Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: POW panel may subpoena ex-agent Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 17:35:41 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \HD POW panel may subpoena ex-agent \BY Carleton R. Bryant \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Members of the Senate POW committee are expected to vote Monday on whether to subpoena a former Secret Service agent who may have overheard Reagan administration officials discussing a Vietnamese cash-for-POWs offer in 1981. For months, the Senate Select Committee on POW-MIA Affairs has sought the testimony of John F. Syphrit but has been opposed by the Treasury Department, which oversees the Secret Service. Mr. Syphrit, a Treasury employee in the department's forensic laboratory in Chicago, was a Secret Service agent in January 1981 when Reagan officials allegedly considered, then rejected, trading $4 billion for living American POWs. In a Nov. 18 memo to the Senate panel, William Codinha, POW committee general counsel, outlined the problems the committee has faced in trying to secure the former agent's testimony. The senators "had attempted to avoid a vote on the issue of authorizing a subpoena by sending a letter to Mr. Syphrit asking for him to make a voluntary appearance," the Codinha memo says. "However, the Department of the Treasury, upon learning of the letter, renewed its objection to Mr. Syphrit's voluntary testimony. . . . Because of this new objection, the Senate Select Committee has decided to withdraw this letter without sending it to Mr. Syphrit," the memo says. Assistant Treasury Secretary Peter K. Nunez, in a Nov. 18 letter to the POW committee, firmly stated his department's opposition to the requested testimony. "For the record, . . . we object to Mr. Syphrit voluntarily testifying about any conversation he may have overheard during the course of protective assistance. This arrangement sends precisely the wrong signal: Secret Service employees should not disclose information they have obtained as a result of their positions of trust," the Nunez letter says. According to the Senate committee resolution to authorize the subpoena, Mr. Syphrit "has indicated that he will not appear voluntarily and will require a subpoena in order to give his testimony." Mr. Syphrit would not talk to The Washington Times and referred all inquiries to his attorney, J. Thomas Burch Jr. A Washington lawyer, Mr. Burch is chairman of the National Vietnam Veterans Coalition, an organization that has been vocal and active in the POW issue. "I can't say anything about" the proposed subpoena, Mr. Burch said. According to Mr. Burch, Mr. Syphrit was prepared to talk to the POW panel but refused after he was "upset" by an article in The Times about his involvement in the matter. In August, The Times reported - without naming Mr. Syphrit - that the former agent said in an interview that he overheard a meeting between President Reagan, Vice President George Bush, CIA Director William Casey and National Security Adviser Richard V. Allen in which the alleged offer was raised. "Casey wanted to know what to do about this [offer]," the agent said. "He said it had come through China and Canada from the Vietnamese. Reagan asked what he thought of it, and Casey said there wasn't anything to it. Bush agreed. He said it was a lost cause." The agent said Mr. Allen thought "they should look into it some more." But Mr. Casey insisted that the offer constituted "blackmail," the agent said. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM