"In many cases, suspect aircraft were shot down within two to three minutes of being sighted by the Peruvian fighter -- without being properly identified, without being given the required warnings to land, and without being given time to respond," the report said.
The report was the culmination of a long-running internal probe of the shooting of the Bowerses' aircraft, a small floatplane owned by the Assn. of Baptists for World Evangelism. The plane was carrying the family members from Brazil to their home base in Iquitos, Peru.
The inspector general found that "within hours, CIA officers began to characterize the shoot-down as a one-time mistake in an otherwise well-run program. In fact, this was not the case."
Over time, the report said, agency officials told lawmakers and other officials that the program complied with the laws and policies governing it, despite evidence that there had been repeated violations. The program involved the use of U.S.-owned and CIA-operated surveillance aircraft to identify suspected drug flights and provide the information to the Peruvian air force, which was authorized to shoot them down.
"The agency denied Congress, the [National Security Council] and the Department of Justice access to these findings," the report said. Further, the document said that senior agency managers withheld information from top Bush administration officials, including then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.
In 2001, the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that inadequate planning and bad judgment led to the mistaken shoot-down, and recommended that the agency be removed from the business of spotting possible drug-runners along Peru's border. The program was suspended after the April 20, 2001, incident.
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greg.miller@latimes.com
