REAGAN ORDERED CASEY TO KEEP IRAN MISSION FROM CONGRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000202230003-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: November 15, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

1
yf ~ WASHINGTON POST
? ~-j"-"r 15 November 1986
Reagan Ordered Casey to Keep
Iran Mission From Congress
Witten Notice
Conflicted With
CIA Chief's Pledge
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By Bob Woodward
W.i hni ton Poit Staff Writer
President Reagan in mid-January
ordered CIA Director William J.
04f Casey in writing not to inform con-
gressional intelligence committees
of a covert action involving the ship-
ment of arms to Iran and release of
American hostages in Lebanon, in-
formed sources said yesterday.
As part of his Iran policy, Reagan
signed a secret presidential intel-
ligence order on Jan. 17, formally
authorizing the covert operation,
the sources said. Senior administra-
tion officials yesterday said the
president has full legal authority to
begin sensitive covert operations
without giving prior notice to Con-
gress, although several key Repub-
lican and Democratic members of
Congress sharply disagreed.
After the 1984 controversy over
the Central Intelligence Agency's
mining of Nicaraguan harbors,
Casey had pledged in writing to in-
form the Senate and House intel-
ligence committees within 48 hours
of any intelligence activities or co-
vert actions approved by the pres-
ident.
Sources said the president issued
the written order to Casey in an
attempt to protect his intelligence
chief from the anticipated wrath of
Congress, which is now preparing
several inquiries into the presi-
dent's controversial Iran policies.
Since the administration first took
office in 1981, Casey has had nu-
merous public run-ins with the con-
gressional intelligence committees.
The White House and Casey
wanted to avoid another, the
sources said.
"Casey's hands are clean on this
one," one source said yesterday.
Since the revelations of intelli-
gence abuses in the mid-1970s,
Congress has virtually guaranteed
WILLIAM J. CASEY
... said to be "clean on this one"
the public that there will be thor-
ough oversight of intelligence op-
erations. But one Republican sen-
ator yesterday said the Senate Se-
lect Committee on Intelligence is
now confronted with a "serious
lapse" in its oversight responsibility
because it was unaware of the op-
eration for 10 months.
Since at least part of Reagan's
Iranian policy was conducted under
a formally, approved covert action,
the policy falls into an arena where
Congress has laws and committees
to fully investigate.
The president's national security
adviser, Vice Adm. John M. Poin-
dexter, yesterday defended the de-
cision to keep the covert operation
from Congress because of extreme
sensitivity of contacts with Iran and
potential danger to American hos-
tages.
In a luncheon meeting with re-
porters and editors at The Wash-
ington Post, Poindexter said he
kept the one-page presidential in-
telligence order, called a "finding,"
in his White House office safe and
that its existence and contents were
known only to a handful of admin-
istration officials.
"The president has signed an in-
telligence finding that authorizes
this program, and that finding only
existed in its original form in my
safe," Poindexter said.
"The finding, in terms of its ob-
jectives, is very similar to the ob-
jectives that the president gave in
his speech [Thursdayl night," he
added.
In his televised speech on the
Iran controversy, Reagan said he
had authorized the secret diplomacy
to gain "access and influence" in
[ran, end the Iran-Iraq war and re-
duce terrorism. Without elaborat-
ing, Poindexter also indicated that
the finding made reference to arms
and the release of hostages.
Poindexter said the administra-
tion determined that the Intelli-
gence Oversight Act, which gov-
erns intelligence operations, spe-
cifically acknowledges the presi-
dent's constitutional authority to
conduct foreign affairs. The act an-
ticipates extraordinary circum-
stances when the congressional in-
telligence committees will not be
informed of a covert operation in
advance, he said.
The law only requires that when
prior notification is withheld, "the
president shall fully inform the in-
telligence committees in a timely
fashion . and shall provide a
statement of the reasons for not
giving prior notice."
Poindexter said such a notifica-
tion and explanation was being giv-
en to the committees, even though
it is 10 months since Reagan au-
thorized the operation which Poin-
dexter said specifically involved the
CIA.
The Senate intelligence commit-
tee was informed yesterday of the
presidential finding, but two sena-
tors on the panel said the 10-month
delay was totally unacceptable and
subverted the spirit of congression-
al oversight of intelligence opera-
tions.
"How many more 'findings' of se-
cret operations are there in Poin-
dexter's safe?' asked one Republi-
can senator, who declined to be
identified because he said he has
not yet seen the Iranian finding or
been briefed on the matter.
Other sources said the Senate
committee will hold closed hearings
on the matter soon, particularly
examining the question of the fund-
ing for the Iranian covert action.
Under the law, the CIA can only
spend funds authorized by Con-
gress, and sources said no money
was authorized for the Iranian op-
eration. The House plans to open
hearings on the Iran controversy
Nov. 21.
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 Approved For Release 2010/12/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202230003-1
The existence of a 10-month co-
vert operation about which Con-
gress was oblivious clearly sur-
prised and even shocked some in-
telligence committee members yes-
terday. "The assumption was that
this couldn't and wouldn't happen,"'
one source said.
Poindexter said yesterday that he
was aware of Casey's agreement
with the Senate committee, but that
the leeway on notification written
into the law by Congress permitted
the administration to act as it had.
A January 1985 report of the
Senate intelligence committee said,
"On June 6, [1984, director of cen-
tral intelligence] Casey, with the
approval of the president, signed a
written agreement with the com-
mittee setting forth procedures for
compliance with the statutory re-
quirements of the Intelligence
Oversight Act for reporting covert
action activities to the intelligence
committees."
Sources said that Casey only
signed that agreement under re-
peated pressure from the committe
chairman at that time, Sen. Barry
Goldwater (R-Ariz.), and then-vice
chairman, Sen. Daniel Patrick
Moynihan (D-N.Y.).
Because Casey was reluctant to
sign the agreement, the commit-
tee's chief counsel was sent to CIA
headquarters to get Casey's signa-
ture in June 1984, officials said.
Nonetheless, both intelligence
and congressional sources said that
the agreement, often called the
"Casey Accords," has been one of
the guiding documents in the rela-
tionship between the CIA and Con-
gress in the last two years. It was
updated this year, according to of-
ficials.
When it was signed, the Senate
intelligence committee said in a
statement that the agreement was
"an important development which
should reduce the chances for a rep-
etition of the kind of problem and
misunderstanding" that developed
from the 1984 Nicaraguan harbor
mining.
Staff researcher Barbara Feinman
contributed to this report.
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