The Nation: Cutting Off The King's Dole

Not yet a month in office, Jimmy Carter last week had to deal with one of the most difficult questions that a President must confront: How much latitude to allow the CIA in conducting covert operations abroad? At issue was the revelation of secret payments to Jordan's King Hussein that, according to the Washington Post, began in 1957 and amounted to "millions of dollars." Carter acted decisively, ordering an immediate halt to the CIA'S largess to the King.

Carter learned about the Hussein arrangement only when Post Reporter Bob Woodward (of Watergate fame) began making inquiries. The President stopped the flow of funds, reasoning —whatever reservations he may also have had about the propriety of the practice—that the fact that the story was about to be revealed by the Post made the payouts a liability.

The timing—just before Secretary of State Cyrus Vance visited Hussein—was acutely embarrassing. A Jordanian spokesman quickly insisted that the money had not been used for "personal interests"—referring to the Post's implication that the funds had gone to support Hussein's jet-set lifestyle.

Just how had the money been spent? Says one U.S. official with firsthand knowledge of the deal: "Sure, some of it went to satisfy some worldly appetites. But a lot of it, a lot more, was disbursed in a way that guaranteed us access in some extremely sensitive and useful areas. O.K., call it buying friendship. But that's what overt aid is too, isn't it? I know what we got for that dough, and it was worth every goddam cent."

What the U.S. got, claims the intelligence source, was something above and beyond what might have been expected in return for the $1 billion plus in overt aid paid to Jordan during the past 20 years. Hussein is said to have given the U.S. valuable entree to Arab intelligence and counterintelligence circles. Jordan also remained a consistently moderate enclave in an increasingly radical Arab world. Even the White House last week accurately praised Hussein for playing "a constructive role in reducing tensions in the Middle East." If the fact that Hussein was being paid privately had become known, argues the intelligence community, his effectiveness as a moderate would have been undermined; radicals could more easily have discounted his efforts. The Intelligence Oversight Board questioned the payments to Hussein, but Gerald Ford continued them because Henry Kissinger felt they were vital.

Covert CIA payments to other key individuals abroad have been commonplace. Among the recipients: the late President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Viet Nam; President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (formerly the Congo); Holden Roberto, head of a losing faction in the Angola civil war; and Eduardo Frei, former President of Chile. The Post also reported claims that money had gone to Archbishop Makarios III, the President of Cyprus, and former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt. Each man vehemently denied the charge.