Alan Fiers, a former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] official, ran the Contra program for several years. He provided detailed explanation of how the [[Contras]] obtained weapons despite being unable to purchase them on the international arms market, where only countries can buy weapons.[^1] ### End-User Certificates Fiers explained the mechanics of fraudulent end-user certificates (EUCs), which were central to the covert arms supply network. "The Contras can't buy weapons on the international arms market. Only countries can buy weapons, and certain countries can't buy weapons if they're embargoed or if they're embroiled in a political confrontation," Fiers said. "So what happens is an arms broker will get an intermediary country to issue false end-user certificates. There is generally some consideration involved and the end-user certificate is issued, but the arms are either not shipped to the country that issued the certificate or are trans-shipped through that country on to a disguised end user, in this case, the Contras."[^1] EUCs are sworn declarations in which the purchasing government certifies it actually ordered the weapons, providing the U.S. government assurance that American-made weapons were not ending up with terrorists or Communist guerrillas. When [[Oliver North]] began supplying arms for the Contras after the CIA funding cutoff, he frequently used phony EUCs from the [[Guatemala|Guatemalan]] and [[Honduras|Honduran]] governments to divert weapons to the Contras.[^1] ### Connection to Lister Investigation Fiers's explanation of EUCs paralleled a flow chart seized from [[Ronald Lister]]'s home during a 1986 narcotics raid. The chart contained boxes labeled "Swiss Bank," "U.S. State Department," "H.K.," "X Country," and "Factory USA," which U.S. Customs Service Senior Special Agent James P. McShane analyzed as diagramming a scheme to illegally divert American-made weapons to a third party using fraudulent end-user certifications.[^1] ### Knowledge of Contra Drug Trafficking Fiers testified in 1987 that the CIA knew about drug money flowing to [[Eden Pastora|Eden Pastora's]] forces: "We knew that everybody around Pastora was involved in cocaine. We knew it from November of 1984 forward. We reported it." Fiers was convinced that CIA operative [[John Hull]]'s ranch in northern Costa Rica was being used for Contra drug flights. "There is no doubt in Fiers's mind that Pastora's men trans-shipped drugs out of the airstrip on Hull's ranch," investigators for Iran-Contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh reported in 1991.[^2] Fiers also testified that he ordered CIA station chief [[Joseph Fernandez]] to use two suspected drug traffickers in a CIA operation involving the Contras, over Fernandez's objections. CIA officer [[Octaviano Cesar]] and [[ARDE]] logistics chief [[Adolfo Chamorro|Adolfo "Popo" Chamorro]] both confirmed that Fiers, as head of the CIA's Central American Task Force, approved their arrangement with Colombian drug trafficker [[George Morales]] to supply the Contras.[^2] ### CIA Policy on Contra Drug Trafficking One Central American station chief recalled that CIA leadership's unspoken policy was that "we were going to play with these guys. That was made clear by [CIA director William] William Casey and [[Dewey Clarridge|Clarridge]]." Fiers acknowledged the CIA "assigned a low priority to collecting intelligence concerning the Contras' alleged involvement in narcotics trafficking." The policy focus was exclusively on Sandinista involvement in drugs, not Contra involvement. "All of the Central American Stations were seeking information that would link the Sandinistas to drug trafficking," a top CIA official told the Inspector General. "The goal was to diminish the image of the Sandinistas."[^2] ### Ilopango Reporting Responsibility Fiers acknowledged the CIA "had a capability and indeed a responsibility for reporting what had been happening at [[Ilopango Airbase|Ilopango Air Force Base]]" in [[El Salvador]]. He testified that [[Felix Rodriguez]] was sent to El Salvador in early 1985 as part of a CIA reorganization: "As a result of the change in management of the task force. . .we undertook a complete review of our efforts in San Salvador. . .and made adjustments in that undertaking that left a void. Felix Rodriguez was put into—sent to El Salvador to work in the areas where we had left a void."[^3] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it" [^2]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 11: "They were looking in the other direction" [^3]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 13: "The wrong kind of friends"