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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Tom Clines.md
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@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ aliases:
- Tom Clines
- Thomas G. Clines
created: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-09-21
updated: 2026-10-09
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ tags:
- Vietnam
- 1970s
- 1980s
summary: "CIA officer under Ted Shackley at JMWAVE, in Laos, and in the Western Hemisphere Division, later of the Safari Club and Iran-Contra Enterprise network, convicted in 1993 of underreporting Iran-Contra income."
summary: "CIA officer under Ted Shackley at JMWAVE, in Laos, and in the Western Hemisphere Division, later of the Safari Club and Iran-Contra Enterprise network, convicted in 1990 of underreporting Iran-Contra income."
location: "United States"
---
@ -30,15 +30,17 @@ After Laos, Clines continued in CIA operations roles in Southeast Asia and [[Lat
After leaving CIA, Clines became involved in the arms and intelligence consulting business that grew around the network of former CIA officers associated with Shackley. One significant connection was to [[Edwin Wilson]], the former CIA officer who was selling arms and providing paramilitary training to Libya's Muammar Qaddafi. Clines, like [[Richard Secord]], had documented contacts with Wilson during the period Wilson was running the Libya operations. Congressional investigations into Wilson's activities examined Clines's role, and while Clines was not charged in the Wilson case, the investigation contributed to the end of his government career.[^1]
The congressional report states that in 1982 Clines became a target of a Justice Department investigation of fraudulent overbilling of the government by the Egyptian American Transport Company (EATSCO), 49 percent of which he owned; EATSCO pleaded guilty to criminal and civil overbilling charges two months after Secord's May 1983 retirement, and Clines, on behalf of the entity holding his interest, paid a 10,000 dollar criminal fine and a 100,000 dollar civil fine; the Justice Department closed the case in July 1984.[^2] In 1984, when Clines needed 33,000 dollars toward the civil fine, Secord lent him the sum through a cashier's check carried by [[Glenn Robinette]].[^2] The Wall Street Journal reported in October 1982 that EATSCO was set up in August 1979 by Clines and the Egyptian businessman [[Hussein Salem|Hussein K. Salem]], that the Treasury had by then paid it 71.4 million dollars, and that in January 1979 Wilson arranged a 500,000 dollar loan for Clines.[^3] Secord testified in 1987 that Clines "had some problems in the EATSCO affair. I believe he was treated unfairly there. The Justice Department did not convict him. They went for a technical charge instead."[^4]
### Wackenhut, 1976
A [[Domestic Contact Service]] cable of June 22, 1976, records a request from the Latin America Division for contact with [[Bruce Berckmans]], director of international operations of the [[Wackenhut Corporation]] in [[Miami]], "a former staff agent under the LPGLOBE program" who "was asked to resign from the Agency in 1970." He had asked, "through an LA Division officer, Tom Clines," to see an agency representative about information believed to concern "political developments in [[Jamaica]]," and "the name of Tom Clines may be used to facilitate contact." A week later Berckmans told the Miami officer that "after consultations with his attorney he has decided not to sue the Agency."[^2]
A [[Domestic Contact Service]] cable of June 22, 1976, records a request from the Latin America Division for contact with [[Bruce Berckmans]], director of international operations of the [[Wackenhut Corporation]] in [[Miami]], "a former staff agent under the LPGLOBE program" who "was asked to resign from the Agency in 1970." He had asked, "through an LA Division officer, Tom Clines," to see an agency representative about information believed to concern "political developments in [[Jamaica]]," and "the name of Tom Clines may be used to facilitate contact." A week later Berckmans told the Miami officer that "after consultations with his attorney he has decided not to sue the Agency."[^5]
### Iran-Contra Enterprise
Clines became an operational participant in the Enterprise, the private covert network directed by Secord and [[Albert Hakim]] that executed the Iran arms sales and Contra funding operations. His primary role was in the logistics and transportation aspects of the Enterprise's weapons movements - specifically managing air freight and cargo operations for weapons shipments.[^1]
In 1993, Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh's prosecution resulted in Clines's conviction on four counts of tax-related offenses: specifically, underreporting income from transactions connected to the Enterprise. The prosecution established that Clines had received income from Enterprise operations that he failed to report on his tax returns. He was sentenced to sixteen months in prison and fined.[^3]
Clines was indicted in February 1990 after the guilty pleas and cooperation of Richard Secord and Albert Hakim, and on September 18, 1990 a jury in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, before Judge Norman P. Ramsey, convicted him of four income-tax-related felonies; on December 13, 1990 Ramsey sentenced him to 16 months in prison and a 40,000 dollar fine. The Fourth Circuit affirmed and the Supreme Court denied certiorari.[^6] Secord and Willard Zucker were the central prosecution witnesses; Secord testified under a cooperation agreement.[^6] The prosecution established that Clines had received income from Enterprise operations that he failed to report on his tax returns.[^7]
### Shackley Network
@ -47,5 +49,9 @@ Clines's career illustrates the structural feature of the Shackley network: offi
### Footnotes
[^1]: Corn, David, and Jeff Goldberg. "The Old Boy Network." *Mother Jones*, October 1994. Trento, Joseph. *Prelude to Terror: The Rogue CIA and the Legacy of America's Private Intelligence Network*. Carroll & Graf, 2005.
[^2]: Central Intelligence Agency, Domestic Collection Division, case file 65805, "Wackenhut Corp.," JFK Assassination Records Collection, record 104-10291-10017, released 2023. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2023/104-10291-10017.pdf, pp. 19-22.
[^3]: Walsh, Lawrence E. *Iran-Contra: The Final Report*. Random House, 1994. Walsh, Lawrence E. *Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up*. W.W. Norton, 1997.
[^2]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, H. Rept. 100-433 / S. Rept. 100-216 (1987), ch. 21, pp. 326-327 and n. 30, https://archive.org/details/reportofcongress87unit.
[^3]: Edward T. Pound and Walter S. Mossberg, "Weapons Windfall," Wall Street Journal, Oct. 1, 1982, pp. 1, 18, CIA Reading Room CIA-RDP09S00048R000100020015-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp09s00048r000100020015-5.
[^4]: Testimony of Richard V. Secord, Iran-Contra Investigation: Joint Hearings, 100th Cong., 1st sess., Hearings 100-1, p. 303, https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152829_0342.
[^5]: Central Intelligence Agency, Domestic Collection Division, case file 65805, "Wackenhut Corp.," JFK Assassination Records Collection, record 104-10291-10017, released 2023. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2023/104-10291-10017.pdf, pp. 19-22.
[^6]: Lawrence E. Walsh, Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, pt. V, ch. 11, "United States v. Thomas G. Clines," pp. 181-184, https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_11.htm.
[^7]: Walsh, Lawrence E. *Iran-Contra: The Final Report*. Random House, 1994. Walsh, Lawrence E. *Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up*. W.W. Norton, 1997.