Much of the defense revolved around the lack of a direct link to the CIA, but, of course, if one had actually been found that would have merely added stupidity to the long list of agency sins and failures. After all, the CIA practically invented the notion of out-sourcing -- finding others to do its dirty work with the hope of complete deniability. That's its game. But for us it makes no more sense to separate the agency from the Contras than to say that one of the big three automakers is not responsible for the quality of the subcontracted parts it in its cars.
The story should not have come as such a big surprise. The CIA has had a hook-an-American-for-peace policy since the end of WW2 when it condoned European drug operations because those involved were helpful anti-communists. Some of its SE Asian allies were similarly engaged in the drug trade during the Vietnam era as was pointed out as far back as the 1970s by TPR's predecessor, the DC Gazette. As for Contra drug dealing, Associated Press reported on it in 1985 and a few years later a Senate subcommittee headed by John Kerry revealed more about the US-Contra drug connection. And, of course, Barry Seal and the gang out of Mena, Arkansas was doing for the southern region what the LA Contra operatives were doing for the west.
What got the Langley crowd really agitated was the reaction from American blacks to the idea of the CIA directly or indirectly contributing to the drug mayhem of the inner cities. The kickback was a psychological operations experts' nightmare -- instead of pacifying the indigenous population, they had become all riled up. One black talk show host hit the issue 13 days running. The Washington Post even clumsily tried to explain it all away by offering in a long piece one of the most ancient and patronizing of ethnic myths -- namely that blacks are more myth-prone than other groups.
Lyndon Johnson probably had the best handle on the agency. He said it was important to remember that the CIA was filled with graduates of Princeton and Yale not smart enough for their daddies to let them into their brokerage firms.