
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
2
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
May 1, 2012
Sequence Number: 
1
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
May 7, 1987
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000604940001-1.pdf134.24 KB
Body: 
STAT 1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/01 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000604940001-1 ON PAR_ 7 May 1987 ExmCIA director Casey dies Probe viewed as largely unaffected Former director of central in- telligence William J. Casey died of pneumonia yesterday at 74. He resigned as CIA director Feb. 2 following removal of a cancer- ous tumorfrom his brain last De- cember. Obituary. Page 51. ," T By Thomas Palmer -Globe Staff WASHINGTON - The death of former CIA director William J. Ca- sey, whose role in the Iran-contra affair is now known to have been much greater than was apparent when the news broke late last year. will not significantly hinder the investigation, members of Congress and aides said yester- day. "What did he know that no one else knew?" said one congres- sional aide. "Nothing." Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R- N.H.), vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee probing the scandal, said yesterday that some details of what happened - now being recounted by participants in public hearings on Capitol Hill - may have died with Casey, but none would have been significant. Last November. Casey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee concerning the US arms sales to Iran, which had just been disclosed. Casey was hospi- talized with a brain tumor three weeks later. On Tuesday, after Senate and House select committees have spent months investigating the Iran arms sales and diversion of proceeds to the contra cause, joint public hearings began. Casey died early the next morning. The longtime, trusted friend of President Reagan was suffering from a cancerous tumor and also reportedly had had prostate can- cer. He apparently had been far too ill since his Nov. 21, 1986, tes- timony to relate what he knew about the Iran-contra affair. Oliver L. North. the National Security Council aide who was fired a few days after Casey's testi- mony, was at first portrayed in news stories as the mastermind of the contra supply diversion. But it has surfaced that North was in ef- fect working for Casey. When Casey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee, the committee's report of last January noted "He did not mention any possibility that there had been a diversion of funds from the arms sales to Iran." Casey was later criticized both for that omission and for not informing Congress of the arms sale initiative for 15 months - until after it was re- vealed in the press. When a newsman shouted the question about whether any laws were broken. Casey - in a news clip that has become famous by its being played and replayed on tele- vision - responded, "No. no." What is certainly clear now is that some laws were broken. There have been two indictments, the second of which was an- nounced only yesterday. Casey could have enlightened both the special prosecutor investigating the scandal and the select commit- tees' investigators had his health not deteriorated. "There are some things he will take with him to the grave." said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who was vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee when the scandal erupted. One area in which Casey might have yielded some understanding is the solicitation of the Sultan of Brunei for $10 million in assis- tance to the contras. Former Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Se- cord, the first witness in the pub- lic hearings, testified Tuesday that Casey said he would ask Sec- retary of State George P. Shultz to approach the sultan. According to Secord, the mon- ey was destined for military pur- poses. For a US official to have been involved in supplying such aid would apparently have been a violation of the Boland Amend- ment. which was in effect then and prohibited US military aid to the rebels in Nicaragua. Shultz won the $10 million contribution, but he told the House Foreign Af- fairs Committee last December WILLIAM J. CASEY Was criticized for omissions that he thought the money was for humanitarian aid, which was not prohibited. One source close to the con- gressional investigation noted that -Casey left a faint trail. "Ca- sey was not the kind to scribble, the way Colonel North did," the source said in an interview before Casey's death. "When he had a phone call with somebody he had had business dealings with,-, he would not write a memo." The source added that Casey worked on his own to a large extent in the Iran-contra effort, that he liked to carry out "vest-pocket oper- ations." Foresaw problem Rudman said investigators foresaw the problem with Casey's health. "With regard to the Iran committee's ongoing investiga- tion. since director Casey had be- come ill some time ago. we had an- ticipated he would not be able to appear as a witness," Rudman said. "The committee therefore has been proceeding independent- ly to gather evidence as to what his role and that of the agency might have been." Continued Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/01 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000604940001-1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/01 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000604940001-1 Casey and North appear to have been the two Reagan admin- istration officials most involved in the matter. Since it is not yet as- sured that North will testify, the, full effect of Casey's death cannot. be known. Although Casey was well, enough to be discharged from the- hospital after his surgery, none of the investigators ever spoke with him. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Ha- waii) said recently that the com- mittee would seek independent' evidence that Casey was physical- ly unable to contribute. "That never happened." said Lance Morgan, spokesman for the Senate Select Committee. Morgan said there was a "sig- nificant paper trail" revealing much of what Casey would have- known and that many witnesses were interviewed concerning his role. "We will not have any signifi- cant holes in the story," he said. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/01 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000604940001-1