Fred P. Hitz was the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] Inspector General who conducted the agency's internal investigation into Contra drug trafficking and testified before Congress in March 1998 about his findings.[^1] ### Congressional Testimony Appearing before the House Intelligence Committee in March 1998, Hitz delivered some of the most damaging admissions in the agency's history. "Let me be frank about what we are finding," Hitz testified. "There are instances where CIA did not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting the Contra program who were alleged to have engaged in drug trafficking activity." When Congressman Norman Dicks asked whether any of these allegations involved trafficking in the [[United States]], Hitz answered: "Yes."[^1] ### The Secret 1982 Agreement Hitz revealed that from 1982 to 1995, the CIA operated under a secret agreement with the Justice Department that exempted the agency from reporting drug crimes committed by its non-employees, a category defined to include agents, assets, and non-staff employees. The agreement was "hammered out" between CIA director William Casey and U.S. Attorney General William French Smith in 1982. "The period of 1982 to 1995 was one in which there was no official requirement to report on allegations of drug trafficking with respect to non-employees of the agency," Hitz testified.[^1] ### Inspector General's Report Hitz's 400-page report, released in late 1998, was filled with examples of CIA collusion with drug traffickers, money launderers, and drug pilots. The [[New York Times]] reported on its front page in July 1998 that the agency had working relationships with dozens of suspected drug traffickers during the Nicaraguan conflict and that CIA higher-ups knew it. "The new study has found that the Agency's decision to keep those paid agents, or to continue dealing with them in some less formal relationship, was made by top officials at headquarters," the Times reported. The [[Washington Post]] buried the story deep inside the paper, and the [[Los Angeles Times|L.A. Times]] printed nothing.[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Epilogue: "The damage that has been done"