- SEGRE - SEGRE' ' 21221 Add on NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON O C 20506 INFORMATION October 5 1989 MEMORANDUM FOR ROBERT M GATES FROM WILLIAM T PRYCE _5 SUBJECT Panama Coup Lessons Learned Deputy Natl Sec Advisor has een Here are some conclusions about lessons to be learned drawn from discussions among the group which prepared the chronology 1 Coordination on the ground in Panama was good except for the major misunderstanding on the Cisneros conversation which led to false signals and contradictory information being supplied to Washington The confusion ultimately had little impact upon our decision-making process but the Agency briefed the Hill using inaccurate information and this is now causing us problems 2 The flow of information from elements in Panama to their Headquarters in Washington was hampered only in the case of State's and Defenses's telephonic contact with the Embassy Noriega' s people may have been monkeying with the phones State should have a radio backup capability 3 4 1 4 c 3 3 b 1 There is a clear need for better coordination in Washington at a level below the principals so that all the principals are operating on the same information Our Sit Room often had to call around for information which should have come to it automatically The NSC did not learn of the Cisneros conversation until the following day What we need is a better way for the information being received by top officials to get quickly to that official's command center and be disseminated laterally to other command centers for appropriate distribution Larry Eagleburger made a point of getting the deputies to use the conference T V Frankly I don't think the principals or their deputies will ever feel comfortable with the system and I doubt you'll use it But you might want to suggest trying to use it for a Deputies Meeting to see if it can function that way s We need to do more contingency planning DECLASSIFIED IN PART PER E O 13526 -SECRET '2 0 lo- l'f ' - Declassify on OADR v'1 K 'f 1 'l h 01 6E6RET RECORD ID 8921570 RECEIVED 06 MAR 90 10 CONFIDENTIAL NSC S PROFILE TO GATES DOC DATE 06 OCT 89 SOURCE REF FROM PRYCE DC KEYWORDS PANAMA PERSONS SUBJECT QUESTIONS POSED BY GATES DURING DC MTG ON 6 OCT LOGREF 8921221 STAFF OFFICER PRYCE FILES IFM 0 CODES NSCP DC062 D O C U ME N T FOR ACTION STATUS C DUE DATE 09 OCT 89 ACTION FOR RECORD PURPOSES D I S T R I BUT I ON FOR CONCURRENCE FOR INFO DECLASSIFIED White House Guidelines E O 12958 SEC 3 4 8 September 11 2006 By @ NARA Date - u qJ COMMENTS DISPATCHED BY _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ DATE _ _ _ _ _ BY HAND OPENED BY NSBTM CLOSED BY NSBTM -SONFIJJEWTIAE DOC 1 OF W ATTCH 1 -CONFIDEN'f Af RECORD ID 8921570 ACTION DATA SUMMARY REPORT DOC ACTION OFFICER 001 CAO ASSIGNED ACTION REQUIRED X 90031417 FOR RECORD PURPOSES DECLASSIFIED White House Guidelines E 0 12958 SEC 3 4 B September 11 2006 •_ By 9k- NARA Date r gr -€0NFIDENiIAL - 1 10 l NATIONAL Sli CURITY COUNCIL Jlv1 0h s us t7 f fe 1' rp 'Ao I d fJ - Jf vSt u St1 'J j vrY-f• J YIP- 7 h5l 'yy '7-r--f ri i tA-- r1 C n s 1 L-C DECLASSIFIED PER E O 13526 o lo - IS to -- 11 R 't s- 3 J 3 j 5 1Cky rC - -BONFIBENTIAL 21570 SUBJECT Questions Posed by Mr Gates During White House NSC Deputy's Meeting 1 How did the negotiator get out of the c6mmandancia to talk with Cinceros Ans The sergeant in the group crawled out through a hole in the fence One officer also came from the commandancia route not known 2 What communications did the negotiator have with the rebels Ans During the conversation with Cisneros they made two telephone calls to the rebels inside the commandancia 3 Did the rebels have control of Noriega physically or did they have him surrounded Ans 4 Ans Yes the rebels had physical control of Noriega When did they get control of Noriega Being determined through debriefings 5 Was there communicatioN from the rebels inside to anyone outside Ans Yes They had telephone communications 6 Did SouthCom issue a statement on their own the morning of the coup or were they directed to make a statement Ans The statement referred to is a written communication developed solely by SouthCom and delivered from SouthCom staff headquarters to the PDF representatives of the Combined Joint Board the morning of the coup There was no public statement issued by SouthCom NOTE It is important for principles to be aware that no public statement was made and this was private communication between U S Forces and PDF to clarify the movement of US Forces during the coup attempt DECLASSIFIED PER E O 13526 l0 lf f o µ 2- 1 h tilwle CONFIBENTIAL 'fer -SECRE'f CODEWORD NSC S PROFILE RECORD ID 8921221 RECEIVED 05 OCT 89 19 TO AGENCIES FROM HUGHES DOC DATE 05 OCT 89 SOURCE REF KEYWORDS PANAMA AGENDA DC PERSONS SUBJECT NOTIFICATION OF DC MTG ON 6 OCT RE PANAMA ACTION SITTMANN SGD MEMO TO AGENCIES DUE DATE 08 MAR 90 STAFF OFFICER PACELLI FILES IFM 0 LOGREF 8921570 NSCP DC062 D O C U ME N T FOR ACTION STATUS C 8921571 CODES D I S T R I BUT I ON FOR CONCURRENCE FOR INFO DECLASSIFIED White House Guidelines E O 12958 SEC 3 4 B September 11 2006 By NARA Date Jj-c o COMMENTS DISPATCHED BY _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ DATE _ _ _ _ _ BY HAND OPENED BY CM CLOSED BY AC TOP SECRET CODEWORD DOC 2 OF W ATTCH 2