---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
  - Person
  - Person/Politician
  - Person/Intelligence
  - United_States
  - 1980s
  - Contra_War
  - Dark_Alliance_Investigation
summary: Historian and former NSC staffer who documented connections between Barry Seal's drug operations at Mena, Arkansas and the CIA.
---
Roger Morris was a historian and former National Security Council staffer who wrote *Partners in Power* (1996), a book about Bill and [[Hillary Clinton]] that documented connections between [[Barry Seal]]'s drug-smuggling operations at [[Mena, Arkansas]] and the CIA.[^1]

### Barry Seal and CIA Connections

Morris wrote that Seal's "personal records showed him to be a contract CIA operative both before and during his years of drug-running in Mena in the 1980s." He also wrote that Seal worked for the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)]], "where coded records reportedly showed him on the payroll beginning in 1982."[^1]

### Danny Ray Lasater and Organized Crime

Morris wrote that "whatever the limits or extent of [[Danny Ray Lasater]]'s cocaine trafficking or the nature of his other dealings, most believed that beyond him the larger corruption in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] and elsewhere pointed unmistakably to organized crime, not to mention the vast crimes of Mena - none of which would be pursued." Morris also described an investigation into Lasater that was shut down prematurely.[^1]

### Shredding of Mena Files

Morris wrote that "in sworn testimony, a former staff member of the Arkansas State Police Intelligence Unit would describe 'a shredding party' in which she was ordered to purge the state's Mena files of nearly a thousand documents, including those referring specifically to Iran-Contra conspirator [[Oliver North]] and Seal associate [[Terry Reed]]."[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 6: "They were doing their patriotic duty"