Joanne Isham
SI
Status Report on Inquiry from Chairman Leach House Banking and Finance Committee
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Briefing Request
Chairman Leach IR-IA) wrote you onulyeeking your help in "verifying or laying to rest various allegations of money laundering in Arkansas in the (Copy of letter attached as
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He askedriefing from the CIA's Inspector General toopics ranging from efforts to
to whether the Agency was aware of
-.quoin lumpmiies and individuals who allegedly operated in or around Mena, Arkansas.
worst of these allegations, faxed to us before the briefing, creditedIA sourceagazine called Medig gyposs. is that the CIA discovered that Vince Fosterpy for the Israelis, andray supercomputer at CIA Headquarters to surreptitiouslyillion from Foster'3 secret Swiss account. The article goes on to speculate that Foster coirraitted suicide because he discovered his account had been drained. (Copy of article attached as
A similar briefing request was sent to NSA.
Briefing by CIA and NSA
ongressional Affairs and Inspector General representatives from CIA and NSA met with Chairman Leach and his assistant staff director, Janes McCormick.
Chairman Leach was very cordial at the briefing, but his first question was whether anyone at either agency had discussed his inquiry with anyone at Che White House, the Department of Justice, or any other governmental organization and he was told we had not discussed this outside the agency.
The CIA's, IG had not conducted investigations into these allegations andimited role in the briefing. The Agency's OCA representative advised that we had not finished our records review, but we were aware of one of the individuals identified in
UPPIIOVIO FOB RELEASE BATE- IUL III?
the Chairman'suly letter, Barry Seal (now deceased). We knew of Seal because of previous inquiries (in connection with criminal prosecutions of otherut advised we had no relationship to Seal nor any records regarding his activities in Mena, Arkansas.
We also advised him that both the SSCI and theCommittee conducted in-depthespectively, about anotherhisuly letter inquiry,
software. The conclusion then mg-iiuw. 'is that the
Agency never purchasedsoftware.
During the briefing. Chairman Leach readist of additional questions provided to us after the briefing. The briefers indicated that we could not answer all of these questions conclusively, and Chairman Leach asked for some limited follow-up searches. (Copy of additional questions attached as
NSA's IG had no information about the questions posed in theuly letter, but didrief broadbrush background on how NSA conducts its normal daily activities
We are continuing to search our records for responsive information and once the review of these materials is completed, we will brief the findings to our oversight committees, the NSC and Chairman Leach.
Original document.
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