Mp V Texas A&M - - W •
The Battalion
College Station, Texas
Friday, December 12, 1986
Casey: NY executive
revealed arms deal
CIA head, businessman testify to committee
us situation
i says. Theva
parents ortn:
nib, somethin;
ficult in ante
y college siuic
optimistic,
v how someol
o stav in sch*
It’s For My Mother 1
Hiss ! Texas 1987, Michelle Royer, signs an auto-
aph for John Elam, an offensive lineman for the
Photo by John Makely
Aggie football team, during her Thursday af
ternoon visit to Cain Hall. See story, page 4.
he number d
lenson attrib
nd shortfall
as held don!
oy a reduction
it amounts, f
• grant from ih
about $800.8
fe grant cant
WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA Di
rector William J. Casey said Thurs
day he did not learn of possible di
versions of Iranian arms sales profits
to Nicaraguan rebels until he was
tipped by a New York businessman
in early October.
Casey spoke to reporters after he
testified for more than three hours
before a heavily guarded, closed-
door session of the House Intelli
gence Committee. A few minutes
later, Casey’s purported tipster, Roy
M. Furmark, went before the Senate
Intelligence Committee to tell his
version of the story.
Furmark, a former legal client of
Casey’s, refused to talk to reporters
as he entered the closed Senate hear
ing. But Casey said it was Furmark
who first raised questions in his mind
about transfers of funds from then-
secret arms sales to Iran.
An unnamed source said Fur
mark apparently was an intermed
iary between Casey and Middle East
arms dealers.
Furmark told the committee that
he had been approached by Adnan
Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian arms
dealer who was central to the Ira
nian sales, and was told to warn Ca
sey that a group of Canadian inves
tors were threatening to file a suit
against Khashoggi that would have
made the entire sale public.
The Canadians were threatening
to sue Khashoggi, and Khashoggi
went to Furmark “because Kha
shoggi knew Furmark could carry a
message to Casey that something
had to be done,” the source said.
The Canadians were threatening
a lawsuit because they had received
only $10 million when they had ex
pected payment of $20 million, the
sources quoted Casey as saying.
Congressional sources, speaking
on condition of anonymity, said the
Senate Intelligence Committee had
learned before Wednesday of Ca
sey’s conversation with Furmark,
leading at least some panel members
to question the CIA director’s claim
of Wednesday that he was unaware
of the diversion of funds.
Casey denied a report in the Wall
Street Journal that he knew as early
as last spring that profits from the
Iranian arms sales were being fun-
neled to Nicaraguan insurgents, or
Contras.
“No, that’s wrong,” Casey told re
porters who pursued him down a
corridor in the Capitol after his ap
pearance before the House commit
tee.
Asked when he learned about the
arrangement, Casey responded, “I
first learned about this when Meese
told everybody.” It was on Nov. 25
that Attorney General Edwin Meese
III disclosed that between $10 mil
lion and $30 million in arms sales
profits were diverted to the Contras.
“Before Meese informed you, did
you start asking questions?” Casey
was asked.
“Oh, I had questions about it,
yeah,” he replied.
“When you had questions, was
that because of your conversations
with Mr. Furmark?” he was asked..
‘That did precipitate the ques
tions, sure,” Casey replied.
The sources said that the next
day, Oct. 8, Casey contacted Vice
Adm. John M. Poindexter, then na
tional security adviser to President
Reagan, about the Canadian threat.
Casey, they said, was told that such a
disclosure through a lawsuit would
“blow the cover” on the Iranian arms
deal and jeopardize chances of win
ning the release of Americans held
hostage in Lebanon by pro-Iranian
extremists.
One House Foreign Affairs Com
mittee member, who spoke only on
condition that he not be identified,
said that sometime after Casey’s con
versation with Furmark, the CIA di
rector summoned Marine Lt. Col.
Oliver L. North, a member of the
National Security Council staff who
was coordinating the administra
tion’s efforts to aid the Contras.
The House member said Casey
testified that he asked North
whether he knew of any third-party
support for the Contra rebels, and
that North replied that he did not.
Meese has said that North was the
only administration official who
knew “precisely” of the diversion of
arms profits to the Contras.
Cohen said the Senate panel, after
two weeks of hearings, still lacks suf
ficient evidence to conclude where
the arms deal money went, to whom
and under what circumstances.
Retired major
implicated
in fund shifts
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rich
ard V. Secord’s last full-time de
fense department job was in a
little-known division that super
vises arms sales to many foreign
countries. It employed several
people whose names have sur
faced in the Iran-Contra affair.
Secord, a retired Air Force ma
jor general who reportedly
played a key role in the diversion
of profits from the sale of U.S.
arms to Iran to the Nicaraguan
rebels, retired in May 1983 as a
deputy assistant defense secretary
at the department’s International
Security Affairs section.
Secord oversaw Near Eastern
and South Asian affairs at ISA,
according to the Congressional
Directory.
Between July 11, 1983, and
Nov. 11, 1984, after his retire
ment, Secord was authorized to
serve a consultant to ISA for a to
tal of 220 days at $242 a day. But
Pentagon records show that he
“did not serve any days in pay sta
tus,” a spokesman said. But Se
cord was a member of a special
operations advisory group until
his term expired in August.
Federal investigators have said
privately that Secord, 54, is under
investigation in connection with
the transfer of money from Iran
to the Contras.
ad of committee
Withdraws proposals
d merge universities
South Africa imposes harsh censorship
ses to A&M
xl, the «r-B
Texas yf fUSTIN (AP) — The chairman
lancialaid's; ItalSelect Committee on Higher
is” in situaii: Nation said Thursday he is giv-
(upon his proposal to merge the
Spltown University of Houston
ink like ii'sW Us with Texas Southern Uni-
' Benson ^ an h North Texas State Uni-
rse" Kfwith Texas Woman’s Univer-
f;
My whole concept was a better
ery of the higher education sys-
but . . . apparently a lot of peo-
in Benton and Houston and the
ority of the people on this com-
. J|don’t share that view,” Larry
| :n 'ple told reporters.
|Temple said he intends to pursue
-itierger of Texas A&I at Kingsville
k Kttrpus Christi State University.
V , No record votes were taken
pprsday. Temple said he wanted to
■H ic U ^Wnt committee members a
\ ; 3nce to make today’s meeting.
I ^Bever, on non-record votes,
® ■Bmmittee agreed to recom-
t ^T n( i no change in the University of
^tasor Texas A&M University re-
. - htloards but decided to realign
)X\v 0 e | governing boards of other state
’ 4 ^l^olkgei
^pmmittee member Arthur
Jfflple Jr. of Diboll, said he
■ )l, ght it is “intolerable” that TSU
|Pj|} as other colleges are racially
balanced.
ll think this group ought to go on
jord as saying that the state of
Pat is . . . much further down the
M tftward true integration than I
nit we’re given credit for,”
topic Jr. said.
fep. Wilhelmina Delco, D-Austin,
it any public college — “white” as
das ‘black” — should be reviewed
J|5oes not reflect the demogra-
jc and ethnic and racial balance
bin our state.”
tep. A1 Luna, D-Houston, said,
: Miiwe open up the University of
and Texas A&M and all these
•erl institutions, then I’m not
ifiglto talk about segregation at
- - school, because in my opinion
have segregation at Texas A&M
Ti other institutions around the
te.”
Utna said only 1 percent of
A&M’s enrollment of 36,000 is black
and only 4 percent is Hispanic.
Committee member Peter O’Don
nell Jr. of Dallas said UT has 40 dif
ferent programs “encouraging mi
nority enrollment and retention.”
“The implication here is that all
the fault rests with the institution,”
he said. “I don’t think that’s the
case.”
O’Donnell said UT Austin has 40
different programs “encouraging
minority enrollment and retention.”
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — The gov
ernment imposed severe censorship Thursday,
requiring journalists to get official approval be
fore reporting on most peaceful actions against
apartheid as well as violent unrest.
An independent Johannesburg daily, the Star,
See related story, page 12
said in a front-page editorial, “This is just possi
bly the last edition of any relatively free newspa
per you will read in South Africa.”
New rules issued by President P.W. Botha go
beyond press censorship. They also bar anti
apartheid activists from making “subversive
statements” urging resistance to the white gov
ernment through forms of non-violent civil dis
obedience.
Among those are rent, consumer and school
boycotts; strikes; protest meetings; complaints
about compulsory military service and establish
ment of civic associations and people’s courts.
Previous curbs on journalists under the emer
gency restricted coverage of violence and actions
by security forces, but not peaceful protest.
The United Democratic Front, a multiracial
group that has organized peaceful rallies for two
years, said it would challenge the regulations in
court.
Azhar Cachalia, the national treasurer, ex
pressed the organization’s displeasure.
“The UDF fears that any possibility of a rela
tively non-violent or negotiated transition to de
mocracy will now disappear,” he said. “It is clear
that the Nationalist government has not only lost
control but has gone completely mad.”
His statement was issued directly to foreign
news organizations and the independent South
African Press Association. SAP A distributed the
item, but it asked subscribers 90 minutes later to
kill it because of a ban by government censors.
By then, the statement had been used in some
foreign news broadcasts and relayed in print
form by several foreign journalists. In response
to Associated Press comments pointing out the
difficulties of withdrawing a statement already
widely distributed, the censors said 25 minutes
later publication could not be permitted.
Stoffel van der Merwe, deputy information
minister, told foreign journalists Wednesday he
opposed censorship personally, but he said the
new restrictions were necessary because the gov
ernment faced “a calculated, well-planned revo
lutionary onslaught.”
Activities banned apparently include further
calls by the United Democratic Front for a 10-day
Christmas boycott of white-owned stores and
coverage of the boycott if it occurs.
A report by the South African Institute of
Race Relations said 2,291 people had died in po
litical violence from September 1984 to the end
of last month.
Jobs, study programs maybe scarce
Students find aid alternatives limited
Editor’s note: This is the final
segment of a three-part series on
the possible effects of federal tax
reform and the state budget crisis
on financial aid at Texas A&M.
This section deals with alterna
tives to scholarships, grants and
loans.
By Sue Krenek
News Editor
Becky Burks is still worried
that her scholarships and loans
may dry up because of tax reform
and budget cuts, so she’s checking
out her other financial aid op
tions. But the Texas A&M junior
is finding that other sources of
aid may be few and far between.
Taft Benson, A&M’s director
of student financial aid, predicts
that changes in tax law will accele
rate the trend away from schol
arships and grants and toward
loans. But with reform raising the
cost of a loan — and with the
Guaranteed Student Loan pro
gram becoming need-based —
loans themselves may be harder
to get.
And Benson says other sources
of money are hard to find.
Like the GSL program, such
programs as work-study and
short-term loans may be hit hard
by students unable to find other
aid.
A&M financial aid coordinator
Ann Vanwinkle says the work-
study program already has been
inundated, both by students seek
ing jobs and by departments that
want work-study workers.
Under the work-study pro
gram, the department pays 20
percent of the student’s wages,
with the other 80 percent coming
from the federal program funds.
Vanwinkle says more depart
ments have requested work-study
students as state budget cuts have
hit them.
“We’ve had a lot larger num
ber, it seems like, just because of
the budget cuts on campus,” she
says.
The problem, Vanwinkle says,
is that there aren’t enough fed
eral funds to cover all the depart
ments that want work-study stu
dents. In addition, since the
work-study program is need-
based, students who don’t qualify
for other federal aid programs
probably won’t qualify as work-
study students, either.
Students who don’t qualify for
aid on the basis of need, however,
still are eligible for the Universi
ty’s short-term loan program.
The University provides three
types of loans through the pro
gram:
• Institutional loans of up to
$750 for six months. Funding for
these loans is donated by former
students.
• Emergency tuition and fee
loans for up to 90 days in an
amount covering the student’s tu
ition and fees.
• “Little loans” of up to $50
for 30 days.
While students can use these
loans to get through temporary
hard times, however, they don’t
provide enough money to be
used as a main source of financial
aid.
Benson says short-term loans
currently are available to all stu
dents regardless of need. But if
demand for the loans increases,
he says, need determination may
become part of the application
process.
Students also can try to get stu
dent loans from banks and other
savings institutions. But one com
mon form of aid, in which a stu
dent borrows from a parent as he
would from a bank, is not allowed
under the new tax laws. The laws
also severely restrict parental gifts
of money to their children.
Students who have exhausted
all other types of aid — schol
arships, grants, loans and paren
tal financing — are faced with
finding a job on or off campus.
But Benson says the job outlook
isn’t good.
For most of the year, campus
departments have labored under
a hiring freeze implemented by
Gov. Mark White to keep the
state from running out of money.
Although White lifted that freeze
in November, cuts made by the
Legislature’s special session have
kept the University from hiring
many student workers.
And Benson says the local
economy doesn’t provide a prom
ising outlook for students seeking
jobs. In addition to the current
economic recession, he says, the
area is simply oversaturated with
college students seekingjobs.
“In a community of 100,000,”
he says, “36,000 students satu
rates it quickly.”
Benson says his department
participated three years ago in a
survey designed to develop off-
See Aid, page 16