Hour of the Time

Operation Yellowfruit – The Real Men Who Stare At Goats – continued

Special Veritas News Service report – Contributed by “Woodsy”

Part 2

The Whitehouse and the Government of Israel

Congress in 1982 was becoming increasingly suspicious of the US providing unapproved aid to the Contra’s in Honduras. The Contra’s themselves were more of a Nicaraguan terrorist group, who performed acts of terror on civilians, because of their hatred of the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. The Whitehouse was also against what it considered the “leftist-Marxist” Sandinista government and wanted it to topple. The Whitehouse wished to help the Contra’s efforts, but needed support. In February of 1982 they found a willing partner in the government of Israel. This would be the beginning of covert operations between the US and Israel that would extend to the Iran-Contra operations. By the end of 1983 there were more than 30 Israeli advisors training Contras to attack the Sandinistas.

Israel supplied the Contras with caches found in Lebanon that were filled with Soviet weapons such as AK-47 rifles, portable shoulder missile launchers, and grenade launchers. Most if not all of these weapons the Israeli’s themselves found little to no use for, because their major supplier of military weapons was the US. In exchange for weapons the US would give the Israeli’s increased aid (unbeknownst to Congress). Also part of the deal was giving “favorable prices” to the Israeli government for American made fighter planes. At first the Israeli’s compromised CIA warehouse locations by stamping on their crates filled with Soviet Arms, “CIA Warehouse” – “San Antonio” this was quickly rectified.

Special Covert Rules

Tensions increased in July 1982 between Longhofer and the newly appointed Army’s Director of Operations in the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans (DCSOPS), General Edward C. O’Connor. He was greatly surprised by the lax approach of the SOD. On one occasion when O’Connor was closing on a house in Boston, Longhofer offered a Seaspray helicopter for his use. O’Connor was not at all impressed with the idea of using Army helicopters for personal business. Their relationship was increasingly strained and soon O’Connor was trying to implement a system of calculating SOD expenditures (if implemented this might have saved two Colonels from being court-martialed). This action outraged Longhofer and the members of the SOD. They claimed the SOD operated under “special covert rules”. Unfortunately for SOD, as they would soon find out, “special covert rules” did not exist.

Then Longhofer did something almost unheard of in the Army. Longhofer went over O’Connor’s head. Longhofer wrote a letter to General Richard Williamson which stated that O’Connor’s actions were shutting down the Divisions activities. This was considered an act of disloyalty by some of the top Army brass. Major General Homer Long commented to General Robert Schweiter: “The soldier in me regards it was an act of treason or treasonable activity that a colonel would write a letter about his general officer.” After the reassigning (which was the equivalent of a firing) of O’Connor, the SOD feeling vindicated went back to the “old ways” of doing things.

In October 1982 Longhofer (who was thought of as the most qualified colonel for the job) was to be reassigned (promoted) to become the Military Assistant to the Deputy Director of Operations of the CIA; this was an ill defined job and was really a liaison between the SOD and CIA. This was thought of as a necessary component for the furthered success of SOD and CIA alliance. Longhofer’s replacement was Colonel Robert Kvederas. Instead of trying to understand what was going on around him Kvederas left everyone alone. Kvederas was surprised by the blanket travel orders (usually only given to generals) as well as the retaining of travel advances. He is quoted as saying to himself upon acceptance of this position, “I will end up getting promoted, or I will go to jail.”

Longhofer (in his new undefined job) still maneuvered things behind the scenes for the SOD. This led to a confrontation between Longhofer and Major General Homer Long who told Longhofer to “butt out of SOD operations.” Later Long would recall, “[it] infuriated him (Longhofer) [to the point that] I think if he had a knife he would have cut my throat.” Longhofer went to General Edward C. (Shy) Meyer, the Chief of Staff and Meyer gave Longhofer approval to continue working with the SOD “just in a more covert way”.

Meanwhile the accomplishments of Yellow Fruit were piling up. Duncan poured $1 million into developing a certain type of radar for F-18 fighters, known as Phase D-Ray. This technology was extremely sensitive, it could penetrate clouds and ground clutter as it used its Moving Target Indicators to track humans, trucks, and boats. Yellow Fruit trained terrorist groups in a remote air force base in Florida, teaching them to fly small planes for daring deep-penetration raids, as well as in bombing runs from light observation aircraft in California. There was also the disturbing fact that Yellow Fruit was spying on Delta and ISA at this time.

Among all these accomplishments somehow Yellow Fruit convinced the Army and CIA to purchase a ship. The ship would be used in covert operations and provide them a commercial cover. It was approved by the Army with Major General Colin Powell, signing the final authorization documents. The cost of the ship was $3 Million and was wired from the Army to the CIA.

The Boland Amendment and Wars Powers Act

The Boland Amendment, proposed by Edward Boland (Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts) was passed by Congress in December 1982. This prohibited any Congressional funds from being used to overthrow the Nicaraguan (Sandinista) government. A perceived loophole was found in that the Boland Amendment covered only appropriated funds spent by intelligence agencies. In this way the CIA used SOD as a “legal” way to supply the Contra’s because the SOD were not officially involved in intelligence and so would not have to inform Congress. This really didn’t make a difference because under the “Wars Powers Act” The SOD was required to notify Congress for any military engagements. Using the same tactics of the CIA, the SOD bypassed this responsibility by using the CIA as a “legal” loophole since the CIA was not required to report under the Wars Powers Act.

These “legal” loopholes were the subject of complaint by Army Secretary Marsh to Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger. Marsh complained about the lack of clear legal guidelines on how the Army should respond to the increasing number of CIA requests to the Defense Department. Citing in his letter Operation Rook’s Landing, this was asking for two Seaspray helicopters to be deployed in Central America for the purpose of confirming flights from Nicaragua to El Salvador. Approved initially by the Army it was denied by the Central American Management Committee, the reason being it would have to be reported to Congress under the Wars Powers Act. Also Marsh cited Operation Poker Face where the Army was asked by the CIA for eight officers to train anti-Sandinista rebels in CIA camps in Honduras. Lastly he cited Queens Hunter (Longhofer’s most stellar accomplishment in aerial intelligence) which was directed at rebels in Honduras and El Salvador.

Weinberger responded that it was unnecessary to evaluate interagency processes. As far as reporting to Congress was concerned, Weinberger insisted it was the responsibility of CIA Director William Casey. Casey himself felt that Congress had no right to be informed of covert operations.

The Christmas List

The CIA on July 13, 1983, through the Joint Chiefs of Staff asked that the Army, Air Force, and Navy, provide $28 Million worth of military equipment under the November 1981 Central American Finding. This was later found out to be earmarked for the Contra’s and was known as Operation Elephant Herd or as the Army officials dubbed it “the CIA’s Christmas List.” The Army flatly turned down Operation Elephant Herd as they were unable to justify this action. On July 24, 1983 US Ambassador to Nicaragua Anthony Quainton declared that “guerrillas in Salvador are receiving substantial amounts of aid, military equipment and ammunition through Nicaragua.” This led to President Reagan signing an authorization of covert operation to destabilize the Nicaraguan government in September of 1983. So it was Christmas come early for the CIA, as they got “maximum support in accordance with the law.”

The End of Yellow Fruit

Yellow Fruit’s demise ultimately came from the laissez-faire attitude of its members primarily Col. Duncan and Longhofer who would wind up being court-martialed for it.

William Golden was hand picked by Duncan to get the books of Yellow Fruit in order. Golden saw first hand the sad state of affairs of their expenditures with little to no receipts. These receipts consisted of mostly just pieces of blank paper with numbers written on them and the occasional cocktail napkin. He had worked for black operations before and never had seen the like. Golden discovered that Duncan and his wife, along with Joel Patterson (the auditor who was to audit Golden’s work) and his wife, went on a European vacation on the SOD’s tab. As a result, Golden requested an investigation from Kvederas who in turn appointed Longhofer to investigate.

Duncan was exonerated, and he dealt harshly with Golden and others who supported Golden’s claims. A particular recipient of this harsh treatment was Army Special Forces intelligence expert Mike Belcher, who Duncan personally fired. Later Belcher contacted his old commander ISA chief Jerry King. King put him in touch with Major Frothingham, who wrote a briefing to General Stubblebine. Stubblebine wanted to hear the story for himself, so he called for Belcher to come to his office and heard Belchers story, but Stubblebine still had his doubts. All doubts were wiped away when Duncan forced his way into Stubblebine’s office and threatened him.

The case eventually landed on the desk of Theodore S. Greenberg, an Assistant United States Attorney. Greenberg was disgusted by the extent of financial abuses and bad bookkeeping. This of course was the end of Yellow Fruit, ending in the court-martialing of Duncan and Longhofer. Longhofer’s court-martial would later be reversed because of legal technicalities.

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Operation Yellowfruit – The Real Men Who Stare At Goats – continued

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