Letter to NSA from James Leach
July 11, 1995

                                                 July 11, 1995

Vice Admiral John McConnell, USN
Director
National Security Agency
FT. George Meade, MD 20755

Dear Admiral McConnell:

I am writing to seek your agency's help in verifying or laying to
rest various allegations of money laundering in Arkansas in the 
late 1980s. For that purpose, I would request a briefing from
NSA's Inspector General on Friday, July 14 before 1:00 p.m.; if
that is not possible, sometime on Monday, July 17, would also be
convenient.

The reports I have in mind have appeared in the general press
and, sometimes in sensational form, in more narrow-gauged out-
lets, including the Internet. They speak of secret foreign bank
accounts held by prominent people in Arkansas, special software
to monitor bank transfers, an Arkansas-centered network of banks
formed to launder money, and similar tales. I would like to
determine whether there is any substance at all to these stories.

Specifically, I would like your Inspector General to tell me
whether the Agency:

(1) knows of any secret bank accounts held by U.S. citizens
domiciled in Arkansas at any time between 1988 and now;

(2) is aware, directly or indirectly, of any efforts by computer
hackers, U.S.-government related or otherwise, to penetrate banks
for the purpose of monitoring accounts and transactions;

(3) knows of or has participated, directly of indirectly, in
efforts to sell software--notably versions of a program in use at
the Justice Department called PROMIS--or clandestinely produced
devices to foreign banks for the purpose of collecting economic
intelligence and information about illicit money transfers;

(4) is cognizant of any attempts by Systematics Inc, an Arkansas-
based electronic data processor that is now a division of All-
tell, to monitor or engage in the laundering of drug money or
proceeds of other illegal activities, notably those conducted
through Mena, Arkansas;

(5) can provide information about Charles Hayes, a businessman in
Nancy, Kentucky, who claims to have been a CIA operative in Latin
and Central America, among other places;

(6) knew of or was involved in, directly or indirectly, any
covert activities by the U.S. government or any private parties
(the so-called "private benefactors") in or around Mena in the
late 1980s;

(7) had any contractual or other relationship with the late Adler
Barriman "Barry" Seal in the 1980s or knew about his activities
in connection with Mena.

I would appreciate your help in shedding light on these matters.


                                       Sincerely,
                                       
                                       James A. Leach
                                       Chairman