elligence Agency (CIA) for the Contra leadership, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN), which openly called for the "neutralization", i.e assassination of the Sandinistas, embarrassed officialdom in Washington and drove its activities further underground. In October, 1984, Congress enacted the Boland Amendment which prohibited the involvement of any American governmental entities or personnel in "supporting, directly or directly, military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua" (11).
Consistent with this decision, the sources of funding for the operation had to be portrayed as private and the flow of funds and arms to Central America had to appear to take the form of humanitarian assistance, small amounts of which were grudgingly authorized by Congress. One of the author's main arguments is that, as the operation grew in size and scope, American command and control of the Contras was substantially diluted through the
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