Cancer Tumor Taken From Casey’s Brain

A cancerous tumor was removed today from the left side of the brain of CIA Director William J. Casey, Georgetown University Hospital said.

The hospital said the operation was performed without complication.

The tumor was removed from the inner side of the left brain, the area relating to movement and sensation on the right side of the body, a hospital statement said.

It said Casey, 73, was in stable condition.

“The operation was performed without complication and Mr. Casey is in stable condition and doing well,” it said.

“The attending physicians anticipate that Mr. Casey will be able to resume his normal activities,” the hospital said.

Casey was hospitalized Monday after suffering a seizure in his office. He suffered a second seizure later in the day after being rushed to the hospital.

Deputy Director Robert Gates is running the CIA in the spy chief’s absence.

On Wednesday, the CIA and the hospital issued nearly identical statements indicating that doctors were unsure what triggered Casey’s two minor brain seizures this week. They said further tests were likely.

Casey was stricken Monday, one day before he had been scheduled to testify before a closed session of the Senate Intelligence Committee on what he knew about the scheme to divert secret U.S. arms profits from Iran to the Nicaraguan contra rebels. He testified twice last week in private sessions with House members investigating the scandal.

Hospital doctors said Casey suffered a seizure that caused spasms in his legs and arms while he was at work Monday at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. He was rushed by ambulance to the hospital in Washington, where he had a second attack.

Casey, a self-made multimillionaire, took over as chief of the CIA Jan. 28, 1981. He was appointed by President Reagan, whose election campaign Casey had managed in 1980.

Earlier today, before the hospital released its statement, White House spokesman Albert Brashear said he did not know how seriously ill Casey was but he added, “There is deep concern.”

Brashear said President Reagan had checked with friends of Casey and had been given information about the state of his health. But Brashear said he and others in the White House did not know what the President was told.

“I can’t tell you precisely what the President was told, but we are confident that the CIA is still doing its business competently and it is in good hands,” he said. “Anything that the director might not be able to handle while he was in the hospital, we are sure his deputy can and the staff under him.”