CIA Official Recalled for Contra Aid Role

The CIA recalled its chief officer in Costa Rica last week for aiding the private airlift of weapons to Nicaraguan rebels during a ban on U.S. military aid to the contras, Administration and congressional sources said Thursday.

The intelligence agency told the Senate Intelligence Committee this week that it recalled its station chief from the U.S. Embassy in San Jose, the Costa Rican capital, because of “unauthorized contacts with private benefactors” who were aiding the rebels, a knowledgeable source said.

Congress is investigating this incident as well as other reports that Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, the White House aide who oversaw both the Administration’s efforts to win private support for the contras and its secret arms sales to Iran, received more assistance from the CIA than has previously been reported, the sources said.

Not Identified

The station chief, whose name has not been divulged, is believed to have relayed messages between contra groups in Costa Rica and members of the secret air force operated by retired Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, the sources said.

According to one source, the CIA man also passed messages about the airlift directly to North, who was then an aide to the National Security Council. A congressional aide said that the Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating that issue but that it has not yet drawn any conclusions.

The incident raises new questions about the CIA’s role in the airlift, which dropped tons of weapons and ammunition to rebels inside Nicaragua until one of its planes was shot down Oct. 5, killing three crewmen and delivering a fourth into the hands of the Sandinista regime.

The CIA has repeatedly denied any role in the airlift and congressional sources noted that the agency’s report to the Senate Intelligence Committee condemned the station chief’s actions as unauthorized.

But they said Congress is investigating reports that the officer’s actions were encouraged by senior officials at CIA headquarters outside Washington and that North reported many of his activities in Central America to the agency as well.

Kathy Pherson, speaking for the CIA, said that she could not comment on the reported recall of the station chief. “All I can say is that the CIA has complied with all congressional restrictions on assistance to the contras,” she said.

Congress banned all U.S. military aid to the contras, who are fighting to overthrow Nicaragua’s leftist regime, from mid-1984 until last October. Under a 1985 revision of the law, the CIA was allowed to provide the rebels with intelligence information and communications equipment but no other military assistance.

Allegedly Relayed Information

The Costa Rican station chief is believed to have relayed information between the contras and the organizers of the secret airlift, congressional sources said. According to reports they said are still under investigation, he sent the contras’ requests for arms to Washington and also informed the rebels of when the ostensibly private airdrop flights were scheduled.

The New York Times quoted contra officials in Costa Rica this week as saying that CIA officers there had repeatedly asked them to detail their military needs. The CIA men told the contras not to make a formal request, but the meetings were followed by airdrops of the weapons they listed, the contras were quoted as saying.

Contra officials and Costa Rican sources have also said that CIA officials in San Jose were active in helping organize a new coalition of rebel military groups based in northern Costa Rica along the Nicaraguan border. The station chief, along with U.S. Ambassador Lewis Tambs, also pressured the Costa Ricans into allowing the private airlift group to build an airstrip near the frontier, they said.

Tambs, who resigned unexpectedly last month after reports of his participation in the airstrip construction began to circulate in Costa Rica, has denied any direct involvement with the project.

The House and Senate Intelligence committees are continuing their investigations of the CIA’s role in both the contra airlift and the Iranian arms deal, although two special investigating committees on the scandal are supposed to take over most of the probe.

Unanswered Question

One of the panels’ targets is the unanswered question of how closely North worked with the agency, which has disavowed any involvement in either covert operation.

“We think he was dealing with a few selected people in the CIA. We’re trying to find out how widespread it was,” a congressional source said.

“It is clear that (then-CIA Deputy Director John) McMahon was very unhappy with some of the things that North was promoting,” he said, but others in the agency were sympathetic and supportive.

Congress is also investigating whether the CIA used any funds to aid the airlift improperly, sources said.

The agency spent about $13 million to provide intelligence and communications equipment to the contras with Congress’ permission, the congressional sources said. “But we don’t know what they spent it on,” complained a member of one of the intelligence committees.

The airplane shot down by the Sandinistas in October was carrying a radio bought by the CIA as part of its communications aid, according to Sen. Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.), former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.