MYSTERY MAN OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91B00134R000400130001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 4, 2009
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 29, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

In the middle of a snowy night in 1942,., an FBI ~~ent slipped
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into a U5 Army barracks at Fort Ethan Allen; Vermont, and
tiptoed. down an aisle of sleeping recniits~Stopping a~ one
bunk, the FBI man gently shook one.of the. soldiers awake and
. ,. --
showed him his bad~e:~ -:. `. ,: _: -_ - - - . _ . ~.
....~ uivu~n ne never-. Taduaced trom~.:
..w you o~_ or yourcountry -._ t e man as a .. a g
~.. ...,,.,_; ooilege.:~ rind he. beeame? one o? the
:--rlnVthing,
the~sleepY~,soldie=~.repl~ed. ~ :-? ~ ~.:- ~~' countrp~s~ inost
m
st
d
di
l
a
-
_
_
i
e
;
p
om
ts
be-
-. Thus begsn what~Lieutenani~ General Vernon t?t.. Walters fore he .had spent a~ day ~n the State
would describe .years. later-as- "my.- first_ intefli epee ~assi a' D`~m?'t or aa..hous . as... a wa1F.
. ? g .. g... Street Iawyer -- the usual route to the:
ment," a~-riission to infiltrate a group of Nazis spies broadcast= diploroaac service...._- . ~ -
ing to German submarines From the nearby Stowe ski area:- - ~ . ~'~~ speaks at least eight lap-
~+Val~e~s was president of the ski. club at the tinny base;. he had g"a'~eS' t~yb` ruore Wtthim those .gg
,.. e:ghc are many dialects hz . is said m.;1
been- educated.. is Europe and spoke - ~ ~~~Walters aides turned down repeat- ~,, have mastered- It is. repotted that he ;~
German. .. ~ ~ ed: requests for ~ interviews with him. ~~ ~~ to slip into a country unan-
"I
performed this mission to the
satisfaction of the FBI," he recounted
in his mcraoirs, Secru .I'lsssiobs. pub-
lished is 1978. "Later they were to
send mr a crypciglIy worded letter of
commendation. It arri~?ed at the baital-
ion nvo or three days before I was to
leave to go to Officers Candidate "~
School. I tho~:ghr that it weuld do mr
much more geod co receive it there
than ac 'Fort Ethan .Alen and. ar-
ranged to have it strategically delayed
a Fcw tiveeks." '
Today, after thim-Four years in
the US Army and afour-year stint as .
deputy direcior of the Central Incrlli-
gence .~genc~?, ~i~'alters is one of the
Reagan administration.'s most impor-
tant foreign policy officials, a kind of
Lone Ranger for the new "quiet diplo-
coney." But Walters has also become
the mystery man of .-~rneriran Foreign.
polio, avoiding the congressional
spotlight, refusing on-the-record inter-
vic~vs with journalists, and constantly
traveling the world for behind~ioseci-
doors meetings with. presidents, dicta-
tors, and revolutionaries.
"It just makes his job more difficult,"
one of diem explained. "He tikes to
move around discreetly."
"He works alone," retired CIA of-
ficer Dino Brugioni, a Walters admi~-
er, says. "But .when he goes out, he's
prepared. He doesn't do anything in a
halfway fashion. He s a real pro."
Since joining the State Department
as ambassador at large early in the
administration, 'Walters has secretly
been a key back-channel emissary to
Zaire, Kenya, Morocco, Cevion, India,
Nepal, :angola, El Salvador, :~rgenti-
na, Zambia, and other countries. He
has been a key participant in sensitive
negotiations over Central America, the
Falklands, and -Southern ,gfrica. In
March, he slipped off to Havana for a
four-hour chat with Fidel Castro.
"Hell, he probably just took out
his American Express Gold Card and
rented a plane in Miami," says Miles
Frechette, head of the State Depar~-
ment's Cuba desk, with a laugh. "Of
rnurse," he ttir wall ~ of . my office a
color' photograph showing the
:vieaF~ through the window of I
!; ~tny home to Flocuda.. is was
is a beautiful view showing. the_ ~'
alters was called. be--
:ore the committee?
ro tell about White
House efforts to enlist him in
the Watergate . owerup: Hr
had been appointed deput~r di-
rector of the CIA by Nixoa
only a .few months earlier. is
~taith 1472. H- R. Haldeman
trees and the titian at Palm Beach. When peo-`~
~ plc asked me vr~hat tit was. I told tlLeai that:vcu .,
what was .waiting if anyone: squerrrre+d me too. .
hard: _ -: and )G leh his office." - ::.=~: ~'=...
'~::Waltea' adnurers like to-reooiiat.ahisYparc
of the saor~ .. Their usually forgei -:the-fuller ao-
comics by Dean, Eriichmanr'and 'Haldeman, -
which arr not as flattering: to Wallas. Yet it is.
chr omiss~on~ *~* .would seem ro explain why .
the .Reagan administration would ailist him is
"highly secret tasks and why Mixon remains a
F. close friend:: '?= -.. .
`? The rccacd sfiov~s that Walter did cs~
down the request -the second time,' whey it
came from Dean, who refused to.put it in writ-
ing. The first time he was asked, however -
by Haldeman -Walters went straight to FBI
director.I:. Patrick Gray.. "I told him that?I had
come from the White House and that ~I was
aware of his talk with [CIA director Ric-hard]
Helms on the ~ previous derv
" Walters writes
,
,
and -John Erlichmaa thought_ I ~ `.`and while investigation of this matter in Vie:c-
Walters could be ~ counted ~ ico had not vet touched agency projects,'mn-
upon to turn off the FBI invr~-. '- ?
~ tinuation of it there might expose some assets. .
rigation- into ftmds laundered--,~.:: -Walters' recounting of the affair leads one
~ through Atexico City for the ~. to believe he was naive.and misled. "I had been
I Committer to Re-Elect the i in Washington for six weeks at this point and
President. _ ~ is simply did "not occur co roe chat the Chief of 1
~. Friends and admirers of Staff to the President might be asking me to do
tiValters remember the affair -something that was iIIegal or wrong." But at
as his shining moment, one ' this. point in his career, Walter had been en-
that illustrates his superior .~f gaged in. various intelligence operations for
character , ~ and integrity. He I more than thirt}r ~ ears. -
had refused to turn off the ~ - .' - : ~ i
FEI and pay hush money to alters had been close to events dur-
the Cuban burglars.. ~ ~ ing the overthrow of Mossadegh in
Dena] Iran, the U-2 affair, and the CIA's
~ "I
?
looked [John
_
,
-
f right in the eye and said,
war against Fidel Castro. And in 1964; he was j
`F'u-e everyone connected. with ; -the US military. attache in Brazil during the j
~ this,';'-':~..Walters recalls. in his miiiiary ooap that ousted Joao Goulait; the Last ~
~ book.- "He. was startled and . civilian. head of state in Brazil.. -
then hr said in a low voice, According, co Walters' account, the United
`iVo one- is. going to be fired.' ' _ States stayed clear- of those events, and. he ~
I rhea replied, `Then, 1~Ir. merely reported oa developments. But cop se- ~
cfrr documents declassified in 1976 detail a US
Dean, what. is now a small plan, dubbed "Brother Sam," by which-the
conventional painful explo- ,navy would step_in if the mup appeared to be
_failin~. Five days before the rnup~ the- [,tS am- ~ CD,j\77"~? i
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bassador. Ito Biaztl, ~ Gordon ~ Lincoln, cabled
that the probable new leader would be Walters'
friend General Humberto Castello Branco..
Oa the morning after the coup was set in
;motion, according to the docutnears, the two
men had breakfast; and Waltet5 urged Casullo ii'
Branco to assume the presidency. He did. With
overw.helrning support from the rest of the Bra-
ziliaa military for his assumption of power, the
United Stags called off "Brother. Sam," and
the' rmmlitary vices in power. ~- :. _
Walters' pugnacious reaction to criticism of ,
the US role in the coup. is revealing. "The
Communists and their friends see the need to
- denigrate those who Gave defeated them," he
wrote: in.-1978. "So they spread the word that
the Americans were really behind the Brazil-
ian,. Chilean, or anv.~:other revolutions they
don't like. Unfortunately, many ~ guile-ridden
Americans naively believe chem." ~ .
Among a closer arcle of friends, however,.
Walters attirude ~ toward US covert anion
seems to be more. -forthcoming. Ice 1980, he
~ his job was to maintain liaisoa~ on the floor of the Seaate,~and '
with "sister" intelligence secs : ~, .murder dominated tlu
vices. news media for week~-
" According to a detailed re- i The FBI designated ~ the
.port by Wasltin~tou Post mire- j rase ~ "a special," meaning it
spondent MarLse Simons is ~ had mp priority for its offices .
1975, the US-and Brazilian in- ; aro~d?~world. Eleven'daps
telligence services cooperated ~'. assistant US Attorney
CIOSCIy rII Lhe Chilean effOR ~~ Stanley Porringer con-
In addition, according to the i v~ a meeting with federal `
Senate committee charred by 4 p~~tor Eugene ' ProPP~
Frank Church that investigat- ~ : aced CIA director. George
eel those events, the CIA may ! . Bush; who- pledged oDOpera
:have provided the new Chi ~ ~. ~ the iavesugation-
lean secret police formed after ~ V1Tthin hours of ~ that ~
the coup -known by iu as meeting, however, there were
ronym DIVA - with a "hit ,! _ Ieaks- Both the Nero Yor.E
list" of oppoaems of the new .~ .Trines and Netvsmeelr reporud
regime. Between three thou- that US iatelli~a offi~,y
sand and' five thousand were ~ had "ruled out4 aaoy involve-
murdered, according to the ~ meat of the Chilean secret .
-best estimates.. Thousands po rT`cr is tfie assas~at~n. for
inert ~ic~nr,r~rr.i._.,.... si.~ " .nnn.i.e' ~nr __~~~
untry rot leads and carne
coldduiutav of inulli ease insiders. Then~he I JA But a crucial. event tying i. up empty-handed, Whew, after
.. ?_q.. - -. -__-. _ .~g _ . ~ ~ together . Walters and the i a year, they had f inn grounds
said: I DINA was the -September to suspect at least one Chilean
There are those who wilt
say that trying to influ-
ence events or opinion in
another country is im-
moral. But no one can
deny that the first .duty
of any official personae!
in another country is to
increase the number and
importance of the friends
of their own country. In
fact, it has been sand that
diplomats during their
service in a foreign mun-
- cry should be judged by
the measuie in which
they have increased the
number of their coun-
try's friends and de-
creased the number of its
enemies. Morality does
not require that friend-
ships and the efforts to
gain them be broadcast
to our enemies.
It is Walters' close. rely
tionship with the secret police
of. Chile that has left the dark-
est cloud over his reputation.
At the time the United States
encouraged the Chilean mili-
tary to overthrow the elected
socialist government of Salva-
dor Allende Gossens, Walters
was deputy CIA director, and
1976 car-bombing murder in i agent had been involved, they
Washington of Orlando Lete!- ~ still failed ro find any Ameri_
ier, a former Chilean diplomat ~ run official who would come
`
then is exile.
According co authoritative
accounts of the case, Walters
was drawn into the efforts of
Chilean assassins to come to
the United States on their mis-
sion. to kill Letelier. To this
day, federal invesrigators to-
main puzzled as to why the
deputy CIA director did not
volunteer information rhea
that might have led directly
and quickly to the suspects.
(See sidebar, page 50.)
" Tfie Letelier a4~~**+ation
was no obscure event. His car
was blown up as he drove
through the heart of Wash-
: ington's Embassy Row in
. morning rush-hour traffic As
a former ambassador to the
United States from Allende's
Chile, moreover, Letelier was
a highly visible and seriously
regarded leader of the Latin
exile community, with influ-
ential contacts from -Capirol
Hill to the World Bank.
Within hours of his death,
memorials to him were .read
ure co
forward with information.
By this time, Walters was
irr reti:+enneat, writing
memous at his Florida beach
house- 'T'here is ao mention in
them of the I.etelier case,
Walters was eventually in-
terviewed about the af3~air by
federal investigators, "as a pot
tential witness ' for the proso-
cvtion, one told us, not as a
target of the investigation.
"He was not asked, `W fiv. .
~'t you come forwardi''
That was not our intent or
interest," said the federal offi-
cial: "If you ask me if I ~'
thought about it, sure I did."
The official had spent
tawny hours discnssing? the
case in exchange for anonym-
~a~vrnv~
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ity. "Vernon. Walters," he fi- ~wattezs can ta11r to nay is I976 and the election of"(
Wally concluded, "did not ob- ~ taxi drives with Dotal sim- Ronald Reagan were rocky :,
struct justice. Could he _ have ( ph?~ ~ ~ h?ma?ity" ones .for US-Calm American ~~
Kraemer said is his thick Gee-. relations. Carter appointees i.
come fo ri'watdl That's another ,man aaceat. "For me; to think such as Patricia Detiaa, who ~-
qu~ Na " s~ a ~ w o I of him as ? degu ~ diirector of !headed the State Department's 1
has known Walters four thirty ~ CIA is very di~ceilt." Thry? human rights bureau, took
years,-shakiag^ his head: "He had ~ in 1951, Kraeaner ;their chiefs rhetoric seriously
said, when both worked for ~ ~ aad~ unleashed a toireat of ,
wvuida t come forward oa General C. Marshall ' i ~ ~ at America's
som like that. It's not ~gOe'~~
his way y ' But, the mesa quick on the postwar recovery plans I I traditioml Iattn friends. who,
ly adds, "He was ready to that ~ bore his name. i for the most part, were Pears- -
testify to a Senate committee Kraeemer wear. oa co become a gon~supported military dicta- y
that L,etelier was a Commu-- seai,~ politico-military analyst ~ tors. With the White House
,* is the Defense ~
nisi agent. He said he would..., ~rn~ (supporting congressional arms
sad he takes eedit far "dig- evao$s to Chile, Argeatirra,
U( Saoording to the testimony o - Bering? Henry Kissinger as and Guatemala, US-Latin. re-
tor ~ ~- a.19-year-Did Army private. lations, in the midst of a hig-
per, allegations popular ea _ ??~ngQ must have sup- tone. shift, deur3oraced.
that Letdier ( rttd; his beconein d u
was a Cnbaa-concnollec! "agmt+ p? ? g CP t}' ~ On the. campaign trail,.
of influence" are aomplesely I director of CIA, Kiaemcr
mused. "Its always said Nat= ~d later is the White House,
unfounded.) the Reagan team was deter-
oa made him that beu it's mined to ~~ ~ ~~ of
t~ great fellow," fo I highly unIilcely it would have chat ~, Blaming Carter for
met CIA diracsor. i happened without Kissinger s the collapse. _of the Somoza
William Colb sa ~ c~a approval dictatorship m Nicaragua and {
Y ~ 1 In 1969 Nton sad Kissia- ~ fires of revolution crack-
of Walters. "His greatest asset ; had made their deasion
is his integrity." In the lan- i ~ ling through Central America,
gua~e of the intelligence fees- , to seek the historic opening the Reagaa~ team decided to i
to Communist China. At the
fernery,. this may be translated draw a political line is El
as silence.. However, several I ~~ ~~' they hO~ co get Salvador sad restore hemi~ `
acquaintances, admirers of i ~~~ oa~track ~initiatin I Pheric alliances with military ~
i outsider. evil to thsuiI~ ~ ~~ tailcs with L~e Duc Tho r~Alexaader Haig, the new ~.
I Walt
Bence fraternity. "Not once ; ~_~ miliciry. attache in Secretary of State, "had bees
I since he left the ? agr~cy ~ advano s~ both camps out of touch for fire years"
[CIA]," says. Aag~elo Codevil- f and subsequently to handle when he took office, Fritz
la, a member of the Reagan ; the extraordinarily sensitive ~~ said. "So he reached
transition team at CIA, "has ; logistics for Kissinger's secret out for people he worked with
the agency invited him back fps to France Kissinger and ;before" -like Walters. He~'
for anything. Not for a cerr Nixon praised his perform- ~ thought for a moment before
mono, not for a dinner,. not ante in their books. ~ adding, "I cannot imagine ;
f~oirna seaiinar~ bn~ gbe, an~ -- "I rnuld always send~him i any CIA people would have
plained by one word - out to tallc to someone his + ~ recommended [Walters] nor
later boss at the CIA, William [would anyone] in the Army. ,
`soaai.' He is not a member of _ Colby, commented. "And I.. i By a process of elimination, it
the club. He is not social" was Iiai 's idea."
" never had to worry about I g '
In the CIA, he probably him doing something on his If so -and no one with
disliked being part of such a own." Under Colb and later direct knowledge would rnin-
big administrative machinery," y' i
says Fritz Kraemer, a Iifelon ~~~ Schlesinger sad Bush, meet - Walters appoint- i
frirnd. Kraemer and, his wi a Walters ~apparentiy becime meat got an important lift
tailed of ~italters for ~a few the CIA s chief liaison to from the oince of North Caro-
hours _. in their ~Vashin n friendly foreign intelligrnce Iina Senator Jesse Helms, who
~? services, had assumed the chairman- i
Koine while a summer than- I
derstorni drenched the side- The four years between ship of the Senate Submmmit
walks outside. They both used Walters' retirement to Florida
affectionate, even reverential '
terms to describe him.
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tee on Latin America. A close . iliaauicluded?? ~aa:~ Aigeaetnr. "and there ~~:.-a.lot of back= {
friend of Walters is John.Car- ( pledge for more`aid to El SaI-? slapping between him and '
bough, then Helms' foreign ~ valor and US help for Buenos [former president] Romeo Lu ?' f
poltyy aide and a .kry aar~"~ Aires' nuclear ~p=ogram if it cos. Garcia. They went into
sruon official at the State 7 signed the .nonproliferation the palace and talked for . a
Department. Carbarrgh con- i treaty. The diplomatic ro- few hours, and I'm sure
firms that he strongly favored ~ raance came town abruQt halt Walters thought that all he'd.
Walters' appoiaameat. ~ when the Uniud Stasis tilted need m do to gee the. Gun
Almost immediately, hovw ~ toward the United Kingdom temalan army to stop murder-
ever, Walter' colt in the ad- .i in the Falklands dispute:. ing peasants was to have a lio-
~ In May 1981, Walters . tle friendly chat. The Reagan
ministration drew prowcative
notice. In February, he arrived. I stopped is Guatemala on his administration clearly wanted
is Buenos Aires on the start of i rounds to Patch up relations to~ restore aid to Guatemala, .
a full Flank effort by the ad ? .~ ~ traditional Latin allies., It. ~: liut their need Lucas Garcia to
ministration m rally. su was here that the Carter ~ clean up-his act somewhat."
t , PPS-~~ human ri hcs li had b-~ .::-
for the admiaistrauoo s case g Po cy Pro ..The official leaned for-
in El Salvador.. Argentina, in ` ably reached ,its nadir. After ward and played with a pencil '
the administration's plan, was- i an ~~~ of name~alTrag- oil. the? cop of his uncluttered
co be the US surrogate, foster= ~ in-1977, Guatemala's milirac}- ? desk is the Srau Department. ,
ing resrstancc to subversion in :dictator had told Jimt~' Car` ' ``Sa Walters told him; general
Central America. The emerg- .ter. where he .could suck his ~ to general* that he'd have to
..ing enteau prodoked~ch- ~ arms. sales and stonily turned make things look.. better. or
his back on the North. The Con would never let o
errng. protest here and moved .~ . ~ g
Argentine Nobel laureate ~ repression is Guatrnrala, ex- ~ Puy strings: And Lucas
' treme even by the standards Garay smiled and said ev
Adolfo Perez Esquival to rr . ~y'~
lease an open Terror to Press ~ ~ ~ - of Central America, continued thing would be all right, and: ff~
to worsen: In a nine-month he and Walters shook han
dent Reagan denouncing -the ? ~+
visit. _ .~ j penod spanning the election of and that was that." The oFl'i- ~
Relations between Argen-: ' Ronald Reagan and Walters' ~ leaned back in his chair
tiny and the United Scales ~~ m Guatemala, for ex- with a broad, tight smile. He ;
continued to improve Dues the. ample, rightist death squads .did not need co add that the
following months, while evi- financed by businessmen and killing bad not stopped rn
dente mounud that' Buenos ~ prrnected by, if nor part of, Guatemala. "Vernon Walters
Aires had been recruiud to ' the military, .murdered seventy- may be a great linguist,,, he
help efforts to topple the San- ~ six Proinacial, national, and said. "gut he's not much of ~
dinist government in Nicrra- I town leaders of the Christian diplomat."
gun, as well as to aid military Democrat Pam'' Ia Chile, Waiters called
efforts against Salvadoran reb- "There :~ will br~ human such a polity "constructive
els. Increasingly, moreover; rights ~ problems in the year 'ambiguity." The occasion was
Walters and his counterparts 3000 with the governments of a January 1982 gathering of
in the Argentine mditary were Mars and the Moon, Walter's the Association of American `
being portrayed in Buenos said in Guatemala. "Their are Chambers of Commerce in
Aires as the real policymakers, some problems that are never Latin America, held in Santr-
operating outside them mun- resolved. One has to find a so- .ago. Probably no other mill-
tnes' foreign policy bureaucra- lution that respects a being's ; m~, regime had sufFered such
ties. For example, while Ar- right to live v~nthout fear. But ~ humiliation under Jimmy Car-
gentine foreign minister Oscar ~ ~ I see it, the best way to do ter as that of General .Augusto ;
Camilion came to Washing- that is not to impose the ideas pinochet Ugarte, especially ;
ton for an o$'idal visit is Au- , : of one naaoa on top of an- ~~ the. regime had refused
gust 1981, Walters, one of the other." to extradite top seater police
administration's key Latin af: Walters said it was--"essen- officials indicted in the Letel- i
fairs officials, was rn Buenos ~ tial" co "earn the confidence ier murder. But Walters fore-
Aires for secret talks with Ar- ~ of the- .people and get rid. of. ~ cast a new era of friendship.
gentine officers. ! the guemllas who are against ...In his luncheon. address,
On that trip, according',to liberty." He added, "You have ~ ~
the London-based? Laths Amer- to answer military attacks ~ ,Cat1TIINa.E~1
gran lYakly; Walters negoti- i rurlrtanly"
ated an eight-point secret ; "He came down here," re-
agreement with Argentina ,. ~ called a former high-ranking
US diplomat. in Guatemala,
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Walters addressed the attitude
of? the Reagan - administration
Toward. human' rights viola-
' applauded _
Hons. The United States, he
said, should .deal with them
"quietly and privately, the
way you deal vrtth a naghbor
who is doing something out of
line.'.' The delegates heartily
n April 20, 1982, a
reporter in E1 Salves-
dot placed a call co
'the US ~ Embassy inquiring
about Verson Walters' rrr
moved arrival in the country:
The answer later came back:.
"The person who is not hen
?,~ _
refuses to see von...: =- ::,
John Carbaugh `_ aide - co
Setra~or Jesse Helm4, chairman.
of the Senate Foreign Rely
bons Subcommittm on Latin
America, _ arrived the same
day. His mission was to talk
rightist leader Roberto D'Au-
buisson, just elected president.
of the new Constituent Assem-
bly, Taco cooperation with the
C~+ristizn Democrats. (D'Au-
buisson, once . a Salvadoran
army major, was described by
former US ambassador Robertt
White as "a cold-blooded,
pathological killer.")
Walters spent the crucial,
post-election days is El Salves-.
dot twisting the arms of the
military to fort-c the oouatry's
~vamng righasts and Chrts-
flan Democrats into what one
j observer called "a shotgun
rn~rriage-? A !titer to Salves
doran politicians from the US
Embassy had warned that re-
spect for human righu sad re-
tention of the land reform
program were essential . for
continued US aid: Bur the
rightist coalition victory in the
elections had threatened all
chat. The American game
plan for El Salvador was on
the verge of falling apart.
Within weeks, the rightist-
dominaced Constituent As-
sembly Ie7isIated the rollback
iEcF STi:h..y FORMER US nR:.fY
!`dT=_LS.IGENC3 r'ASE CFF:G'~. i5 A
~VASH'.tiG CN, G.C.. _S??0~2 r""OR T?~E
?.4Cv,7%`:ilYc MAGAiNE.
. ,~- - _
o.~:ne land reform -program. ~ mark on fo:~,a policy. We~
In the countryside, rightist : no longer walked quietly and
death , squads? considered to ; tamed a big stick, he to-
have the pmcection of the mil- ~ ~~+ "We speak. striderdy ~.
nary resumed. the svstearanc..; sad carry a boomerang."
assassination of. Christian ~ . 'To thr Reagan team, the
Dacaocrauc officials and town ' -loss. of Somou is Nicaragua
maw [n effect; D'Aubuis- ~ and the enmity of the generals
son had pulled off through ! ia- Chile, Argentina; and. Gun:
the elections- what he had ~ tema>a is the Carper years had
failed' to do br forte of arms
during the Carter administra
noti: a coup d'etat;. The mili-
- Lary, fronted ~ by a Yegaily
elecud rightist party, was
.. back ~ is power. .
Oa Capitol Hill, Senator.
.Charles Percq, the Republican
been a dcfeat :~fot the United
States.- Peasant crvolts in El
Salvador and the rest of Cen=
i:ra! America were, in their _~.
mind; a direct tzsult of Cuban
`meddling. "I wrould be less
than truthful,". Walters whin-~ -
teered _:. at -his . aonfirmatioa
-chairman. of the Senate For--' ~~ ~ 1981, "if I did- not.:
dgn Relations Committee, ~y'~---'that I clunk the. real'.:
vowed .that "not ,one cent" ~'u'Q' to chase iasurrecrioas-
would go to EI Salvador un? ; lies is ~ttcaiagtra and Cuba:
teas land reform was resumed.: and our broader relationship.
Ia . the Houses liberals deci_ ~ with the Soviet I.Tnion." In
mated Reagaa's military and ~ stead ~ being sues as a long
requests.. overdue revolt of the impov~-
th
~j enshed
n
il
Af
-
i
o
,
e c
r
war
ter
two months
n El.
f
."quiet diplomac)r" in' El Sal--; Salvador was placed squarely
vador, the Christian Demo? on the East-West chessboard.
crass had been routed, the ~ WKkly verbal rhunderbolts?
rightists- had ~ gained power i ~'~ loosed at Cuba from thr
but Foifei~ed Capitol Hill, and ', Scam ~P~t
"
the rebels were again oa the
offensive.
On January 20, 1981, the
Reagan administration put its
grip oa American foreign poi- ;
Try with great confidence. As
Ronald Reagan raised his
This man really under~~
stands things," .his friend
Fritz Kraemer sought to ex
plain, groping for just the
right words, "such as the un-
importance of raereiv human `:
approval or suaoess. While. he-~ .
hand to take the presidential I is quite happy with decors-
oath on the steps of the US ~~ bons and ~. he tcnows that+.
Capitol, Jimmy Carter flew off i~ that is not reality.
to Germany .to welcome home ~ "He is, you know, quite a _
the hostages from Iran, an religious man,,' Kraemer con- t
event which .for many symbol-~ _ ~~- "He is almost a mys--~
ized the disasters and humili- tic He is is permanent coo- '
anon. of the past four years. ~ non, but because he has re-
The new President promised I Iigioa as an anchor, he will i
an era of "quiet diplomacy" a~~' be empty, He finds ...
to repair the damage. ~i consolation to his religion . ~
By the summer of 1982, in
the midst of the wa* between
Argentina and Britain, fonner
US ambassador to El Salvador
a~arnst the misery of the time..
It makes him always hope-
ful." There- was another .~
Robert White was able to "Walters,'; Kraemer add-=:
quip at a Washington confer- tt1, "is never depressed. Hey
ence that the Reagan adminis- ~ carries an inner certainty that-
traltion had certainly put its -_ bas nothing to do with this
~=world." - - ? .
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 Approved For Release 2009/02/04 :CIA-RDP91 B00134R000400130001-5
~i2f~lON WALTEilS AND
DEA7i-I OP ORLANDO LEiELI
E; ,.: July Z, 1976, as the
:date for his retirement
as-depury.direccor of the CIA,.
but: a. troublesome: mattes ia::
Paraguay recurred .his~~ pe:soa-.
i a! atteatiott:_,;The Paragvap~at:
i chief of detectives: had'`:wiccm~:
eyed - a.:,Qr1~ iaformaaEiar the
country- and` had. ~thr'owa~ him -
in_j~l;-hopi~-to-use hisprizr
as ieveragr against the:Ameri`
.can Embassy The- US amlias--
sador;. `George -Landau:. had.
feted ~ his: =CIA `station chief
over the inadeat, and the situ- ~,,
ation .. was :`` a: ~ mess.: Walters
flew to~Asuncion. - - -
Georbe Landau..had 'other
probletas as =well. President
;Alfredo ~Stroessner's closest:
aide had' called- him ~ earner
wish an urgent request: He
wanted the US Embassy to is-
sue visas to twa Chilean secret
police agents who--would be
traveling co the United States
on False Paraguayan P~P?~-
It had to be donr?immediato-
,
_
y
ly. President Augvsto : Dino- under the driver's seat- Two
- - - - --..days:. later, as Letelier wove
through rush-hour traffic along
Washington's Embassy Row,
chatting with two mmpatr
ions, the bomb was detonated
by remote control Leselier,
his legs blown off, was almost
instantly killed. Ronni Karpen
Moffitt,. 25,. a research assoc-
. ate at the Institute for Policy
Studies,.. bled rn death on the
. sidewalk. Her husband,. Vii-
- d2aei; escaped serious injury.-:
The ~ Chilean agent who
(.had masterminded the assassi-
nation :was. 1rlichael .Vernon
made the request to his fellow: -: of z: Fold Motor Company
- South Amerttaa dictator: Lan- atetviive~ izi Chile. He was one.'
dau: asked for morr tnomet- = . -.- , of. the two- men. sear tv-Aeon- _.
Don't:. worry;: Scroessner s:: cioa 6or false
Pa9sports and US
.
aide said:~Everychiag has been:, = visas.. Ir would: _talceahe= FBT*;:
taken cue of The CIA knows ~ " ts~-o'years ia; find."andv,antist
_-ageats~_will repo~directhr. o? =',`~
~~Tdioexbaustivebooks~and`
?
_
Vernoa'Wahrrs as=-soon
' as seireal :' actidn = bavr= dosel
p'~-
-.they -.arrive - ia? .Washington:- .:~~?++:?+ed..thr:~eveats~of'juiy-~:
I
'
?
e
- ~
e
t
s ait
b
es arrang
d:
-
_ ..
- ~ Augt6t in:Asuacoa _aad. Verb=
August 1976 would ~~..r~ a - '?' ~-`~~ ~.. ~~~; :
rntical importance a:few-years Rom. an investigative: account
inter. What had been set in coauthored by R~av6iagtos Pbu
motioQ:. in the Paraguayan. cocrespondeat John . Dinges
capital were the first steps is and Saul Landau, a colleague
'the plot no assassinate Chilean of I.eielier's at the Institute for-
diplonsat and exile. leader Or- Polity Studies, was published ..
Lando Letelier. Oa the evening !ia- 1980: =This: year, .the .US
- of September 19, 1976;: one of prosecutor in ..:diargr ~ of the
-the. men. who had rnme" to case. Eugene Dropper, assisted-,
Asunaon from Chile 6o get. a ~ by Washington author Taylor
false Passport crawled under. _ Braa.ch,..published his. own_
Letelier's car in Washington aaooei~ I~Lyrinrh.~ From these
and strapped a baking.: tta and additional interviews with
packed anrh plastic.explasrves key o$'icials, it:.can be con-
to the -undereamagc
- dir
eeiI
eluded that. Vernon -Walters -
was. well informed -that - a
major-.Chilean- secret. police .
operation is the United Smtes ~
was being planned and that
Waiters never came forward .
to offer his knowledge to Fed- ~
eras prosecutors... As- the years
Passed, in addition, it. would. ~
become apparent that Wattets: j
had a dose relationship -with .
the head of the Chilean secret
police who planned the. I.etel-:
ier hit; Colonel Manuel Con--
tress; and had- not told- Imes-
tigatocs of his meetings with .
him-- is _ Washington-- in the .,~
- -. Approved For Release 2009/02/04 :CIA-RDP91 B00134R000400130001-5
 Approved For Release 2009/02/04 :CIA-RDP91 B00134R000400130001-5
days just before the assaei-
Cnation.
;Waltas has stradfasdy
refused w comment on these,
_ allegations. "He does not give
on-the-record interviews," ac
cording .co Lea Martiny, an
aids
At the heart of the matter 'I
are the cables US ambassador
Georga landau sent to Wal? ~
errs from ~ Asuncion describing
the pressure put on him by
Paraguay to~ issue visas to thr
Chilean aggents. -The Para-
guayan officsal applying the
_ P~~ was .Comtrado Pap-
paIardo, aclose associate- of
President Stroessaer, and it
was Pappalardo whom. Wal=
tors visited to untangle the
mess caused by the CLA in-
`? formant's capture.
"He got on famously with
the Paraguayans,'.' Branch and
Propper wrote, "telling Pap-
palardo and other officials
countless stories about how 6e
had outwitted the Commu-
nise in subterranean battles
all over the world, The ugly
controversy over the Para-
guayan spy seemed to dissolve
~n the warmth- of the camas-
( derie between Walters and his
hosts." At the airport, the
deputy CIA director and Pap- .
palardo exc}}anged private
telephone numbers and parted
with vigorous embraces.
Landau, ever the prudent
diplomat, had been leaving
messages for .Walters about
. the Chilean agent ploy and
had sent photostats of the two
phony passports to him . is
Washington, asking for in-'
structions. Using CIA cable
channels, Landau at one point
asked Walters whether the re-
quest for visas vas all part of
a quid pro quo arrangement
on the spy scandal. The weeks
went by without a response _. `~ ~ ~ ~ Acisooll rteornmended that
from CIA headquarters. ~ the table be turned over to
Oa August 4, Walters fi- "the FBI, but the rabic and
~allrr replied. He inderated no ~ his memo lay buried is State
fitmt7iuicy with the Chilean ~. Department files for more
scheme and said there was.no
reason the agency should meet
with the Chileans is Wash-
in He advised Landau to
inform his State Departmea~
superiors.
Oa August S, ambassador
I:andau stiffly informed Pap-
palardo that the visas were
canceled and asked for the re-
turn of'the passports. It would.
not be until October 29 -
a maath after the Letelier
murder - that thry were
returned, with . the photos
ripped out.
. -The cables between. Lan-
than a year after the Letelier
murder. Meanwhile, FBI agents
'~ soaured the world for leads on
a tall,. blond Chilean who had
been seen in the company of
Cuban exile terrorists.
FBI agents arrived within
moments of the explosion that
ripped through I.ctelier's car
;in Sheridan Circle. Blood.
~~ splattered the street. ~ The
stench of burned flesh sick-
erred rescue workers. Michael
Moffitt, his face black with
soot, corned from his dying
wife on the sidewalk and
accosted FBI agent Carter
dau and Walters were hot Cornick. "It was DINA, the
property inside the State Dr ~ goddamned fascists!" Moffitt
partment aker .the L.etelier
murder. It . had immediately
been apparent to officials
there that there could be a
rnnnection ,between the Para-
guayan.events and the assassi-
nauoa.
Oa October 15, 1976, the
State Department's Chile desk
ofliox, Hobert Driscoll, .wrote
~a memo to John Keane, head
of rite American Republic
Affairs section. "The General
Walters conaectioa may or
may not be important," Dris-
coll wrote. "Besides Scroess-
ner, CoL Manuel Contreras
considers himself a bosom
buddy of the General, I think
the FBI should know. The
General is an old hand. _ He
can take care of himself."
Driscoll went on to worry
about the appearance of a
mvernp.
( "If the fact that we ,had
intentionally withheld informs
oration on the Letelier investi-
ieaxs.. in my ~uagment, we ';
I run grater risks if we appear
screamed, using the Spanish
acronym of the infamous Chil-
ean secret police. Neither Cot
nick, nor the Washington
police, Hoc prosecutor Eugene .
?topper had ever heard of the
DINA.
No one aware of t_he Para-
guayan events tame forward
that day; nor did information
-on what was buried in State
Department files and at the
CIA come into Propper's
hands until October 1977:
After untying the Paraguayan
mess and handling Landau's
queries from Asuncion, . Ver-
non Walters had retired to his
Palm Beach home.
"~Vhv didn't Walters come
forward?" asks a key official I
in the Ixtelier ~ investigation.
"I don't know. The only per- ~
son who knows the answer
to those questions is Vernon
Walters." ~
gation became public, we ~
would be subject to a storm of
} criticism," he observed: "I ter
i ognize that we run the risk of
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