8: U.S. Senate, Allegations of a CIA Connection to Crack Cocaine Epidemic (1996)

Senators Richard Lugar and John Kerry, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, respond to testimony by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, Secretary of State. — Senators Richard Lugar and John Kerry (2009). Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Sen._Richard_Lugar_and_Sen._John_Kerry,_chairman_of_the_U.S._Senate_Committee_on_Foreign_Relations,_respond_to_testimony_by_Chairman_of_the_Joint_Chiefs_of_Staff_Navy_Adm._Mike_Mullen,_Secretary_of_State_091203-N-TT977-233.jpg

In 1996, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held a hearing concerning allegations of CIA involvement in the cocaine epidemic in the United States. These allegations were made following reporting that the CIA had sold drugs in the Los Angeles area and sent those profits to support the Contras in Nicaragua. Two Nicaraguan nationals had been arrested for drug smuggling in LA, Oscar Blandon and Juan Meneses.

The hearing had multiple witnesses. In the hearing’s first session, they heard form the former special counsel to the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations (formerly chaired by one of the most active senator during questioning, John Kerry) Jack Blum, CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz, and Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Bromwich. questioning of Mr. Blum mainly focused on systemic issues he had noticed with the CIA, including their support for Drug Smuggler General Noriega, dictator of Panama. Questioning for both IGs focused on whether they were able to carry out fair investigations into their respective areas of oversight. The second day had different witnesses, both former Contras. Both denied direct CIA involvement in drug smuggling operations, though the credibility of their responses was brought to question when financial transactions and familial links to Meneses, Brandon, and Noriega were brought up. Despite this information, the hearing did not discover any concrete evidence of CIA links to the specific drug bust in Los Angeles.

“The subject of today’s hearings involves the allegations of CIA involvement in the U.S. drug sales to finance the Contras in the Nicaraguan war. This is the first day when Senator Kerrey and I could get together after the Senate recess. We are going to proceed today in our oversight capacity on the Central Intelligence Agency.

We are going to hear from witnesses Jack Blum, who was formerly counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee, and the Inspectors General from the Department of Justice and also the CIA, to outline the scope of the investigation which will be under- taken on this important matter.”

Source

U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Intelligence. Allegations of Hearing a CIA Connection to Crack Cocaine Epidemic: Hearing before the Committee on Intelligence. 104th Cong. 2nd sess. 1996.