Arkansas

Arkansas, particularly the small town of Mena, served as the base of operations for CIA-DEA contract agent Barry Seal's massive cocaine and weapons smuggling operation during the early to mid-1980s. The Mena operation represented one of the clearest intersections between U.S. intelligence activities and drug trafficking in the domestic United States.¹

Barry Seal at Mena

Seal moved in 1982 from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to a tiny airfield at isolated Mena, Arkansas, Intermountain Regional Airport, and began running drugs and weapons. He became one of the biggest cocaine and marijuana importers in the southern United States, flying loads in directly for the Medellín Cartel and air-dropping them with pinpoint precision across Louisiana, Arkansas, and other southern states. Seal detailed his cocaine-smuggling activities involving approximately 50 trips during 1981, 1982, and 1983.²

Protection from Prosecution

A Senate subcommittee later concluded that despite the availability of evidence sufficient for an indictment on money laundering charges, and over the strong protests of state and federal law enforcement officials, the cases against Seal were dropped. The apparent reason was that prosecution might have revealed national security information. Arkansas state trooper Larry Patterson testified that troopers were aware that large quantities of drugs were being flown into the Mena airport and that it was a Central Intelligence Agency operation. Bill Clinton's close friend Danny Lasater was convicted as part of a major drug ring in Little Rock.³

Iran-Contra Connection

After Seal's CIA-DEA missions ended, he parked his C-123K cargo plane at the tiny Mena airport. He sold it back to the same company he had obtained it from, and in early 1986 it wound up with CIA contractor Southern Air Transport, where it was used for Contra supply runs based at Ilopango Air Base in San Salvador until its last, fatal flight, the shootdown that broke open the Iran-Contra scandal. Seal's farm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, according to a 1983 U.S. Customs report, was allegedly used as a drop site for cocaine and marijuana flown into the country aboard a DC-4 aircraft, the same plane that subsequently turned up flying supplies for the Contras through a company operated by FDN leader Adolfo Calero's brother.⁴