THE CIA CAMPUS INVASION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807520002-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 20, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807520002-1
r NEW 1AVEN AWVULA11J tUT)
b 20 March 1985
.The CIA Campus - Invasion STAT
By Don Michak the agency's representatives. Amsellem and they are on the same level as Nazi war crimes."
NORTHAMPTON, MASS.-In the end, Sheehy then walked into the office and began ask- Amsellem then offered the judge a copy of
Judge Alvertus Morse just couldn't do it. He ing the two recruiters about their employer s_ testimony Presented before the Congressional In-
couldn't acquit Perry Amsellem and Lisa Sheehy, employment practices, covert operations, and its .te4i8ener cammitloes wNchAttailml,;;contr"
two community activists arrested here last activities in Central America. Charlie Turgeon,.-; atrocities in Nicaragua. Morse refused the
November for protesting CIA recruiting at the a CIA recruiter visiting his parents in the area, document.
University of Massachusetts, and charged with responded to some of their questions until UMass, The defendants also argued they were not to
criminal trespass by the campus police. Despite officials interrupted the exchange:;, much protesting the CIA as petitioning a govern-
his stated sympathy with the defendants' objet- According to testimony presented at the.trial,, meat agency for a redress of grievances. Said
Lion to the CIA's covert war in Central America, Associate Director Clarkson Edwards called the Amsellem, "The Constitution protects our right
the first justice of the Hampshire County District campus cops to the Placement Service shortly to take reasonable actions for redressing
Court felt compelled to end their trial last Thurs- after he had asked the defendants to leave and grievances. . .Our defense is based on the 9th
day by finding sufficient facts to warrant a ver- the recruiters to move to another room. Amsellem and 10th amendments, and in plain English; that
dict of guilty, and sentencing each to pay court and Sheehy followed them, attd. cdntinued ul means that simply because the Constitution has
costs of $50 or 15 hours of community service. engage the CIA representatives in what Edwards listed certain rights, there are not others that the
The charges will in all likelihood be dismissed called "less than congenial" conversation.- On-. = people retain. The right to self-government in-
after six months, and by accepting the verdict, the stand he seemed to imply tht defendants,attd cludes the right to have the government obey its
ht to have military powers
d the ri
l
g
aws, at t
Amsellem and Sheehy forfeited their right to other demonstrators hacLphysically shoved place own
appeal. meat office staff out of a doorway; and that subservient to civil powers" =
This was the first time those arrested in a pro- tempers flared and voices were raised. He said In response, the Commonwealth argued that
test of CIA recruiting on campus went to trial. one of the recruiters-complained?, ' "Haw.long isy the CIA recruiters were "guests" at UMass, that
Six protestors at Yale University in New Haven this going to go on?" acid -I have anotherintei-.; the defendants were asked to leave but refused,
are slated to appear in court this week. Anti- view to do, you know." - ' - " . 1. 1 that the recruiters had "no choice" but to listen
recruitment protests have occurred at Tufts and .. The defendants and.theprosecution_w.itnesses__ to them, thatJLe defendants blocked access to th?'
Brown Universities, among others, and most ,diff. eyed on the tone of the conversation, as well r'ecruiters,who were also prevented from leav-
neiif
and fur the exchange delayed the
discuss in
t of time t to
s
he am
h
i
g,
oun
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ere a
S PC
recently at Williams Coue a last week, w
demonstrators staged a "mock arrest" of New in things with ih4 :CA.idiinselleth; and Sh Interview ti :? ,, ` . cat 4 ~: S TAT
England CIA recruiter Steven Conn. said it ouldn't have.been more4hari[ tal of... -The defe ;~ {~ /
~~.t'hade n ?to.
Northampton Judge Morse's finding seemed to ; 20:minutes or-so, and.that they were often-inter-- t''lk
ZIJ~rmtera anted oo talk
long as the
contradict his actions in the well-attended and rupted with warnings the police werenntheir them as wee ,dam defy the
Y--' with them:b*-, s.~ioa~ a the'
much-publicized trial. Generally a liberal and that they -would be arrested. The, states interview "issu viirtric attorney
Republican, Morse allowed the defense to pre- witnesses, however, maintained tlie.exchange +.s~
Rosemary
re
o
=
ke
ur or mo
.. .. _ . ~.
n a h
-
sent controversial expert -witnesses, including a In .have ta
former director of covert operations for the CIA Tn anYevent`, pgltx andcuffed and .arrested The defense id` tlfi#Falk to back up its
in Southeast Asia, whose testimony further Amsellem afterissuing_a Aye minute warning.'- claim that international laws and treaties wKete
politicized the proceedings by exclusively attack- and later' ''arresticd Sheehy.- They. were charged relevant in-a Mass. -District Court. A prominent
ing the Reagan administration's current policies I with criminal trespass. professor of 1nttrtationd 4J.aw ` at Princeton
in Central America. Morse also permitted the two '' . University,13aik said that h antler Article 6 of the
defendants to act as their own attornies, slowing ! Does International Low l . ! U.S. Constitution, 'i'when'tltb government is us-
the process and taking up the better part of a day ?- ing force in a country. whc a there is no declara-
in court. He also let about 100 of the defendants' Lisa Sheehy argued during the trial that she and tiers of war, it is a very-serious issue that makes
sympathizers, some- with signs and banners, Amsellem had a right to be at the-UMass place- action vim, reasonable. -It's fair to say the Nurem-
crowd his chamber after picketing the courthouse. ment offices, "under the authority of international burg Principles apply. to all societies and establish
I .
And Judge Morse-gave quite a speech at the and law and according to the Nuremburg and Tokyo a fundamental right and dttt'y'of citizens aware
I of the trial supporting the defendants' rights to _ trials twdWow4o.wk404h ,V.S. w as apast)k :ci. the government is not conforming to inter-
"read the riot act" to CIA. recruiters on college Specifically-citing the United Nations charter, the ! national law to take reasonable action to try to
campuses, and upholding the'higber law which t 5 1 of'h Orga[1=tien.?fAmerican States, uphold the law." He said. U.S., policies is Gen-
protects their right "above any picketing code, the multinational Convention on Terrorism, and tral America most obviously -violated the
local law or state ordinance.". s The Hague Conference,,Sheehy'said thelaws and Organization of American States charter, "a Con-
treaties gave them `'not only the right but the stitutional document for nati ons of the Western
r ?' f r positive responsibility to take such moderate ac- Hemisphere," under which the pledge of non-
SlJ}Ndeflt_? bons.-". intervention is the primary legal obligation that
By their own account, Amsellem, Sheehy and _ - ? She said the government broke those obliga- its members have taken by treaty."
several unidentified activists arrived at the UMas's - dons by mining Nicaraguan harbors and by train-
Amherst and research associate the Institute
Placement Services offices early on the ing, supplying, and directing' the "contras An
" Policy Studies rch Washington, at h testified
morning of November 5.1984.: Theyspent about fighting to overthrow the Sandinista government. for
that a half dozen aws were being violated
an hour plastering the building with.signs aler- Perry Amsellem repeated the international law t CIA Joy U.S. S. law cited the sviolated
tingstudents to the fact that the CIA recruiters. argument in his statements to the court. Citing by the . were on campus that day, and then waited to scores of court cases, the 27 year old legal studies
discover exactly where they were conducting in- student at UMass said he and Sheehy ..not only Continued
terviews. They found out around 9:30 a.m.; when had a right to enter, but an obligation to stop my
someone asked a student if he had just met with government from committing crimes so heinous
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807520002-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807520002-1
-Boland Amendment," passed on December 21, -saeY to sell a program of supporting the con-
1982, in which Congress expressly forbade the and overthrowing the Nicaragua govern-
government from spending money to overthrow ," he d. "The CIA has never been the
the government of Nicaragua, and two spending central intellisam- agency, it is instead the covert
limit laws, the Defense Supply Appropriations arm of the president's foreign policy."
Act of 1983 and 1984 and the October, 21, 1984 Asked whether actions like Amsellem's and
continuing resolution. She said the CIA had suc-
cessfully circumvented the latter by charging
costs to the wrong accounts and other deceits.
She also charged the CIA violated the Intelligence
Oversight Act when it mined Nicaraguan harbors
without informing Congress, and that the agen-
cy disobeyed President's own executive order
number 1233 by writing and distributing a manual
for "contra" guerrillas which included instruc-
tions for political assassinations. Hackel said the
Reagan administration's policies in Central
America also "clearly" violate the War Powers
Act, and the Neutrality Act. . ,
Louis Wolf, an editor of the controversial
Covert Action Information Bulletin, testified on
the extent of CIA activities in Central America,
particularly in Nicaragua. The veteran journalist
and CIA watcher said the agency's role there is
"to terrorize the entire population," and said it
was behind the destruction of food supplies,
lumber yards, oil and gas depots, and other
targets. Wolf detailed the extent of U.S. support
for the "contras," at one point holding up a re-
cent life magazine story picturing "A CIA Man
in Nicaragua. " ? ?I don't think there's any credi-
ble way to believe other than that the CIA is in-
tending ? to overthrow the government of
Nicaragua;" he concluded.,
The fourth and final expert witness called to
stand by Ahsellem and Sheehy was Ralph
cGeehee, a 25 year veteran of the CIA who
covert operations for the agency
throughout Southeast Asia. His insider testimony
captivated the courtroom..
McGeehee said that in Vietnam, "the CIA was
doing nothing other than creating an illusion of
reality with its intelligence." He dismissed the
idea of Congressional oversight, saying he had
helped prepare briefings for Congress "that had
absolutely nothing to do with what was going on
on the ground." He quoted Rep. Norman Minna,
i a current member of the House Ieodlig v e panel,
i who. said, "We're just like the. proverbial
mushroom-inept in the dark and fed manure."
Aci Siding to McGeehee,"?the iamnpattern of
manipulation in the Vietnam experience is being
reported with Central America." The former
agent cited recent resignations by other veteran
CIA analysts he said were disgusted with shap-
ing intelligence to fit present policy. "The pur-
pose of these deceits is to allow (CIA director)
Sheehy's have an impact on CIA Policy,
McGeehee replied that the agency never would
have left Vietnam if it had not been for campus
protests.R"Activities like those in this area are
an appropriate response to the agency's illegal
activities," he said.
The prosecuting anorney, Rosemary Tarantino,
did not question any of the defense's witnesses.
All of the expert-testimony today is absolutely
irtbievant,:.' she e'gued. "They were talking to
,two functionaries of the CIA, and they were not
going to 'stop-illegai.actions of the CIA by their
;actions.'.
Right to Petition
After three tiours,-both sides had rested and
it wps.3u4ge;Morse's turn. .
clear that the defendants in this case felt
)nut deep conviction, and believe as I do, that
'all citizens'have a right to petition their govern-
ment," he said. "Functionaries or not, (the
recruiters) ate employees of the CIA, and the
defendants had the right to go to them and read
the not act, and a right to raise their voices, and
that any picketing code is subservient to that. But
there comes a point where that has to end.
Whether it's 20-to 25 minutes, or an hour and
a half, it was covered in a pretty much one-sided
conversation ...You have to say, alright, you had
the time to exercise your rights here."
"These kinds of things disturb me a great
deal,- he Fontinued. ? I'm upset about it. And
I understand their frustration and that's why they
were allowed to put on this testimony. . .In this
i can, I'm not going to find either defendant guilty,
but it seems to me time comes a point where you
.can overdo- it."
With that, the judge found "sufficient facts"
to warrant a guilty verdict and said he would fine
Perry Amsellem and Lisa Sheey $150 each in
court costs. They bargained it down to S50 q~
community" service. ____ . /~
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807520002-1