NORTH 'FOOT SOLIDER' DESCRIBES CARRYING CASH, DATA TO CONTRAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605070005-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: May 15, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
' Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605070005-2
6i P U-,ASHINGTON POST
1981
'5 M
y
North `Foot Soldier' Describes
Carrying Cash, Data to Contras
I
By Joe Pichirallo
Wa ifngtm, Pant Staff Writer
~D Robert W. wen, a self-described "foot soldier" in the
administration's secret war against Nicaragua, testified
yesterday that at the direction of Lt. Col. Oliver L.
North he delivered envelopes stuffed with cash, advice
on arms purchases and U.S. intelligence maps and pho-
tographs to contra leaders.
Owen, who testified before the Senate and House
Iran-contra committees under a grant of immunity, de-
scribed several payments to rebel leaders during a pe-
riod when U.S. aid to the contras was banned. In de-
scribing one of the transactions, Owen implicated White
House administrative aide Johnathan Miller, who
abruptly resigned his job within an hour after being pub-
licly identified.
Miller, the manager of White House administrative
operations since June 1986, was either working for the
State Department or temporarily assigned to the Na-
tional Security Council (NSC) staff in March 1985
when, according to Owen's testimony, he helped con-
vert traveler's checks into cash for a payment to a
contra leader sources identified as Arturo Cruz.
Owen testified that North, who was fired from his
NSC post last November, typically handed him travel-
er's checks taken from a safe in the Old Executive Of-
fice Building located next to the White House. Owen
said his job was to convert the checks to cash and then
give the money to contra leaders
designated by North. In one in-
stance involving a payment of
$6,000 or $7,000, Owen said, he
was so rushed "there were probably
too many checks for me to cash," so
Miller's aid was enlisted.
"I think he may have done $3,000
and I did $4,000 or we both did
$3,500, or $3,000 and $3,000,"
Owen said.
Miller is the first administration
official to resign since the congres-
sional hearings on the Iran-contra
affair opened May 5. White House
spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said
the White House was informed by
investigators Tuesday that Miller
would be implicated in public tes-
timony and Miller was advised to
hire a lawyer. Miller gave no spe-
cific reason for his resignation.
"It's a matter for him and the
[congressional] committee to sort
out. I make no judgments," Fitzwa-
ter said.
Owen described another occa-
sion, possibly in April 1985, in
which he "met outside the Old Ex-
ecutive Office Building and handed
over an envelope to another
[contra) Indian leader who was in
town, and needed some assistance
to help with" his food bills and hotel
bill, and to just stay alive."
Last week, the committees' first
witness, retired Air Force major
general Richard V. Secord, North's
chief assistant in both the contra
operation and the secret arms sales
to Iran, described how North put
together the network that chan-
neled money to the contras after
U.S. aid was banned by Congress in
October 1984.
Yesterday, Owen provided rich
new details about North's manage-
ment of the secret war and the
movement of money in the months
before profits from the Iranian arms
sales were diverted to the contras.
Owen told the committees that
the traveler's checks North gave
him came from contra leader Adolfo
Calero, who had access to $32 mil-
lion that Saudi Arabia gave 'to the
contras between July 1984 and
March 1985. Calero, who had a dif-
ficult relationship with other contra
leaders, sent money to North, who
redistributed it to other rebel offi-
cials.
Owen said he first met North in
1983. At the time he was working
for Sen. Dan Quayle (R-Ind.), but he
continued his association with
North when he later went to work
for Gray & Co., a politically well-
connected public relations firm.
While a volunteer at the 1984
Republican National Convention in
Dallas, Owen said he sat in on sev-
eral meetings on contra military
and fund-raising needs attended by
Calero, North and retired major
general John K. Singlaub, another
key North associate in the private
contra network.
Owen left his job at Gray and Co.
in November 1984 and signed on
with Calero at $2,500 a month plus
expenses.
Owen, who shuttled between
Washington and Central America,
said he went by the code name "The
Courier." Calero, he said, was called
"The Sparkplug," and North occa-
sionally used the code name "Steel-
hammer."
Owen said he believes North ob-
tain the intelligence maps
and photos he delivered to ere
Agency or the Pentagon. He said
at North on different occasions
said the material came from "the
peop across t e river. a r er-
ence to the Pentagon, or "the oeo-
ple up the river," meaning the CIA.
Owen said that in late springl
1985 he helped in the exchange of
information for a $5 million arms
deal Singlaub arranged for the con-
tras. Owen said he flew to Colorado
to go over a list of contra weapons
needs with Singlaub and then trav-
eled to San Franciso, where he
went over the same list with
Calero. Owen said he also relayed
information to North from Calera
about the purchase.
Owen, who also served as
North's emissary to Miskito and
other Nicaraguan Indian groups op-
posing the Sandinistas, said that the
same spring he made a cash pay-
ment to one Indian leader while the
man was negotiating with the San-
dinistas. Sources identified the lead-
er as Brooklyn Rivera. "The feeling
was that if he went to his negotia-
tions with the Sandinistas and he
walked out of them ... we would
try and help him," said Owen. He
added that the payment was made
while both sat in a parked car here.
It was disclosed earlier that dur-
ing 1986 North arranged a $7,000
monthly stipend for Cruz, a former
contra leader who was considered
crucial to winning congressional
support for the rebels.
Cruz had earlier received money
directly from the U.S. government.
In March 1985, administration of-
ficials decided he no longer could
receive direct U.S. payments and
agreed to arrange private assist-
ance for him, Owen testified, with-
out naming Cruz.
Later, Cruz, Calero and Alfonso.
Robelo, another top contra leader,
played a key role in getting the
State Department to hire Owen as a
consultant to help oversee $27 mil-
lion in nonlethal aid provided to the
contras in late 1985 and part of
1986.
Staff writer David Hoffman
contributed to this report.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605070005-2