The New York Times

Friday, June 18, 1999

SUBVERSION

Covert Plan Said to Take Aim at Milosevic's Hold on Power

By JAMES RISEN

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton has approved a covert action program that calls for the Central Intelligence Agency to try to destabilize the Yugoslav Government of Slobodan Milosevic, United States officials said.

The President has signed a secret "presidential finding" authorizing the C.I.A. to try to weaken Milosevic's hold on power, and open the way for a new government in Belgrade, the officials said.

Since Yugoslavia bowed to NATO's demands, Clinton and other NATO leaders have made clear that they want Milosevic out of power, saying that until that happens Yugoslavia -- except for Kosovo -- will get no help from the West in rebuilding. The covert plan for Yugoslavia was first reported in Newsweek magazine.

Congress has become increasingly wary of such plans for covert action that appear to have been made without regard for how they fit into broader American foreign policy goals. Last year, Republican Congressional leaders considered the Clinton Administration's proposed covert action against Saddam Hussein so detached from the Administration's broader Iraq policies that the Senate took the drastic step of blocking funds for the program.

Few details of the new covert action plan, which officials say was approved by President Clinton earlier this year, are known.

The plan does not include American military assistance for the Kosovo Liberation Army, the officials said. But they say it does call for computer attacks on foreign bank accounts held by Milosevic and other Serbian leaders, such as draining assets or altering banking records.

Milosevic has moved large amounts of money from Yugoslavia into bank accounts in Russia, Switzerland, Cyprus and, more recently, Lebanon, according to American officials.

A Treasury Department expert and other American officials first traced Milosevic's money to Cyprus in 1993. Cypriot officials have denied any knowledge of Milosevic's use of banks in their country.

Officials say that the Presidential finding is not directed at Milosevic personally but at the entire leadership of his Government. While Milosevic has been indicted on charges of war crimes by the international tribunal at The Hague, the United States has no plans to kidnap him and bring him to justice.