The International Center for Development Policy (ICDP) was a non-profit

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

research and advocacy

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

with offices in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Its President in the early 1980s was

Raul Manglapus Raul Sevilla Manglapus (October 20, 1918 – July 25, 1999) was a prominent post–World War II Filipino politician and songwriter. He co-founded the reformist Progressive Party of the Philippines and the Christian Democratic Socialist Movement i ...

, and subsequently Robert White, former US Ambassador to Paraguay and El Salvador. In the mid-1980s ICDP housed the ''Commission on U.S.-Central American Relations'', which the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' described in 1986 as "an arm of the International Center for Development Policy that has become known in recent years as a well-informed source on the Administration's activities in Central America." In late November 1986 the Commission's offices were targeted by a burglary seeking Iran-Contra affair-related documents. ICDP investigator Jack Terrell said one document stolen was a hand-written document from

Southern Air Transport Southern Air Transport (SAT) (1947–1998), based in Miami, Florida, was a cargo airline best known as a front company for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (1960–1973) and for its crucial role in the Iran-Contra scandal in the m ...

, documenting an April 1983 flight supplying the

Nicaraguan Contras The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 fol ...

with small arms. Terrell had given the ''Times'' a copy of the document some weeks earlier.Keith Schneider, ''

'', 3 December 1986
PATTERN SEEN IN BREAK-INS AT LATIN POLICY GROUPS
/ref> Terrell's claims played a significant role in Senator

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

's early investigations of Iran-Contra. In responses to requests from two Congressmen, the Justice Department launched an investigation of the burglary in January 1987. In March 1984 it was reported that ICDP had promised to pay a Salvadoran military figure $50,000 to come to the US to provide evidence on Salvadoran death squads. In November 1985 most of an ICDP-sponsored delegation to South Africa, including ICDP President White, were refused visas.R Gregory Nokes,

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

, 8 November 1985
South Africans Decide Against Visas
/ref>

References

{{Authority control Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C.