[Firestarter]

Kerry; Secret agreement CIA-DoJ

Webb collected an impressive amount of information for his book, but he wasn’t the first.
On 9 July 1987, 2 protesters, Michael L. Kreis and Michael E. Bardoff both from Baltimore, held up a banner "Ask about cocaine smuggling" during the Iran-Contra hearings, when Oliver North was lying under oath.
Kreis and Bardoff were arrested, we can’t have activists trying to expose the ugly truth, when the government is trying really hard to cover it up, can we?

While they were led away, they yelled things like:

What about the cocaine dealing that the U.S. is paying for?
Why don't you ask how many non-combatants have been killed by the . . . contras?
Why don't you ask questions about drug deliveries?

They were charged with “disrupting a congressional hearing and demonstrating within a Capitol building”.
Kreis and Bardoff were pronounced guilty in November 1987 (but only got a light sentence): http://articles.latimes.com/1987-07-09/n..._1_contras


Maybe more interesting is the cover-up Committee led by Senator John Kerry of Skull & Bones, which concluded in a report released on 13 April 1989:
That individuals who provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking and the Contras knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers, including cash, weapons, planes, pilots, air supply services and other materials.

Participation of narcotics traffickers in Contra supply operations through business relationships with Contra organisations.

the CIA's Chief of the Central American Task Force went on to say: We knew that everybody around Pastora was involved in cocaine ... His staff and friends (redacted) they were drug smugglers or involved in drug smuggling.

The US State Department paid over $806,000, authorised by Congress, to known drug traffickers to “carry humanitarian assistance to the Contras”. In some cases after the traffickers had already been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Committee_report


In March 1998, the CIA Inspector General testified that from 1982 to 1995 there had been a secret agreement between CIA and the Justice Department that the CIA didn’t have to report drugs offenses by its assets.
The actual request from Central Intelligence Agency Director William J. Casey to Attorney General William French Smith to exclude “narcotics violations” from the “reportable offenses” is still kept secret.

Here’s the reply by William French Smith to William Casey, dated 11 February 1982:

Dear Bill:

Thank you for your letter regarding the procedures governing the reporting and use of information concerning federal crimes. I have reviewed the draft of the procedures that accompanied your letter and, in particular, the minor changes made in the draft that I had previously sent to you. These proposed changes are acceptable and, therefore, I have signed the procedures.

I have been advised that a question arose regarding the need to add narcotics violations to the list of reportable non-employee crimes (Section IV). 21 U.S.C. 874(h) provides that `[w]hen requested by the Attorney General, it shall be the duty of any agency or instrumentality of the Federal Government to furnish assistance to him for carrying out his functions under [the Controlled Substances Act] . . .' Section 1.8(b) of Executive Order 12333 tasks the Central Intelligence Agency to `collect, produce and disseminate intelligence on foreign aspects of narcotics production and trafficking.' Moreover, authorization for the dissemination of information concerning narcotics violations to law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Justice, is provided by sections 2.3© and (i) and 2.6(b) of the Order. In light of these provisions, and in view of the fine cooperation the Drug Enforcement Administration has received from CIA, no formal requirement regarding the reporting of narcotics violations has been included in these procedures. We look forward to the CIA's continuing cooperation with the Department of Justice in this area.

In view of our agreement regarding the procedure, I have instructed my Counsel for Intelligence Policy to circulate a copy which I have executed to each of the other agencies covered by the procedures in order that they may be signed by the head of each such agency.

Sincerely,
William French Smith

Casey in reply thanked French Smith, dated 2 March 1982:

I am pleased that these procedures, which I believe strike the proper balance between enforcement of the law and protection of intelligence sources and methods, will now be forwarded to other agencies.

From 2 March 1982 to 3 August 1995, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Attorney General and the DCI under Executive Order 12333 excluded reporting narcotics violations for "non-employees" of the CIA (like assets and independent contractors).
This MOU was made public by Representative Maxine Waters (who did her own investigation on the drugs trafficking by the CIA in the wake of the Dark Alliance series by Gary Webb) on 7 May 1998.

See the following definition for "employee" from the MOU:

C. `Employee' means:
1. A staff employee or contract employee of an Agency;
2. Former officers or employees of an Agency, for purposes of offenses committed during their employment; and
3. Former officers or employees of an Agency, for offenses involving a violation of 18 U.S.C. 207

Then in Section “IV. NON-EMPLOYEE REPORTABLE OFFENSES” is prescribed which offenses by “non-employees” are “reportable”, the list excludes narcotics offenses.

That secret understanding remained in effect until August of 1995, when Attorney General Janet Reno rescinded the agreement. The 1995 MOU didn´t exclude drugs crimes (for non-employees).

The original documents were removed from the internet. Its text is available on the following archive link: http://archive.li/csck8