On May 11, 1997, the Mercury News published a column that is important to
an understanding of this document or story located at:
http://spyglass1.sjmercury.com/drugs/column051197.htm

Other links:
The following article is posted at:
http://spyglass1.sjmercury.com/drugs/continued/followup012398.htm
Continued coverage: http://spyglass1.sjmercury.com/drugs/continued.htm
Forum: http://cgi.sjmercury.com/cgi-bin/WebX?13@@.ee6ba67 (closed on
June 11, 1997)
History: http://spyglass1.sjmercury.com/drugs/start.htm

CIA-CRACK STUDY IS BLOCKED BY RENO

BY PETE CAREY
Mercury News Staff Writer

Using a provision of law that had never been invoked, Attorney General
Janet Reno has blocked the release of a report on the actions of the
Department of Justice in an alleged CIA-Contra-crack cocaine conspiracy.

The report will not be made public until unspecified ''law enforcement
concerns'' are resolved, Reno's order says. The attorney general said the
report will eventually be released unchanged.

Inspector General Michael R. Bromwich,
[http://spyglass1.sjmercury.com/drugs/library/51.htm] who directed the
investigation, said he disagrees with and regrets the decision but will
abide by it and has no complaints about the way it was made.

Both the inspector general and the Justice Department said the CIA was not
involved in the decision. The law enforcement concerns are ''unrelated to
the ultimate conclusions'' reached in the report, Reno said in ordering
Bromwich to delay its release.
[http://spyglass1.sjmercury.com/drugs/library/50.htm]

The 400-page Department of Justice report, the product of a 15-month
investigation by 13 people, including five lawyers, examines actions of the
Department of Justice concerning two Nicaraguan cocaine dealers who were
supporters of the anti-Sandinista Nicaraguan guerrilla force called the
Contras. It also explores ''some additional related matters,'' according to
Bromwich.

In a series published in the Mercury News in August 1996, the two
Nicaraguans -- Juan Norwin Meneses Cantarero and Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes
- -- were alleged to have financed the Contras with millions of dollars in
cocaine profits from drug deals in South Central Los Angeles in the 1980s.
The series strongly suggested CIA knowledge of the operation and also
suggested the two men were protected from prosecution by unnamed government
agencies.

Then-CIA director John Deutch denied the allegations but ordered an
investigation by his agency's inspector general.

A second investigation of Justice Department actions concerning the alleged
operation was opened by the department's Inspector General Bromwich,
leading to the report that Reno blocked Friday.

The investigation presumably looked at interference with the prosecution of
the two Nicaraguans and with their relationships with the Drug Enforcement
Administration. Both men eventually became informants for the DEA, which is
under the jurisdiction of the Justice Department.

Bromwich stressed that his investigation was ''wholly separate'' from the CIA's.

Reno's order marks the first time a section of the Inspector General Act of
1978 [http://www.doc.gov/oig/info/igact78.htm] has been used to block an
inspector general's report. The section allows the attorney general to
intervene if a report would affect ongoing civil or criminal investigations
or proceedings; disclose undercover operations; reveal the identity of
confidential sources and protected witnesses; expose intelligence or
counter-intelligence operations; or pose a serious threat to national
security.

Neither Bromwich nor the attorney general would discuss which law
enforcement ''concerns'' are involved.

But since the report has been declassified by the CIA and Department of
Justice agencies involved, it appears unlikely that national security,
intelligence, undercover operations or source information is involved. That
leaves ongoing civil or criminal proceedings as the most likely factor.

''It's not that the report was invalid, or will have to be changed, or will
never see the light of day,'' said justice department spokesman Bert
Brandenburg. ''It's simply a decision to delay it until the law enforcement
concerns abate.''

He said the decision ''is not made lightly and comes from an attorney
general who has a very strong record of openness.''

The order puts in writing a last-minute decision by the attorney general's
office that blocked the report's release in December. That decision caused
the CIA to delay the release of its own inspector general's report on the
allegations.

Although the CIA report has not been released, its conclusion --that there
was no merit to the allegations -- was leaked to the news media by sources
familiar with the investigation. The Department of Justice report has
remained a mystery.

Bromwich said he is confident the report will be released.

''It will be released eventually, certainly,'' he said. ''I hope and
believe it will be released this year.''

Members of Congress who have been following the issue closely were
unavailable for comment on the order to withhold the report.

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said it would have no comment
before Congress reconvenes Monday.

The Mercury News series and its suggestion that the CIA could have helped
cause the nation's crack epidemic drew widespread public reaction. Some
news organizations attacked the series as unsubstantiated, while some
legislators and citizen groups demanded a thorough investigation of the
charges.

In a May 11 column examining the series, Mercury News Executive Editor
Jerry Ceppos aknowledged shortcomings in the articles after an extensive
internal re-examination.

''There is evidence to support the specific assertions and conclusions of
our series -- as well as conflicting evidence on many points,'' he wrote.
He concluded that the series did not sufficiently include that conflicting
evidence and did not meet the newspaper's standards.