Office of the Historian

202. Memorandum From Robert Pastor of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) and the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Aaron)1

Washington, January 21, 1980

SUBJECT

  • Manley and the KGB/DGI/CIA (S)

The attached report suggests that Manley was informed by Andrew Young that a Jamaican Special Branch official was informing to the CIA on his government. It is not clear whether this report is a result of: (a) our conversation with Manley in November;2 (b) Andy’s deliber [Page 496] ate or unintentional informing to Manley; or (c) [less than 1 line not declassified] unawareness of the conversation in Miami or deliberate attempt to pass a message to Washington that we should not pass any kind of information on intelligence matters to Manley, or else risk blowing the cover of our assets. I really don’t know which of the three interpretations is the correct one. (S)

But I am inclined to be more cautious as a result of the report, and unless you suggest otherwise, I will not press the State Department to undertake a demarche to Manley which specifies contacts between Manley and his government and the KGB/DGI.3 (S)

Attachment

Memorandum From Director of Central Intelligence Turner to Secretary of State Vance, the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski), and the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Bowdler)4

Washington, January 8, 1980

SUBJECT

  • Concern by Prime Minister Manley that a High-Level Jamaican Police Official Reports to the United States Government

1. [1 line not declassified], in late December 1979 Prime Minister Michael Manley said he had been told that a senior officer of the Jamaican Constabulary Force (JCF) Special Branch was reporting to either the Department of State or the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States Government. Manley, who discussed the matter with a high-level JCF Special Branch officer, said he had been advised of this by Ex-Ambassador Andrew Young in a private conversation in Miami in late November. (S)

2. The Special Branch official who spoke with Manley denied the allegation, and suggested that whatever information may be reaching the U.S. Government is being supplied by opposition leader Edward Seaga of the Jamaica Labor Party. Manley said he did not accept this, [Page 497] and that he did not believe the information was being provided by Seaga. (S)

3. [1 line not declassified] Manley may have been referring to information regarding Soviet and Cuban activities in Jamaica which was recently brought to Manley’s attention in Miami by U.S. Government officials. The JCF Special Branch is responsible for counterintelligence, which includes the activities of foreign embassy personnel in Jamaica. [less than 1 line not declassified],5 dated 28 November 1979, [less than 1 line not declassified], reported that according to Arnold Bertram, Minister of Mobilization, Information and Culture, Manley had cautioned Bertram to conduct his meetings with Soviet officials quietly in light of Jamaica’s economic problems and strained relations with the U.S. Government. Bertram said he had passed Manley’s admonition on to Soviet Embassy First Secretary Vladimir Klimentov, a known KGB officer, along with Manley’s late November comment that Jamaica’s foreign policy toward the USSR has not changed. (S)

4. No further distribution of this information is being made. Please bring this memorandum to the personal attention of the President. (S)

Stansfield Turner6
  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor, Country, Box 26, Jamaica, 1–2/80. Secret; Sensitive. Sent for information. A copy was sent to Gregg.↩
  2. See Document 200.↩
  3. On January 31, Pastor asserted to Brzezinski and Aaron that CIA officials possessed ulterior motives when they accused Young of divulging sensitive information. The “ulterior purpose” of Turner’s memoranda, he clarified, “is almost transparent: there are those in the CIA who obviously question on which side of US-Jamaican relations Andy Young sits.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor, Country, Box 26, Jamaica, 1–2/79)↩
  4. Secret; Noforn; Nocontract.↩
  5. Not found.↩
  6. Turner signed “Stan” above this typed signature.↩