Press Release 10/08/98

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CIA INSPECTOR GENERAL RELEASES UNCLASSIFIED REPORT

8 October 1998

An unclassified version of Volume II of the Central Intelligence Agency's independent statutory Inspector General's report, "Allegations of Connections Between CIA and the Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States," was released publicly today and is currently available on CIA's Web site [www.cia.gov].

Volume II, the "Contra Story," addresses CIA's knowledge of any alleged drug trafficking by the Contras and persons or organizations who supported the Contra program in the 1980s. The report concluded that "no information has been found to indicate that CIA as an organization or its employees conspired with, or assisted, Contra-related organizations or individuals in drug trafficking to raise funds for the Contras or for any other purpose."

A classified version of Volume II was provided to Congress earlier this year and was the subject of numerous press accounts. Since that time, CIA's Inspector General has worked to produce an unclassified version that could be made available to the general public.

The 410-page report is an unclassified version of a classified Report of Investigation of the same title, issued by the Inspector General on April 27, 1998. Classified information that discloses CIA employees undercover and persons who had an intelligence relationship with CIA has been deleted, as has law enforcement information that discloses informant relationships. In addition, the names of certain other persons mentioned or discussed in the classified report have been deleted from this version because public disclosure is not clearly authorized under the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) statement of routine uses for information in OIG's system of records governed by the Privacy Act. In such cases, the deleted name has been replaced with a generic descriptor, such as "a U.S. citizen." Where deletions have been made, the unclassified text is as close as possible to the original classified text.

Volume I of the report, which was issued on January 29, 1998, found no evidence that would substantiate The San Jose Mercury News allegations that the CIA had any involvement with Ricky Ross, Oscar Danilo Blandon, or Juan Norwin Meneses, or in cocaine trafficking in California to raise funds for the Contras.