FBI Defends Questioning of Travelers to Nicaragua

FBI Director William H. Webster acknowledged today his agents have interviewed about 100 people traveling to and from Nicaragua but denied the contacts are politically motivated.

Webster told a House hearing that there have been “in the area of 100, possibly less than 100” people interviewed, and added, “I can assure you there was a legitimate counterintelligence purpose for every interview.”

Webster was questioned sharply about the contacts by lawmakers who have received complaints from constituents traveling back and forth from Nicaragua.

Rep. Robert W. Kastenmeier (D-Wis.) said he has been told that “agents seek to . . . educate American citizens politically. I think this is a very bad scene.”

Rep. Don Edwards (D-San Jose), referring to abuses during the Nixon Administration, added, “There are terrible things that have happened in the United States in the name of national security.”

Webster said, however, that the bureau has “already taken steps” to make certain that agents do not involve themselves in political issues involving Nicaragua. He said anyone violating such guidelines “will be promptly dealt with.”

Webster said he was “not at liberty to discuss in detail our foreign counterintelligence program,” but commented that “the growing number of officials, tourists, commercial representatives, and students in the U.S. from the Soviet Union, Soviet Bloc countries, Cuba and the People’s Republic of China mandates that we intensify our efforts to identify foreign intelligence officers and neutralize their efforts.”

He added that “recent published reports of successful espionage activities by hostile intelligence services in other countries demonstrate to us there is a real and continuing threat to the security of the U.S.”