Editing Jesse Helms (section)

===Foreign policy===
Although Helms was returned to office, and became the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, [[Richard Lugar]] of [[Indiana]] became its chair,<ref>{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Dole wins top job in Senate |work=[[The Times]] |page=1 |date=November 29, 1984 }}</ref> after Helms and Lugar cut a deal to keep liberals out of top committee posts.<ref name="Senate plots a moderate course">{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Senate plots a moderate course |work=[[The Times]] |page=8 |date=November 30, 1984 }}</ref> Despite pressure to claim the Foreign Relations chair, Helms kept the Agriculture chair, as he had pledged in his campaign.<ref name="Senate plots a moderate course" />

A "purge" of the State Department by [[George P. Shultz]] in early 1985, replacing conservatives with moderates,<ref name="Christmas massacre by">{{cite news |first=Christopher |last=Thomas |title=Christmas massacre by ruthless Shultz |work=[[The Times]] |page=6 |date=December 31, 1984 }}</ref> was heavily opposed by the Helms-led conservatives. They unsuccessfully attempted to block the appointment of [[Rozanne L. Ridgway]], [[Richard Burt]], and [[Edwin G. Corr]] as ambassadors, arguing that Shultz was appointing diplomats who were not loyal to President Reagan's philosophy,<ref>{{cite news |first=Mohsin |last=Ali |title=Senate hawks give way as Burt gets Bonn post |work=[[The Times]] |page=7 |date=July 17, 1985 }}</ref> particularly in Latin America.<ref name="Christmas massacre by" /> In August 1985, Helms threatened to lead a filibuster against a bill imposing sanctions on South Africa, delaying it until after summer recess.<ref>{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Binyon |title=Big House majority for sanctions, but Helms holds up the Senate |work=[[The Times]] |page=5 |date=August 2, 1985 }}</ref>

In early 1986, Panamanian dissident Winston Spadafora visited Helms and requested that the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs hold hearings on Panama. Ignoring [[Elliott Abrams]]' request for a softer line towards Panama, Helms—a long-time critic of [[Manuel Noriega|Noriega]]—agreed, and the hearings uncovered the large degree of leeway that the U.S. government, and particularly the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], had been giving to Noriega.<ref>Kinzer (2006), p. 246–7</ref> After the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] encountered opposition from [[Oliver North]] in investigating Noriega's role in drug trafficking, Helms teamed up with [[John Kerry]] to introduce an amendment to the [[Intelligence Authorization Act]] demanding that the CIA investigate the [[Panama Defense Forces]]' potential involvement.<ref>Kinzer (2006), p. 247</ref> In 1988, after Noriega was indicted on charges including drug trafficking,<ref name="Consul asserts CIA">{{cite news |first=Elaine |last=Sciolino |title=Consul Asserts C.I.A. Aided in Panama Cover-Up |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/10/world/consul-asserts-cia-aided-in-panama-cover-up.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 10, 1988 |access-date=July 9, 2009}}</ref> a former Panamanian [[consul general]] and chief of political intelligence testified to the subcommittee, detailing Panama's compiling of evidence on its political opponents in the United States, including Senators Helms and [[Ted Kennedy]], with the assistance of the CIA and [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]].<ref name="Consul asserts CIA" /><ref>{{cite news |first=Pichirallo |last=Joe |title=Noriega Got CIA Data, Panel Told; Reports Are Said To Include Details On Kennedy, Helms |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=February 10, 1988 }}</ref> Helms proposed that the government suspend the Carter-Torrijos treaties unless Noriega were extradited within thirty days.<ref>{{cite book |title=In the Shadow of the United States |last=Soler Torrijos |first=Giancarlo |year=2008 |publisher=[[Brown Walker Press]] |location=Boca Raton, Florida |isbn=978-1-59942-439-2 |page=153 }}</ref>

In July 1986, after [[Rodrigo Rojas DeNegri]] was burned alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/09/world/chile-burn-case-anguish-and-anger.html|first=Shirley|last=Christian|title=Chile Burn Case: Anguish and Anger |date=July 9, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/07/07/Week-in-commemoration-to-victim-of-Chilean-army-attack/4394552628800/print|title=Week in commemoration to victim of Chilean army attack|first=Paul|last=Walsh|date=July 7, 1986|publisher=UPI}}</ref> Helms said that DeNegri and his companion Carmen Quintana Arancibia were "Communist terrorists" who had earlier been sighted setting fire to a barricade.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/26/world/around-the-world-explosion-wounds-24-near-chilean-palace.html?pagewanted=print|title=Around the World; Explosion Wounds 24 Near Chilean Palace |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 26, 1986}}</ref> Helms also criticized [[United States Ambassador to Chile]] [[Harry G. Barnes Jr.]] for attending DeNegri's funeral, saying Barnes "planted the American flag in the midst of a Communist activity" and President Reagan would have sent him home were he there.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/14/world/helms-in-chile-denounces-us-envoy.html|title=Helms, in Chile, Denounces U.S. Envoy |first=Shirley|last=Christian|date=July 14, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> The following month, the Justice Department disclosed information to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that linked Helms and a sensitive intelligence matter of the Chile government.<ref name=Chile1>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/05/us/helms-declares-officials-harass-him.html|title=HELMS DECLARES OFFICIALS HARASS HIM|date=August 5, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> Helms responded to the disclosure by telling reporters that the Justice Department "want to intimidate me and harass me, and it's not going to work" and said that both the Justice Department and himself were aware he had "violated no rules of classification".<ref name=Chile1/> In a letter to Attorney General [[Edwin Meese]], Helms made a request of the Justice Department to investigate if he or members of his staff had been spied on during the Chile visit and called the charges against him "frivolous and false indictment".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/12/us/helms-says-intelligence-agencies-may-have-spied-on-him-in-chile.html|title=Helms Says Intelligence Agencies May Have Spied on Him in Chile |date=August 12, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

Helms became interested in the [[Vietnam War POW/MIA issue]], and in October 1990 his committee staff chief and longest-serving aide, [[James P. Lucier]], prepared a report stating that it was probable there were live American prisoners still being held in Vietnam and that the [[George H. W. Bush administration]] was complicit in hiding the facts.<ref name="link-398">Link (2008) pp. 397–398</ref> The report also alleged that the Soviet Union had held American prisoners after the end of [[World War II]], and more may have been transferred there during the [[Korean War]] and during the Vietnam War.<ref name="link-398"/> (Lucier also believed that survivors of the 1983 shoot-down of [[Korean Air Lines Flight 007]] were being held prisoner by the Soviets.<ref name="link-398"/>) Helms stated that the "deeper story" was a possible "deliberate effort by certain people in the government to disregard all information or reports about living MIA-POWs".<ref name="link-398"/> This was followed up in May 1991 by a minority report of the Foreign Relations Committee, released by Helms and titled ''An Examination of US Policy Toward POW/MIAs'', which made similar claims and concluded that "any evidence that suggested an MIA might be alive was uniformly and arbitrarily rejected ..."<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] | title=Report Rips U.S. Efforts For MIAs | agency=[[Associated Press]] | date=May 24, 1991 | page= 14A}}</ref> The issuing of the report caused other Republicans on the committee to become angry, and charges were made that the report contained errors, innuendo, and unsubstantiated rumors.<ref name="link-398"/><ref name="nyt010892"/> This and other personnel matters led to Helms firing Lucier and eight other staff members in January 1992.<ref name="nyt010892">{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10616F63E590C7B8CDDA80894DA494D81 | title=Panel's Top G.O.P. Staff Is Dismissed by Helms | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=January 8, 1992}}</ref><ref>Link (2008) pp. 400–401</ref><ref name="ttn92">{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nTAaAAAAIBAJ&pg=5725,4193942&dq=helms+letter+yeltsin&hl=en | title=Helms aides react to reports of POWs in former Soviet Union | agency=[[Associated Press]] | newspaper=[[Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina)|Times-News]] | date=June 20, 1992 | page=8A }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Helms subsequently distanced himself from the POW/MIA issue.<ref name="link-398"/><ref name="ttn92"/>  (The aides claimed vindication later in 1992 when Russian President [[Boris Yeltsin]] said that the Soviet Union had  kept some U.S. prisoners in the early 1950s.<ref name="ttn92"/>)