MEETING BETWEEN STEVE BERRY, HOUSE PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE (HPSCI) STAFFER AND DEWEY CLARRIDGE, C/LA/DDO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B01370R001101530035-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 14, 2009
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: March 2, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 2009/08/14: CIA-RDP90B01370R001101530035-3
OLL 84-0819
2 March 1984
SUBJECT: Meeting between Steve Berry, House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI)
Staffer and Dewey Clarridge, C/LA/DDO
1. Today at 4:00 p.m. in Dewey Clarridge's office Steve
Berry, HPSCI staffer met with Mr. Clarridge and
OLL.
2. Steve Berry called me earlier in the day to say that
some Minority Members had some concerns which he believed
should be brought to the attention of Dewey Clarridge as soon
as possible. He asked me if I could arrange a meeting with
Mr. Clarridge at Headquarters to discuss three items:
a. the Death of Father James Carney (American
citizen) who died in Honduras while traveling with
a band of Cuban-trained Honduran guerillas;
3. Mr. Berry told C LA DDO that the Minority Members of
both HPSCI and the HFAC were concerned about a recent letter
received by Congressman William Broomfield (R., MI), Ranking
Minority Member of HFAC which was from a constituent of his,
describing the death of her brother allegedly at the hands of
Honduran and U.S. military authorities. Mr. Clarridge
explained to Mr. Berry that I had already been in contact
with Mr. Broomfield's office over the matter, and he was
currently pulling together all the information LA Division
had concerning the death of the American priest.
Mr. Clarridge said that the letter was full of lies and that
information we had indicated that Father Carney died of
ARE CLASSIFIED
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starvation in the El Aguacate area of Honduras, which is a
very rugged remote area of the country. Dewey Clarridge said
that they learned from defectors who had escaped from the
insurgent group that Father James Carney was emaciated and in
a weakened condition, and, in fact, had to be carried by the
guerillas when they were forced to move by advancing Honduran
army units. Mr. Clarridge said that a Honduran army unit
pursuing the rebels discovered a badly decomposed body of a
non-Central American which was lying in a hammock. The
Honduran soldiers said that there was some religious lit-
erature near the corpse. Putting all the facts together,
they later concluded that the body in the hammock must have
been that of Father James Carney. No efforts were made to
recover the body at the time it was discovered and later
efforts to locate it were unsuccessful.
4. Mr. Clarridge suggested that since Mr. Broomfield was
a friend of the Agency's and supported our efforts in Central
America, we should take extra pains to satisfy his concerns
and address the charges in the constituent's letter.
Mr. Clarridge said that he would allo la
man who had interviewed three of the defectors from this
rebel group, to brief Mr. Broomfield on all that he knew
about the death of Father Carney. Arrangements are now
being made to set up a meeting betwee nd
Mr. Broomfield. This seemed to satisfy Steve Berry's
concerns.
SEC E
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Distribution:
Original - OLL Record
OLL~ (8 March 1984)
RA
Approved For Release 2009/08/14: CIA-RDP90B01370R001101530035-3