EX-CIA DIRECTOR CASEY DIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• 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
• Publication Date: May 7, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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
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 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