of Foreign Officials Act gave him jurisdiction. Pottinger agreed that Propper was right,
and that he ought to keep the case. When Pottinger offered to be of help in any possible
way, Propper asked if Pottinger could expedite cooperation with the CIA.
As Propper later recounted this conversation:
Instant, warm confidence shot through the telphone line. The assistant attorney general replied that
he happened to be a personal friend of the CIA director himself, George Bush. Pottinger called
him "George." For him, the CIA Director was only a phone call away. Would Propper like an
appointment? By that afternoon he, [an FBI agent working on the case], and Pottinger were
scheduled for lunch with Director Bush at CIA headquarters on Monday. A Justice Department
limousine would pick them up at noon. Propper whistled to himself. This was known in
Washintgton as access. [fn 49]At CIA headquarters, "Pottinger introduced Propper to Director Bush, and Bush
introduced the two lawyers to Tony Lapham, his general counsel. Then, graciously, the
Director said, 'Would you gentlmen care for some sherry?" An old butler in a white coat
served sherry and cheese hors d'oeuvres. Then the group moved into the Director's
private dining room, where an elegant table was laid on white linen."
There was some polite conversation. Then,
when finally called on to state his business, Propper said that the Letelier-Moffitt
murders were more than likely political assassinations, and that the investigation
would probably move outside the United States into the Agency's realm of foreign
intelligence. Therefore, Propper wanted CIA cooperation in the form of reports
from within Chile, reports on assassins, reports on foreign operatives entering the
United States, and the like. He wanted anything he could get that might bear upon
the murders.If Bush had wanted to be candid, he could have informed Propper that he had been
informed of the coming of the DINA team twice, once before they left South America
and once when they had arrived in Washington. But Bush never volunteered this highly
pertinent information. Instead, he went into a sophisticated stonewall routine:
"Look," said Bush, "I'm appalled by the bombing. Obviously we can't allow people to come right
here into the capital and kill foreign diplomats and American citizens like this. It would be a
hideous precedent. So, as Director, I want to help you. As an American citizen, I want to help.
But, as director, I also know that the Agency can't help in a lot of situations like this. We've got
some problems. Tony, tell him what they are."Lapham's argument went like this, with Bush looking on:
The first problem is that every time we've tried to help Justice in the past, they've screwed us.
They always promise us that if we give them this assistance of that assistance, they'll just use it for
background, but the next thing we know, they're trying to make a witness out of our source.
They're trying to put him in court. We can't attract and hold sources if they're afraid they'll get
slapped into court.