There is no evidence Pentagon documents were destroyed in connection with allegations about killings in Guatemala, but top military investigators have been ordered to find out for sure, Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch said Friday.
Deutch said Defense Secretary William Perry had directed that a panel begin working immediately to check into every detail of the military's relations with Guatemala from 1988 to the present."It is a very important issue for us and we are going to look at every nook and cranny," Deutch said.
He said the Pentagon's top lawyer, Judy Miller, and Defense Department Inspector General Eleanor Hill will be in charge of the investigation. It will also include the inspector generals of the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Army, he said.
The move follows charges from Rep. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., that Guatemalan Col. Julio Roberto Alpirez had been on the CIA payroll and had ordered the 1990 killings of an American innkeeper and of Efrain Bamaca, a guerrilla married to a U.S. lawyer.
A memorial service was held here Friday for Bamaca. His widow, Jennifer Harbury, has accused U.S. government officials of misleading her about his death.
"I am very happy that he was able to live as he chose up to his last moment," Harbury said. But she also said "he died a terrible death. He died by torture - the way he least would have wanted to die."
Torricelli also disclosed he'd received an anonymous letter, apparently from inside the National Security Agency, alleging that the CIA and the Defense Department knew the circumstances of the innkeeper's death at the time he was killed.
The letter also said the Army and the NSA shredded documents pertaining to the case and may have had a role in the murders.