Ex-CIA Official Not ‘Renegade,’ Panels Indicate

WASHINGTON —  The CIA’s former Costa Rica station chief, portrayed by the agency as a “renegade” for his efforts to help Nicaragua’s contra rebels after Congress had banned government aid, testified Friday in a closed session with congressional investigating committees that he kept CIA officials informed of his activities, committee members said.

“I gather that people in the agency were notified,” said Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), a member of the House committee.

Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, who is believed to be the central figure in the Iran-contra affair and who was fired last year from his position as an aide to the National Security Council, also appeared to have been informed of the CIA station chief’s activities, Hyde said.

‘Unauthorized Contacts’

The CIA recalled the station chief, Joe Fernandez, who also used the code name Tomas Castillo, to Washington last winter and suspended him with pay after he admitted to “unauthorized contacts” with the private operators of a secret airlift to supply weapons to the contras.

“It looks to me that a lot of individual responsibility has been focused on (the CIA station chief) that maybe he shouldn’t have to bear,” added Sen. David L. Boren (D-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the special Senate panel investigating the scandal.

Boren added, however, that Fernandez did not indicate that the entire agency “straight up and down the chain of command” was involved in the possibly illegal activities.

Earlier witnesses before the House-Senate committees said Fernandez was in regular contact with rebel leaders in southern Nicaragua and played an integral role in facilitating a private airlift of weapons and supplies to those contra forces.

“Joe was critical to us throughout the operation, and Joe remained involved throughout the operation,” Robert C. Dutton, who managed the airlifts, told the committees on Wednesday.

Dutton said Fernandez went so far as to set the schedule for individual air drops to the rebels in September, 1986. It is unclear whether those actions were legal: The law at that time allowed the CIA to share intelligence and communications with the contras.

Lewis A. Tambs, former U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica, told the congressional committees Thursday that he believed Fernandez was ordered to help the contras and cleared his activities with “his home office.” Tambs also identified Fernandez as the channel through which he relayed messages to Washington regarding the construction of a secret airstrip that was used to supply the contra forces in southern Nicaragua and other operations involving the rebels.

Identifies Special Group

Those messages, he said, were forwarded to a special three-member group of Administration officials: North; Alan D. Fiers, chairman of the CIA’s Central American task force, and Elliott Abrams, the assistant secretary of state for Latin America. A spokesman for Abrams said no such three-member organization existed.

Abrams, who has denied prior knowledge of the airstrip and of possibly illegal activities by Administration officials in Central America, is scheduled to testify publicly Tuesday.

The CIA has repeatedly denied that it played a role in the private airlift, and sources in the agency have used the word “renegade” to describe Fernandez and his activities.

The Times reported Friday that the agency suspended a second covert operations officer who used CIA helicopters in Honduras to carry supplies to the contras and evacuate wounded rebels from the battlefield.

Tells Colleagues of Approval

Last year, Fernandez reportedly told colleagues that his activities had been tacitly approved by senior CIA officials, including Fiers and Clair George, deputy director for operations.

However, in later testimony to congressional investigators and independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, Fernandez is said to have recanted that version and claimed that he acted without the knowledge of most, if not all, of his superiors.

Agency officials had planned to dismiss or retire Fernandez, but sources said he was told more recently that he would be allowed to continue with the agency.

Transcript Being Prepared

A transcript of Fernandez’ six-hour testimony is expected to be made public over the weekend, after CIA officials have an opportunity to strip it of classified material. Fernandez appeared in private to prevent exposure of his appearance.

Boren indicated that Fernandez was encouraged by instructions, issued by North to Tambs, that Tambs was to “open up” a southern front for the contras to weaken the Nicaraguan government’s ability to fight the rebels in northern Nicaragua.

“Usually ambassadors are influential, and the ambassador says to (Fernandez) I’ve been given the task of opening a southern front,” Boren said. “And you’ve got Col. North at the National Security Council indicating certain things are expected.”