CIA Shot Down American Missionary Plane, Repeatedly Misled Congress, Report Finds

The CIA repeatedly misled Congress and the Justice Department in their investigations of the 2001 shoot-down of a Peruvian plane carrying U.S. missionaries, according to findings of an internal CIA probe released today by congressional officials.

The agency's inspector general concluded that CIA officers in Peru consistently ignored rules of engagement in connection with the downing of at least 10 aircraft suspected of carrying narcotics over the South American country. Yet, CIA managers covered up the problems and knowingly gave false accounts to government officials investigating whether agency employees committed crimes.

Excerpts of the inspector general's report were released by Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee. He called today for a new criminal inquiry, as well as congressional hearings, into what he described as a "startling" attempted coverup by the spy agency.

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