Warm Barrel

CIA Director Casey is accused

William Casey's work depends upon secrecy. But ever since he became director of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1981, he has been plagued by disclosures about matters ranging from his stock holdings to his handling of the covert mining of Nicaragua's harbors. Last week he was once again under fire for his alleged role in another undercover operation: a House subcommittee accused Casey, who headed Ronald Reagan's election campaign, of receiving purloined briefing papers from the Carter White House. After a ten-month investigation, the House Human Resources subcommittee headed by Democrat Donald Albosta of Michigan found that "the better evidence indicates that Carter debate briefing materials entered the 1980 Reagan-Bush campaign through its director, William J. Casey."

The report came a week after U.S. District Court Judge Harold Greene ruled that the Justice Department acted unlaw fully when it decided not to appoint a special prosecutor in the case. At the department's request, an appeals court has temporarily stayed the execution of Greene's order. Last week the court set June 20 as the date oral arguments will begin, making a resolution before the election likely.

When the story of the leaked papers broke last year, Casey told the House panel and the FBI that he did not recall seeing any Carter briefing materials. White House Chief of Staff James Baker, however, said that he remembered receiving a briefing book from Casey. The Albosta committee seemed to side with Baker, concluding that his "testimony is corroborated by a credible witness." That witness, Margaret Tutwiler, is a Baker aide who recalled being told by him that he had received the material from Casey. The committee also pointed out a memo written by Robert Garrick, a campaign aide, in September 1980, saying that Casey wants "more information from the Carter camp and wants it circulated." In addition, the report cites testimony that Washington Consultant Paul Corbin admitted having provided Casey with the debate materials. While Corbin denies this, the report says that his "reputation for veracity is uneven."

The committee, which shied away from holding formal hearings, raised more questions than it resolved. "The subcommittee believes that it has received responses from some of these persons that were not candid," its 2,313-page report said. "This prevented it from fully resolving the briefing-book issue." In a strange twist on an old metaphor, Chairman Albosta said: "We have a warm barrel, but the smoke is still to be found.'' Nonetheless, the report concluded that the Reagan campaign conducted "organized efforts" to obtain documents from the Carter camp.

Republicans sharply noted that the probe did not even determine precisely what briefing materials were involved. The two Republicans on the six-member panel refused to endorse the report, saying in their dissenting statement, "If we cannot ascertain exactly what was taken and who took it, then how can we determine what laws were broken?" Reagan remains fiercely loyal to Casey, an old friend. While he has maintained his characteristic detachment from the mini-scandals in his Administration, the President last week attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a new building at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., where he praised Casey and his agency as "an inspiration to your fellow Americans and to people everywhere." In a brief statement, Casey dismissed the Albosta report as "a partisan document in a political year." qed