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As more information emerges on both the Iranian adventure and the contra military resupply, the names of former CIA agents and assets keep appearing. Eugene Hasenfus, the American captured by the Sandinistas after his C-123K cargo plane was shot down over Nicaragua on Oct. 5, had performed similar work as a CIA "cargo kicker" over Laos during the Viet Nam War. A more significant connection is George Cave, who was a young CIA agent in Tehran in 1953 when the Company helped engineer the coup that restored the Shah of Iran to power. In the mid '70s Cave served in Tehran as deputy CIA station chief, and the Shah took a personal liking to the suave agent who spoke fluent Farsi. Cave retired from the CIA shortly after the Shah was overthrown. Yet on the arms-laden U.S. cargo plane that flew former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane into Tehran last May 28 to establish the first high-level U.S. Government contact with Iran in years, there again was Cave, representing the CIA.
It is convenient, say CIA insiders, to claim that former employees retain no affiliation with the Company. But on retirement all agents are asked to sign statements saying whether they will accept future assignments. They need not do so, but many find the pay as contract agents handy, and some yearn to recapture the excitement of secret work. If contract agents get in trouble, the CIA can deny any connection. But in fact free-lancers report to a "case officer," says one former CIA official, and thus "the agency knows everything. That's why it is very hard to believe Oliver North or anybody else could use CIA resources and personnel to pull this off without Casey's knowing."
An unfortunate effect of the current fiasco is that Casey's widely recognized revitalization of the CIA is suffering a severe jolt. Casey has hiked the agency's budget by 50% (to an estimated $1 billion) during his six- year tenure. He has markedly improved the quality of the agency's intelligence analyses, partly by creating a better balance between the Company's capabilities in ELINT (electronic intelligence gathering) and HUMINT (human intelligence gathering, meaning spies and informers), which had been given short shrift. Having been a World War II operative for the old Office of Strategic Services (the CIA's precursor), Casey has retained a fondness for covert activities, and his reputation and elan have made him a hero within the agency. Yet the high morale at the CIA is in danger of evaporating as Iranscam unravels. Says one friend: "Everything that Bill Casey has achieved could be destroyed by the Iran-contra connection."
The same observation could be made about the achievements of Casey's friend and boss, Ronald Reagan. Like Reagan, Casey has put himself into a difficult bind about a scandal that occurred on his watch: even while denying his complicity, he is admitting to an appalling ignorance of what went on around him.