CASEY MASTERMINDED MONEY-FOR-CONTRAS DEAL, REPORT SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290004-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 16, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: March 25, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/16: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290004-0
REUTERS
25 March 1987
CASEY MASTERMINDED MONEY-FOR-CONTRAS DEAL, REPORT SAYS
Former CIA Director William Casey masterminded the Reagan administration's
efforts to get military supepis to the Nicaraguan rebels, The New York Times
said today, citing three unnamed congressmen.
Casey, now critically ill with a brain tumor, has become the focus for the
congressional investigations into the Iran-contra scandal, the newspaper
reported.
The three lawmakers cited in the article -- two senators and a representative
-- were quoted as saying they did not know whether Casey was involved in
diverting funds from Iran arms sales to the Nicaraguan rebels, known as contras.
However, the lawmakers and their staffs were quoted as saying they believed
that Casey had encouraged. Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, formerly of the White
House National Security Council, to coordinate the military supply operation in
order to mask the CIA's involvement and to avoid having to report the matter
to Congress.
The report quoted a Republican lawmaker as saying Casey's actions would
explain how North, a relatively low-ranking officer
would have been
bl
,
a
e to
erect such an important operation, as well as why he thought he had the
"Casey's fingerprints are everywhere," one lawmaker was
uoted as s
i
q
ay
ng.
"North surely needed the expertise and help of the CIA to do all th
thi
h
e
ngs
e
pid in Central America.
Casey last year told a congressional committee he had had no role in
supplying the contras.
Robet' M..ate . then Casey's deputy and now acting CIA director s
id i
a
n
con4 ssiona testimony last month that neither Case
nor the a
t
y
gency
ook part
n activities which Congress had prohibited, the report said.
In a related story, the Washington Post said the probabilit
th
t
'
y
a
Casey
s
llness would keep him from.testifying would leave large gaps in investigations
ecause Casey was a leading advocate of U.S. support for the contras and for
1.5. arms sales to Iran.
Continued
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/16: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290004-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/16: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290004-0
It quoted former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, a member of the
presidential commission investigating the Iran arms scandal, as saying recently
that the commissioners felt Casey knew more about the scandal than anyone except
North, who was fired from his White House post-November 25.
The Post gave no details of Casey acting to supply the rebels but said it was
he who began the U.S. covert aid operation that led to creation of the contras
in 1981 and who was one of the contras' chief defenders in the Reagan
administration.
It also said Casey wrote a memorandum December 10, 1985, after a White House
meeting that expressed confidence that Reagan would approve U.S. arms sales to
Iran if that would free U.S. hostages in Lebanon.
It said Casey's memo for his own files read, "I suspect (Reagan) would be
willing to run the risk and take the heat in the future if.this will lead to
springing the hostages."
In a separate story, the Post said independent counsel Lawrence Walsh had
asked Saudi Arabia's U.S. ambassador, Bandar bin Sultan, to voluntarily answer
questions about the Iran affair.
The Post had said earlier that Robert McFarlane, Reagan's former national
security adviser, had written investigators shortly before his suicide attempt
last month that Bandar arranged for Saudi contributions to the contras beginning
in mid-1984 at one million dollars a month.
Bandar has denied Saudi officials made such contributions.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/16: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290004-0