WEAPONS ELUDE CIA, BUT BACKERS CLAIM SUCCESSFUL COVERT ACTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201670104-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2010
• Sequence Number: 104
• Publication Date: July 19, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201670104-2
ASSOCIATED PRESS
19 July 1983
WASHI::GTO'N
BY ROBERT PARRY
Backers of CIA covert activity in Nicaragua say the effort has successfully
disrupted weapons shipments to Salvadoran guerrillas, but other officials say
the 18-month mission has failed because no weapons have been seized.
The covert action, authorized by President Reagan in December 1981, initially
involved supporting a 500-man force of Nicaraguan exiles to "interdict" arms
shipments from the leftist Nicaraguan government to the Salvadoran guerrillas.
Noting that the force has grown to an.estimated 10,000 men, critics contend
the CIA operation has gone way beyond its orginal goal and now appears aimed
at ousting the Sandinista government in Managua. The critics also question the
effort's success at halting the arms flow.
"When we used to have our interdiction outside of Nicaragua, they ( CIA
officials) could show us what we were interdicting _ and it made sense," said
Sen. David Durenberger, R-Minn., a critic on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"They'd show you how they'd captured these trucks.
"Now that they're inside the place, they can't show you what they're
interdicting because I don't think they're interdicting anything _ maybe because
they (the Nicaraguans) aren't shipping anything."
Several other officials, who spoke on condition they not be identified, said
the CIA has been unable to present to congressional oversight committees
evidence that the covert action has captured any weapon shipments.
One said that CIA director William J. Casey once told the House
Intelligence Committee that the covert action had cut the weapons shipments by
60 percent, but he was immediately challenged to prove that claim and was unable
to present hard evidence.
The House is considering a bill to cut off covert aid to the Nicaraguan
exiles and replace it with an $80 million open fund to help friendly governments
stop leftist gun-running in the region.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201670104-2