SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2004, Issue No. 90
October 14, 2004
** US COVERT ACTION IN BOLIVIA, 1964-1966
** FINAL REPORT OF THE IRAQ SURVEY GROUP
** INTELLIGENCE REFORM IN AFRICA
** SAUDI ARABIA: TERRORIST FINANCING ISSUES (CRS)
** US SPACE PROGRAMS: CIVILIAN, MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL (CRS)
** POSTPONEMENT OF ELECTIONS (CRS)
US COVERT ACTION IN BOLIVIA, 1964-1966
Last month, the U.S. government quietly acknowledged and described a
CIA covert action program in Bolivia during the Johnson
Administration.
The acknowledgment came in the form of an "editorial note" that was
published in the latest volume of the official State Department
series Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, on South
and Central America and Mexico. That volume also described the
CIA's clandestine role in the 1964 election in Chile.
A contemporary CIA document cited in the "editorial note" described
the program as follows:
"The basic covert action goals in Bolivia are to foster democratic
solutions to critical and social, economic, and political problems;
to check Communist and Cuban subversion; to encourage a stable
government favorably inclined toward the United States; and to
encourage Bolivian participation in the Alliance for Progress."
"The main direction and emphasis of C[overt] A[ction] operations is
to force Communists, leftists, and pro-Castroites out of
influential positions in government, and to try to break Communist
and ultra-leftist control over certain trade union, student groups,
and campesino organizations."
The editorial note was approved for publication by an interagency
High Level Panel that reviews historical covert actions for
possible acknowledgment in the FRUS series.
"That editorial note is the text of the statement approved by all
three [High Level Panel member] agencies--State, CIA, NSC--to
acknowledge the covert action," one official explained to Secrecy
News.
Remarkably, the editorial note provided budget figures for the CIA
program in Bolivia, which peaked at $545,342 in fiscal year 1964.
This is surprising since the CIA has consistently refused to
declassify such figures on its own. Even today the Agency argues
in federal court, with legal support from the Justice Department
Office of Information and Privacy, that such historical budget
information must be withheld from disclosure. But there it is.
See the High Level Panel editorial note on CIA covert action in
Bolivia, published in late September, here:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/advisory/state/bolivia.html
FINAL REPORT OF THE IRAQ SURVEY GROUP
The final report of the Iraq Survey Group (the Duelfer report)
documenting the search for prohibited weapons in Iraq was published
October 6 by the Central Intelligence Agency on its web site.
But the CIA edition of the document was posted in an awkward format
-- three monstrous files of 50 to 75 Megabytes each -- that
practically guarantees the report will go unread by all but a
committed few.
Now a much more digestible html version of the report is available
from GlobalSecurity.org here:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/report/2004/isg-final-report/
INTELLIGENCE REFORM IN AFRICA
Imposing the discipline of democracy on intelligence and security
services is a continuing challenge even in societies that have a
longstanding commitment to democratic governance. It is vastly
more difficult in emerging and aspiring democracies.
The prospects for intelligence reform in several Africa countries
are surveyed in a new publication of the Global Facilitation
Network for Security Sector Reform in the United Kingdom.
See "Providing Security for People: Enhancing Security Through
Police, Justice, and Intelligence Reform in Africa," edited by
Chris Ferguson and Jeffrey O Isima, September 2004:
http://www.gfn-ssr.org/edocs/gfn060_pfsp2.pdf
SAUDI ARABIA: TERRORIST FINANCING ISSUES (CRS)
A new report of the Congressional Research Service "reviews
allegations of Saudi involvement in terrorist financing together
with Saudi rebuttals, discusses the question of Saudi support for
religious charities and schools (madrasas) abroad, discusses recent
steps taken by Saudi Arabia to counter terrorist financing (many in
conjunction with the United States), and suggests some implications
of recent Saudi actions for the war on terrorism."
See "Saudi Arabia: Terrorist Financing Issues," October 4, 2004:
http://www.fas.org/man/crs/RL32499.pdf
US SPACE PROGRAMS: CIVILIAN, MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL (CRS)
An updated overview of U.S. space-related activities is provided by
the CRS in "U.S. Space Programs: Civilian, Military and
Commercial," September 28, 2004:
http://www.fas.org/spp/civil/crs/IB92011.pdf
POSTPONEMENT OF ELECTIONS (CRS)
Another new CRS report considers the legality of postponing
elections for federal office.
"Because of the fear of possible terrorist attacks which could be
directed at election facilities or voters in the States just prior
to or during the elections in a presidential election year,
attention has been directed at the possibility/authority to
postpone, cancel or reschedule an election for federal office."
"The United States Constitution does not provide in express language
any current authority for a federal official or institution to
'postpone' an election for federal office," the CRS notes. But
that is the beginning of the discussion, not the end.
See "Postponement and Rescheduling of Elections to Federal Office,"
October 4, 2004:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RL32623.pdf
CRS policy prohibits direct public access to reports like these.
_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.
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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web: www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email: [log in to unmask]
voice: (202) 454-4691
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