THE CIA CAMPUS INVASION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504160036-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 21, 2012
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: March 20, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504160036-0
20 March 1985
The CIA Campus Invasion
V
By Don Miehak the agency's representatives. Amsellem and they are on the same level as Nazi war crimes."
NORTHAMPTON, MASS.-In the end, Sheehy then walked into the office and began ask- Amsel em then offered the judge a copy of
Judge Alvertus Morse just couldn't do it. He ing the two recruiters about their employers testimony presented before the Congressional In-
couldn't acquit Perry Amsellem and Lisa Sheehy, employment practices, covert operations, and its ?t n?' . Nchdetailgd,;;conga"
two community activists arrested here last activities in Central America. Charlie Turgeon, atrocities in Nicaragua. Morse refused the
November for protesting CIA recruiting at the a CIA recruiter visiting his parents in the area, I document.
University of Massachusetts, and charged with responded to some of their questions until UMass The defendants also argued they were not so
criminal trespass by the campus police. Despite officials interrupted the exchange:.;. much protesting the CIA as petitioning a govern-
his stated sympathy with the defendants' objec- According to testimony presented at the. trial',- ment agency for a redress of grievances. Said
tion to the CIA's covert war in Central America, Associate Director Clarkson Edwards called the : Amsellem, "The Constitution protects our right
the first justice of the Hampshire County District campus cops to the Placement Service shortly to take reasonable actions for redressing
Court felt compelled to end their trial last Thurs- after he had asked the defendants to leave and grievances. . .Our defense is based on the 9th
day by finding sufficient facts to warrant a ver- the recruiters to move to another room. Amsellem and 10th amendments, and in plain English; that
dict of guilty, and sentencing each to pay court and Sheehy followed them, and continued td means that simply because the Constitution has
costs of $50 or 15 hours of community service. engage the CIA representatives in what Edwards listed certain rights, there are not others that the
The charges will in all likelihood be dismissed called "less than congenial "'conversation: On--' people retain. The right to self-government in-
after six months, and by accepting the verdict, the stand he seemed to imply the defendants,apd g: cludes the right to have the government obey its
Amsellem and Sheehy forfeited their right to: other demonstrators hadphysically shoved-placeown laws, and the right to have military powers
appeal. ment office staff oui of a doorway, and that J - subservient to civil powers."
This was the first time those arrested in a pro- i tempers flared and voices were raised. He said in response, the Commonwealth argued that
test of CIA recruiting on campus went to trial. one of the recruiters-complained"Ho.w.long it? the CIA recruiters were "guests" at UMass, that
Six protestors at Yale University in New Haven this going to go on?" and "I have anotherinter-. the defendants were asked to leave but refused,
are slated to appear in court this week. Anti- view to do, you know." - ? - - - ` that the recruiters had "no choice" but to listen
recruitment protests have occurred at Tufts and The defendants and. the-prosecution- witnesses to them, that the defendants blocked access to tog'
Brown Universities, among others, and most differed on the tone of the conversation, as well recruiters,-who were also prevented from leav-
recently at Williams College last week, where as the amount of time the former spent discuss- ing, and that the exchange delayed, the nCXt
demonstrators staged a "mock arrest" of New ing"things with the cTA: i;rsellefiiand Sheehy interview. a' ?+ s*'` ` STAT
'
ngland CIA recruiter Steven Conn. said it couldn t have. been more thari'36<
tal of The defectright to speak;s!y-th
Northampton Judge Morse's finding seemed to - 20 minutes or so, and.that they were often inter- n
them as long as the Cl1~Teruiters wanted to talk
r
contradict his actions in the well-attended and rupted?with warnings the police were'ontheir way A.
much-publicized trial. Generally a liberal and that they y -would be arrested. _The. state`s with themerfti!:' 1 as;they;.dud t delay the
;e.-liistiad attorney
I interviews
Republican, Morse allowed the defense to pre- I witnesses, however, maintained the exchange
Rosemary
sent controversial expert -witnesses, including a cou~ld have taken -a hour or more..; .
former director of covert operations for the CIA fn any~eeenttf,pq]ice'.andcuffed and arrested The defense called)d Falk to back up its,
in Southeast Asia, whose testimony further Amselicm after-issuing:a 4iye minut?warning,: + claim that international laws and treaties were.
politicized the proceedings by exclusively attack- and later~arrestcd Sheehy.- They. were charged relevant in-a Mass.-District Court. A prominent
ing the Reagan administration's current policies with criminal trespass. professor of Internauon& Law at Princeton
in Central America. Morse also permitted the two ! University, FFaik said that under Article 6 of the
defendants to act as their own attornies, slowing Does International Law pply? U.S. Constitution, '"when'tl a government is us-
the process and taking up the better part of a day ing force in a country. wh s there is.no declara-
in court. He also let about 100 of the defendants' Lisa Sheehy argued during the trial that she and tion of war, it isa very-serious-issue that makes
sympathizers, some- with signs and banners, Amsellem had a right to be at the-UMass place- action very reasonable. It's fair to say the Nurem-
crowd his chamber after picketing the courthouse. F ment offices, "under the authority of international burg Principles apply to all societies and establish
And Judge Morse. gave quite a speech at the end law and according to the Nuremburg and Tokyo a fundamental right and duty' of citizens aware
of the trial supporting the defendants' rights to trials twd+4ior+4o.wh44 {1.S. was'&P&t) ; that the government is not conforming to inter-
"read the riot act" to CIA recruiters on college Specifically' citing the United Nations charter, the national law to take reasonable action to try to
campuses, and upholding the?higher law which t'cherof the Organizatien.ofAmericanStates, ' uphold the law." He said U.S.,policies in Cen-
protects their right "above any picketing code, the multinational Conv4ntiop.on Terrorism, and tral America most obviously -violated the
local law or state ordinance." The Hague Conference,,Sheehy'said the laws and organization of American Sties charter, "a Con-
treaties gave them "not, only the.. right but the stitutional document for nations of the Western
positive responsibility to take such moderate ac- Hemisphere," under which the pledge of non-
$uffk*w1t facts? ..,ions
intervention is the primary legal obligation that
By their own account, Amsellem, Sheehy and_: ?. She said the government broke those obliga- its members have taken by treaty.''
several unidentified activists arrived at the UMass sons by mining Nicaraguan harbors and by train- An author and research associate at the Institute
Amherst Placement Services offices early on the ing, supplying, and directing the "contras"
morning of November 5.1984. ?t about fighting to overthrow the Sandinista government. for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. testified
g that a half dozen U.S. laws were being violated
m
repeated the international law
an hour plastering the building with signs aler- Perry Amselle
ting students to the fact that the CIA recruiters., argument in his statements to the court. Citing by the CIA. Joy Hackel cited the so-called
were on campus that day, and then waited to scow of court cases, the 27 year old legal studies
discover exactly where they were conducting in- student at UMass said he and Sheehy "not only Continued
terviews. They found out around 9:30 a.m.; when had a right to enter, but an obligation to stop my
someone asked a student if he had just met with government from committing crimes so heinous
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000504160036-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000504160036-0
"Boland Amendment," passed on December 21,
1982, in which Congress expressly forbade the
government from spending money to overthrow
the government of Nicaragua, and two spending
limit laws, the Defense Supply Appropriations
Act of 1983 and 1984 and the October, 21, 1984
continuing resolution. She said the CIA had suc-
cessfully circumvented the latter by charging
costs to the wrong accounts and other deceits.
She also charged the CIA violated the Intelligence
Oversight Act when it mined Nicaraguan harbors
without informing Congress, and that the agen-
cy disobeyed President's own executive order
number 1233 by writing and distributing a manual
for "contra" guerrillas which included instruc-
tions for political assassinations. Hackel said the
Reagan administration's policies in Central
America also "clearly" violate the War Powers
Act, and the Neutrality Act. .
Louis Wolf, an editor of the controversial
Covert Action Information Bulletin, testified on
the extent of CIA activities in Central America,
particularly in Nicaragua. The veteran journalist
and CIA watcher said the agency's role there is
"to terrorize the entire population," and said it
was behind the destruction of food supplies,
lumber yards, oil and gas depots, and other
targets. Wolf detailed the extent of U.S. support
for the "contras," at one point holding up a re-
cent Life magazine story picturing "A CIA Man
r in Nicaragua." "I don't think there's any credi-
ble way to believe other than that the CIA is in-
tending? to overthrow the government of
Nicaragua;" he concluded.
The fourth and final expert witness called to
e stand by Amsellem and Sheehy was Ralph
4cGeehee, a 25 year veteren of the CIA who
4rected covert operations for the agency
Southeast Asia. His. insider testimony
captivated the courtroom...
McGeehee said that in Vietnam, "the CIA was
doing nothing other than creating an illusion of
reality with its intelligence." He dismissed the
idea of Congressional oversight, saying he had
helped prepare briefings for Congress "that had
absolutely nothing to do with what was going on
on the ground." He quoted Rep. Norman Mineta,
a current member of the House Intelligence panel,
who, said, "We're just like the proverbial
mushroom-kept in the dark and fed manure. "
Acc6ttib g to McGeehee,"the 'sime patient of
manipulation in the Vietnam experience is being
repeated with Central America." The former
agent cited recant resignations by other veteren
CIA analysts he said were disgusted with shap-
ing intelligence to fit present policy. "The pur-
pose of these deceits is to allow (CIA director)
~asey to sell a program of supporting the con-
ras overthrowing the Nicaragua govern-
ment," he said. "T'he CIA has never been the
central intelligence agency, it is instead the covert
arm of the president's foreign policy."
Asked whether actions like Amsellem's and
Sheehy's have an impact on CIA policy,
McGeehee replied that the agency never would
have left Vietnam if it had not been for campus
protests. ,`Activities like those in this area are
an appropriate response to the agency's illegal
activities," he said.
. The prosecuting attorney, Rosemary Tarantino,
did not question any of the defense's witnesses.
All of the experttestimony today is absolutely
irXi4evant,','. she.a gued. "They were talking to
,two functionaries of.the CIA, and they were not
going to itop.illegaLactions of the CIA by their
.actions. "
Right to Petition
After three hours,-both sides had rested and
it was`.Judge,-Morse's turn.
`It's clear that the defendants in this case felt
"much deep conviction, and believe as I do, that
`all citizens have a right to petition their govern-
ment," he said. "Functionaries or not, (the
recruiters) are employees of the CIA, and the
defendants had the right to go to them and read
the riot act, and a right to raise their voices, and
that any picketing code is subservient to that. But
there comes a point where that has to end.
Whether it's 20-to 25 minutes, or an hour and
a half, it was covered in a pretty much one-sided
conversation ...You have to say, alright, you had
the time to exercise your rights here."
"These kinds of things disturb me a great
deal,' he continued. "I'm upset about it. And
'I understand their frustration and that's why they
were allowed to put on this testimony. . .In this
i case, I'm not going to find either defendant guilty,
but it seems to me there comes a point where you
can overdo- it."
With that, the judge found "sufficient facts"
to warrant a guilty verdict and said he would fine
Perry Amsellem and Lisa Sheey $150 each in
court costs. They bargained it down to $50
community' service.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000504160036-0