U.S. Customs and Border Protection (U.S. Customs) is a federal law enforcement agency responsible for protecting the borders of the [[United States]].[^1] ### Contra War Role [[Joseph Kelso]], a [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and U.S. Customs informant, gathered testimony from six witnesses willing to testify that [[DEA]] agents in [[Costa Rica]] were skimming cocaine from seizures, making counterfeit money, and protecting cocaine labs on Contra bases. When Kelso's investigation was exposed, [[Robert Owen]], serving as a conduit for [[Oliver North]], had Kelso arrested. Evidence tapes from Kelso's investigation were turned over to North via Owen, who threw them away when the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] broke.[^2] ### Flowchart Analysis The U.S. Customs Service analyzed a flowchart seized from [[Ronald Lister]]'s home during a 1986 raid, which appeared to diagram an illegal weapons diversion scheme matching the methods used to funnel arms to the [[Contras]].[[^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 17: "We're going to blow your fucking head off" [^3]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"