CONGRESS EXAMINING CIVILIAN ROLE IN PLANE'S SHOOT-DOWN OVER PERU

WASHINGTON -- With inquiries beginning into Peru's downing last week of a
flight carrying American missionaries, congressional officials say they are
examining the role played by CIA contract employees who worked for the
Aviation Development Corp. of Montgomery, Ala.

There is no indication of wrongdoing by Aviation Development, and
government officials said the three CIA contract employees on board a
surveillance plane tried to prevent the Peruvian military from shooting
down the missionaries' plane, which was suspected of carrying drugs.

But some congressional officials privately voiced discomfort that civilians
could be sent on such a delicate mission.

"They have a higher impression of their tactical and technical proficiency
than they should,'' said one official, who asked not to be identified.
``Not one person on that aircraft had a commission from the U.S. government
to do what they were doing. No one took an oath to the Constitution. They
were just businessmen.''

American anti-narcotics officials have privately expressed similar doubts
about the contractors. Some note that the Aviation Development crew had
identified the missionary plane as suspect even though it was en route to
Iquitos, Peru, rather than leaving that country's airspace.

The State Department announced Friday that it was sending a senior
anti-narcotics official, Rand Beers, to Peru to lead a joint investigation
with the authorities there. In Congress, intelligence committees are
gathering information about the incident; a House Government Reform
subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday.

It is not clear whether Aviation Development, whose employees on the
surveillance plane first identified the missionaries' plane as a potential
drug flight, worked exclusively for the CIA. Phone calls to the company's
office at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery went unanswered this week,
and calls to the home of its president, Lex Thistlethwaite, were not returned.

The CIA has long been known to set up front companies to mask its
activities, especially in aviation. Yet in recent years, American military
and intelligence agencies have increasingly contracted workers from private
companies. The practice allows federal officials to reduce the visibility
of sensitive operations by substituting paid civilians for American troops
or career intelligence officers.