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@ -4,11 +4,15 @@ tags:
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- IranContra
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- Person
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summary: "In late 1985, Ari Ben-Menashe approached Sanders to purchase cluster bombs for Israel."
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updated: 2026-10-12
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---
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[[Alan Sanders]] was a businessman with links to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]. His cover was [[ITICO]] (Integrated Technologies International Co.). He was involved in supplying technology for cluster bombs to [[Carlos Cardoen]], specifically in the form of blueprints. This was done with a covert [[United States|U.S.]] license, despite a [[United Nations]] arms embargo against [[Chile]].[^1]
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[[Alan Sanders]] was a businessman with links to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]. His cover was [[ITICO]] (Integrated Technologies International Co.). He was involved in supplying technology for cluster bombs to [[Carlos Cardoen]], specifically in the form of blueprints. [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] wrote that this was done with a covert [[United States|U.S.]] license despite a [[United Nations]] arms embargo against [[Chile]].[^1] Security Council resolution 232 of December 16, 1966 imposed mandatory measures against Southern Rhodesia, including a prohibition on the sale or shipment of arms, and resolution 418 of November 4, 1977 imposed a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa.[^2][^3]
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In late 1985, [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] approached Sanders to purchase cluster bombs for [[Israel]]. Sanders made it clear that the sale of cluster bombs to [[Israel]] was prohibited by the [[United States|U.S.]]. However, he introduced Ben-Menashe to [[Richard Babayan]], a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] contract agent with close contacts with [[Carlos Cardoen|Cardoen]], indicating that Cardoen would sell the bombs to [[Israel]].[^1]
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In late 1985, Ari Ben-Menashe approached Sanders to purchase cluster bombs for [[Israel]]. Sanders made it clear that the sale of cluster bombs to Israel was prohibited by the U.S.. However, he introduced Ben-Menashe to [[Richard Babayan]], a CIA contract agent with close contacts with Cardoen, indicating that Cardoen would sell the bombs to Israel.[^1]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
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[^2]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 232 (1966), December 16, 1966. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F232%20%281966%29&l=en&t=pdf
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[^3]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 418 (1977), November 4, 1977. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F418%20%281977%29&l=en&t=pdf
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@ -10,8 +10,9 @@ tags:
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- Contra_War
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summary: Honduran general and CIA collaborator on the Contra project who was convicted of plotting a cocaine-financed assassination and coup, then received extraordinary leniency through Oliver North's intervention.
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location: "Honduras"
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updated: 2026-10-12
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---
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Jose Bueso Rosa was a Honduran general and [[Central Intelligence Agency]] collaborator on the [[Contras|Contra]] project who was convicted in 1984 for plotting to assassinate Honduran president Roberto Suazo Cordova and stage a coup financed by a giant cocaine sale. Despite the severity of his crimes, he received extraordinary leniency through [[Oliver North]]'s intervention.[^1]
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Jose Bueso Rosa was a Honduran general and [[Central Intelligence Agency]] collaborator on the [[Contras|Contra]] project who was convicted in 1985 for plotting to assassinate Honduran president Roberto Suazo Cordova and stage a coup financed by a giant cocaine sale. Despite the severity of his crimes, he received extraordinary leniency through [[Oliver North]]'s intervention.[^1]
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### The Cocaine Coup Plot
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@ -25,6 +26,15 @@ Bueso Rosa was one of the CIA's main collaborators in [[Honduras]] on the Contra
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North and other officials launched an aggressive campaign to get Bueso Rosa lenient treatment. "Justice is justifiably upset that none of this info was made available to them prior to indictment," North complained. State Department official Francis McNeil testified that Colonel Nestor Pino "assert[ed] an American intelligence interest in Bueso Rosa, in getting Bueso Rosa off." An all-star collection of officials including Pino, William Bode, and the former DIA head appeared as character witnesses or sent glowing letters. North wrote that the objective was "to keep Bueso from feeling like he was lied to in legal process and start spilling the beans." Associate Attorney General [[Stephen Trott]] claimed he didn't know why he intervened, other than North telling him about possible release of "sensitive" information. McNeil testified he suspected "a narcotics angle" behind the frantic machinations. Bueso Rosa received five years and was deported after three years at Eglin Air Force Base. He later disclosed the CIA had equipped and trained the Honduran army's death squad, the 316 Battalion.[^1]
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### The Sentence Reduction
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The Kerry subcommittee reported that Bueso Rosa was convicted in 1985 of conspiring to assassinate President Suazo Córdova of Honduras, a plot to be financed from the sale in the United States of $40 million in cocaine seized in connection with it. The other defendants received sentences of as long as forty years. Senior United States officials intervened with a federal judge to reduce his sentence to five years, and officials of the United States government also ensured that he served his sentence in a minimum-security facility at a United States military base in Florida.[^2]
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According to [[Mark M. Richard]], deputy assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division, who described the matter in a deposition before the Iran-Contra committee, the Pentagon took the initiative in supporting the interventions. At a meeting, North, General Gorman, [[Elliott Abrams]] and Clarridge agreed that Bueso Rosa should be accommodated. Richard said that the State Department's position had changed, and he opposed the interventions. The subcommittee noted that the Justice Department had publicized the conspiracy as the most significant narco-terrorism case yet discovered, and that FBI director [[William Webster]] had said at the time of the arrests: "We don't want international terrorists to establish beachheads or bases for operations in the United States."[^2]
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The subcommittee also reported that the government's factual admissions in the North trial, released April 6, 1989, stated that in mid-September 1986 North advised Admiral [[John Poindexter]] that Ambassador Negroponte, General Gorman, the senior CIA officer Clarridge and North had worked out arrangements with Bueso Rosa for support of the Contra resistance, and that North suggested efforts be made on Bueso Rosa's behalf to deter him from disclosing details of those covert activities. The Justice Department objected strenuously to the leniency, and Francis McNeil testified that the intervention undermined Reagan administration policy on terrorism, narcotics and democracy.[^2]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 19: "He reports to people reporting to Bush"
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[^2]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, *Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy* (December 1988), pp. 121-122 (Bueso-Rosa section, including the deposition of Mark M. Richard before the Iran-Contra committee). https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras
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---
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---
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category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
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created: 2024-04-25
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updated: 2026-05-17
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updated: 2026-10-12
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tags:
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- Person
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- DoJ
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- IranContra
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- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
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summary: "William French Smith (1917-1990) served as U.S. Attorney General from 1981 to 1985 under President Reagan, and as the first Reagan AG signed the secret 1982 Memorandum of Understanding with CIA director William J. Casey that removed drug offenses from the list of crimes CIA assets were required to report to the Department of Justice."
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summary: "William French Smith was U.S. Attorney General from 1981 to 1985 under Reagan and signed the 1982 crimes-reporting Memorandum of Understanding with CIA director William J. Casey."
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born: 1917-08-26
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died: 1990-10-29
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location: "Wilton, New Hampshire"
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---
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William French Smth was the U.S. Attorney General under [[Ronald Reagan]] who signed the secret 1982 Memorandum of Understanding with [[Central Intelligence Agency]] director [[William J. Casey]] that exempted CIA assets from drug crimes reporting. The agreement, hammered out between the CIA and Justice Department, fundamentally altered the relationship between intelligence operations and law enforcement.[^1]
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William French Smith was the U.S. Attorney General under [[Ronald Reagan]] who signed the secret 1982 Memorandum of Understanding with [[Central Intelligence Agency]] director [[William J. Casey]] that exempted CIA assets from drug crimes reporting. The agreement, hammered out between the CIA and Justice Department, fundamentally altered the relationship between intelligence operations and law enforcement.[^1]
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### The Secret 1982 Agreement
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In early 1982, Smith and Casey signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding that removed drug offenses from the list of crimes the CIA was required to report to the Justice Department. Crimes committed by people "acting for" an intelligence agency no longer needed to be reported either. For thirteen years, the CIA and Justice maintained what Inspector General [[Fred Hitz]] called "a gentleman's agreement to look the other way." The agreement was signed just as the CIA was launching both the [[Contras|Contra]] project and operations in Afghanistan, timing that [[Robert Parry]] argued proved premeditation: "That could only have been done for one purpose. They were anticipating what eventually happened. They knew drugs were going to be sold." Civil rights lawyers later filed suit charging the agreement was illegal and led to policies protecting rather than stopping drug trafficking.[^2]
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In early 1982, Smith and Casey signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding under which narcotics violations by non-employees were not on the list of crimes the CIA was required to report to the Justice Department.[^2] Crimes committed by people "acting for" an intelligence agency no longer needed to be reported either. Gary Webb, after quoting Inspector General [[Fred Hitz]]'s March 1998 testimony that the arrangement had been "hammered out" in 1982, wrote that for thirteen years "the CIA and Justice had a gentleman's agreement to look the other way."[^3] In an interview for the PBS series Frontline, Hitz said: "We didn't find any evidence of an understanding that official Washington was going to look the other way with respect to allegations of drug trafficking."[^4] The agreement was signed just as the CIA was launching both the [[Contras|Contra]] project and operations in Afghanistan, timing that [[Robert Parry]] argued proved premeditation: "That could only have been done for one purpose. They were anticipating what eventually happened. They knew drugs were going to be sold." Civil rights lawyers later filed suit charging the agreement was illegal and led to policies protecting rather than stopping drug trafficking.[^3]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Epilogue.
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[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Epilogue.
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[^2]: CIA Office of Inspector General, *Report of Investigation: Allegations of Connections Between CIA and the Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States* (96-0143-IG), Vol. II, *The Contra Story.* https://archive.org/details/nps56-111612-04
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[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Epilogue.
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[^4]: PBS Frontline, *Drug Wars,* interview with Frederick P. Hitz, CIA Inspector General 1990 to 1998. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/hitz.html
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