CASEY REJECTED GRENADA REPORT, FORMER CIA ANALYST SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100590029-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 8, 2011
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: February 13, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/03/08 :CIA-RDP91-005878000100590029-8
1.RTICLS APl ~P~ '~iIA."lI HERALD
ON p~E 13 February 1985
Casey rejected Grenada report,
former ,CIA analyst say's
Acound the Americas -
By ALFONSO CHARDY .because it did not give a high
Herdd Wcshin~ton Burenu enough estimate of the number of .
_ WASHINGTON -The former- -Cubans on the island-and did not
CIA analyst who charged _ that support administration:claims that
Director Wil-, _ Grenada's Cuban-built airport had
Liam Casey al?
tered ~' a secret
report?on Mexi-
co now .says
that Casey also
? rejected: a re-
port on Cuban
_ troop ~ strength
in Grenada at
the time of. the
U.S.-led -tava-
soon. _~ ,
Former . CIA
ton, writing: for _...ts'ay _::;; ::
a military purpose. ~~ = :1
The CIA had assigned Horton
',and other analysts to calculate the'`.
number of Cubans in ;Grenada to
`reconcile differing U.S. and Cuban
.estimates. ~ The United States
claimed there were'. more than
1,000 Cubans on the island and
"?Cuba '.counted 786, :.mostly . con-
~~struction workers. _ _ __ .__ ~~ _
..mate -not only supported ~ tbe~?
';':Cuban claim, but contradicted the''
Ser~tice - journal. ~ blames ~?~ the ~ =:`.The Sunday:; after .the' inva=.:
' ? Reagan administration fora string:- sion," Morton wrot~L,"members_ot
of intelligence= failures, among ;-'the :'intelligence communfty: found'
them the =Grenada invasion itself:~:_themselves. sitting .around,.a?table i
and the mining of Nicaraguan in Washington, asstg-ed with the
- 'harbors - . ~` ~= ..;1~~.:task-~of arriving gat a~.ateaningful
Both the ~CL4-and the"Pentagon= number (ot Cnhan troops]. We .: ._.
declined comment ` on _~ Horton's?'` finally concluded that no one
allegations. But "administration 4remained-.in:'the,Jtihs ";:. -~ ~ ~ ..
sources familiar- with CIA prose- '~~' "Some ?.~ officials,".. however.,;
- dure denied the: validity. of =-his--, found ~"a serious:~fault,"r?he ~.said5
claims that officials. alter intelli=''. One ;person "with some respond-..
gence ,information to conform ?to ?'~ bility :~:,. although :not hImsetf_;an `.
policy, -=`'-' intelligence officer" read there
Horton, a CIA operations officer porE and:said ,".'I_think it stinks:'`
. from .1948 to 1975, served in Knowing him 'to be. close to CIA
. 1983-84 as the chief Latin Ameri- .Director. William~Casey, 1 went t0'
can officer for the agency's "Na- ~ -see'. Casey as soon as I could: He .
Lionel Intelligence Council, respon- was less abrupt, merely finding it _
,. Bible. ~ for preparing.', foreign `unimaginative.'::
- .intelligence estimates. ~ - ~ - "I _ can only -suppose ~ that -the ,
Horton left 'the CIA -last year, >-assessment:' was ? `unimaginative' '
claiming ~ that Casey had altered - :because of what ~it did not'"say;.'?
` one of his reports to suggest,that~._Horton wmte. "For. example, ~we
strife in Central America: could, -could have ;said that the,--Cuban c.
create turmoil in Mexico. ': , ~~construction; workers were: actual- ;,
In his Journal article, The Rea! ~ ly ; combat?'troops in. disguise; or,
intelligence Failure, Horton that the arms found in Grenada ~.
charged that Casey disapproved a were ~ destined ~ to be 'used; ~to
Grenada report he prepared short- overthrow friendly government's I
? ly after the Oct. 25, 1983, invasion .. ,elsewhere- in -the Caribbean, or
that the Fairfield was not for
.tourism but'for Soviet reconnais-
~. sense aircraft.'-' -
. _
Horton said the "need for securi
~_ ty and?the quite justified obsession "
., with-leaks" may have led policy-
makers :~ .to .limit participation in
=~ intelligencenebate, thereby_result~..~
ing in -bad policies. He 'said the . ~~
;decision to mine Nicaraguan ports
:last year was made ?by ~ senior -.~
policymakers without .consulting ;-~
professional intelligence officers .:
.who might have advised against it.;,
One administration source'. fa= = ?
=mili_ar -with. -the .'GIA ? criticized ~:
Horton's descriptioti.of' the,.agen-,
'~ cy's icrternal:vvorkings; saying?`the'-.
.'former analyst had portrayed . as .
conflict'"the normal tension of the
give?and-take - between ~ .analysts
and policymakers."-?~? . ? -
Congressional sources... briefed
by the CIA on theHorton ;resigns-
Lion said Casey.revised theiulexico ~~
.assessment not to fit poL'cy;`:but to
give an "early-:warning of possible
trouble there as a result of Central
America's conflicts. ~ '~~ ~? -.
Approved For Release 2011/03/08 :CIA-RDP91-005878000100590029-8