CIA PAID MILLIONS TO KING HUSSEIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100050113-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 113
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/21 : CIA-RDP99-00498R000100050113-4
1 E3 1977
c AP WASHINGTON POS
The secret arrangement with Hus- Hussein was only 21 when e order to rany alleged abuses to
report ep panel.
sein had not been disclosed to Carter became a beneficiary of CIA funds. It.
'by the CIA or by any member of the was a time when Jordan was virtually the e oversighral counsel soon made The previous administration, including a ward of the United States and Hus such a report on the Hussein pa
President Ford, former Secretary of: sein had little -money to support' his t meats, and called them possibly ita-
State Henry A. Kissinger, or former-, lifestyle, which earned him the repu- i sr:
CIA Director George Bush. Cation as a "playboy prince:': pro p 1 1 The panel appointed by Ford in-
that the payments be stopped. tailed to the $750,000 level last year. the office of she general counsel in
h fi st the CIA was assigned by the executive }
'paper began its investigafian. He ordered of dollars but they were sharply cur- rious questions about propriety."
?.t'resiaenr tarter iearneu ui LL1c yay- nuwrr auiu,.,~~~...? ..- -.._
offs earlier this week after this news- ments apparently ran in the- millions to `-report in a timely manner to the
Pi esident any. activities that raise se-
n
r
the cove pay a eign state.
E sein was paid approximately $750,000 . The payments were first made to - Part of a Feb. 19, 19.76, executive or. -
by the CIA. Hussein in 1957 during the Eisen- - der set up the Intelligence Oversight
President For oo no s eps p sual access-to
ts Last year Hus- ccmmuaity.
t m
+'t"" "~"'?"'" 1975, President Ford directed a
curb CIA abuses,- United States great t leverage and unu-. ruary,
d t k t to sto th leader of a sover- reorganization of the intelligence
> - SVitlisn the , e i
by the Intelligence Oversight Board, a ect has been considered one of its cis of several government investila-
STAT
The Central Intelligence Agency for sidered the payments nothing more
'.20 years has made secret annual pay - than "bribes" and *reported the mat-
ments totaling millions of dollars to ter to President Ford !s - oversight
!King Hussein of Jordan, The Wash- panel.
iington Post has learned. Hussein, according to sources, con-
siders the payments simply another
_
t: ??The payoffs were. reported last year form of U.S. assistance. to President Ford as an- impropriety CIA th I"r- Beef" prof- ` In late 1974 the CIA became the fo-
By Bob Woodward .. . telliaence or'cooperated with the CIA.
Carter was "distressed" that he had - ; Hussein has a well-publicized taste eluded former Under Secretary of
not been told, according to well-placed for sports cars and airplanes. As once State Robert D. Murphy, former See
sources, and sees the solution to CIA previously reported, the CIA has pro- retary of the Army Stephen Ai1es, and
-abuses as quick confirmation of his vided Hussein with female compan-
nominee as CIA director, Navy. Adm.. ions. The agency also provided body-
Stansfield Turner. guards for Hussein's children when
?> ,~
In addition, the Senate Intelligence they were abroad in school.
Committee created last year to over-
- Some money from the most recent
en
i
v
see the CIA apparently was not g
'the full story by the Ford administra-
tion of - the secret payments to Hus-
sein.
One of -the most closely held and
sensitive of all CIA covert activities,
the payments to Hussein were made
under the codeword project name of
"No Beef.". They-Were .usually deliv-
ered in cash to the king by the.. CIA
station chief in Amman-
-*As justification for-the direct cash
payments to Hussein, the CIA claimed
that Hussein was allowing U.S. intelli-
gence agencies to operate freely in his
strategically placed Middle. -Eastern
country
Hussein SImself, provided Intel!!
gence to the CIA and forwarded
money from the payments to other
:.government officials who provided in-
By last summer the oversight panel
had made a formal report to Presi-
der_t Ford on the payments,' conclud-
ing that they were improper. Ford
read the report but ordered no action
CIA payments to Hussein have been. to -et.
used to pay for bodyguards for his Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance
children. is scheduled to meet with King Hus-
tamed friendly relations with the ;rip to the Middle East. - "
United. States and his country has Jordan is widely considered a mod-
been the recipient of substantial mill- orating influence on the Palestinians
200
tary and economic aid-about $
million in loans and grants last year
alone. .
The "No Beef" payments to Hussein
were made outside the conventional
Approved For Release 2007/06/21 : CIA-RDP99-00498R000100050113-4