Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency article, dated 2006-10-23 in the archive, was written by a Directorate of Intelligence officer. It reviews how CIA Public Affairs handled the 1996 San Jose Mercury-News "Dark Alliance" series by Gary Webb, which alleged CIA complicity in crack cocaine sales. The article concludes that good relations with journalists and a strong Public Affairs response kept the story from becoming a disaster. UFO coverups come up only once, as an example of fantastic allegations about CIA.
“The Iron Skeptic”1 page
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29 September 1996. See also Paul Shepard, "CLA Drug Allegations Revive Black Fears of Anti-Black Conspiracy," Associated Press, 5 October 1996. 3. In October 1996, I went on a speaking tour to Brigham Young University, Washington and Jefferson College, and the US Coast Guard Academy. While I encountered no hostility at any of these institutions, one of the first questions raised in Q&A was the drug conspiracy issue. 4. Quoted in Howard Kurtz, "Running With the CIA Story," The Washington Post, 2 October 1996, p. B1. Emphasis by the author. 5. According to journalism's primary trade journal, Webb's former employer, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, lost a libel suit and was assessed over $13 million in damages because of stories Webb wrote that alleged improprieties surrounding the Cleveland Grand Prix. See Susan Revah, "A Furor Over the CIA and Drugs," American Journalism Review, November 1996, p. 11. Those who followed General Westmoreland's unsuccessful suit against CBS several years ago can appreciate how difficult it is to win a libel suit against the press. 6. For example, "Deutch Orders CIA Probe of Drug Reports," The Washington Post, 7 September 1996, p. A1. 7. Typical pieces included: Andrea Lewis, "A CIA Plot Against Black America? Crack Sales May Not Be Just a Case of Paranoia," The Baltimore Sun, 15 September 1996, p. E1; Annette Leslie Williams, "Probe CIA Drug Ties to Bloody L.A. Gangs," USA Today, 13 September 1996, p. 15A; and Jesse Jackson, "Did the CIA Trade Lives for Contra Funds?," The Los Angeles Times, 15 September 1996, p. M5. 8. Jeffrey York, "Joe Madison, Leading the Charge," The Washington Post, 17 September 1996, p. B7. Carl T. Rowan, "Some Answers, Please!," The Baltimore Sun, 18 September 1996, p. 19A. Gregory Vistica and Vern Smith, "Was the CIA Involved in the Crack Epidemic?" Newsweek, 30 September 1996, p. 72. 9. Congressman Waters was only the most vocal of the Congressional critics. For example, Congressman Cynthia McKinney on the House floor called CIA the "Central Intoxication Agency." See Jim Wolf, "CIA on Defensive Over Drug-Peddling Charges," Associated Press, 18 September 1996. 10. William Raspberry, "The Crack Story: Who's Buying It?," The Washington Post, 23 September 1996, p. A19. Claude Lewis, "Even if the CIA Flooded Inner Cities with Crack, Blacks Didn't Say 'No'," Philadelphia Inquirer, 25 September 1996, p. A23. Lars Erik Larsen, "Contra-Coke Tale Is Not What It's Cracked Up To Be," New York Daily News, 25 September 1996. Mark Matthews, "CIA's Dubious role in Crack Deals," The Baltimore Sun, 27 September 1996, p. 2A. Tucker Carlson, "A Disgraceful Newspaper Exposé and Its Fans," The Weekly Standard, 30 September 1996, pp. 27-30. Howard Kurtz, "Running with the CIA Story," The Washington Post, 2 October 1996, p. B1. Robert Suro and Walter Pincus, "The CIA and Crack: Evidence is Lacking of Alleged Plot," The Washington Post, 4 October 1996, p. A1. The Associated Press reported on The Washington Post's critical treatment of the story, which in turn received some "bounce" among newspapers: see, for example, "CIA Drug Link Report Challenged," Miami Herald, 5 October 1996. See also Associated Press, "Mercury News Has Reporter Evaluate CIA-Contra-Crack Series," 21 October 1996. 11. Pete Carey, "Dark Alliance' Series Takes on a Life of its Own," San Jose Mercury-News, 13 October 1996. 12. PAS Research and Services staff regularly clips articles relevant to intelligence and national security issues. 13. Tim Golden, "Tale of C.I.A. and Drugs Has Life of Its Own," The New York Times, 21 October 1996, p. A1. 14. Doyle McManus, "The Cocaine Trail," three-part series, The Los Angeles Times, 20-22 October 1996. 15. Alicia Shepard, "The Web That Gary Spun," American Journalism Review, January/February 1997. Rem Rieder, "The Lessons of Dark Alliance," American Journalism Review, June 1997. Jerry Ceppos, "To Readers of Our 'Dark Alliance' Series," San Jose Mercury-News, 11 May 1997. 16. Robyn Gearey, "Troubled Waters," The New Republic, 30 June 1997. 17. Eleanor Randolph and John Broder, "Cyberspace Contributes to Volatility of Allegations," The Los Angeles Times, 22 October 1996, p. 14. Howard Kurtz, "A Webb of Conspiracy," The Washington Post, 28 October 1996, p. A12. 18. John Ranelagh, The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986), pp. 532-533. 19. Samuel Huntington, American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981); Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., The Cycles of American History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986).
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 6 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.