---
category: Intelligence & Government
summary: Historian and former NSC staffer who documented connections between Barry
  Seal's drug operations at Mena, Arkansas and the CIA.
tags:
- Person
- Person/Politician
- Person/Intelligence
- United_States
- 1980s
- Contra_War
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
---

Roger Morris was a historian and former National Security Council staffer who wrote *Partners in Power* (1996), a book about Bill and [Hillary Clinton](/people/hillary-clinton/) that documented connections between [Barry Seal](/people/barry-seal/)'s drug-smuggling operations at [Mena, Arkansas](/places/mena-arkansas/) and the CIA.[^1]

### Barry Seal and CIA Connections

Morris wrote that Seal's "personal records showed him to be a contract CIA operative both before and during his years of drug-running in Mena in the 1980s." He also wrote that Seal worked for the [Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)](/organizations/defense-intelligence-agency/), "where coded records reportedly showed him on the payroll beginning in 1982."[^1]

### Danny Ray Lasater and Organized Crime

Morris wrote that "whatever the limits or extent of [Danny Ray Lasater](/people/danny-ray-lasater/)'s cocaine trafficking or the nature of his other dealings, most believed that beyond him the larger corruption in [Little Rock](/places/little-rock-arkansas/) and elsewhere pointed unmistakably to organized crime, not to mention the vast crimes of Mena - none of which would be pursued." Morris also described an investigation into Lasater that was shut down prematurely.[^1]

### Shredding of Mena Files

Morris wrote that "in sworn testimony, a former staff member of the Arkansas State Police Intelligence Unit would describe 'a shredding party' in which she was ordered to purge the state's Mena files of nearly a thousand documents, including those referring specifically to Iran-Contra conspirator [Oliver North](/people/oliver-north/) and Seal associate [Terry Reed](/people/terry-reed/)."[^1]

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 6: "They were doing their patriotic duty"