SENATE PANEL OPENS IRAN ARMS INQUIRY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560015-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: November 29, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

WASHINGTON POST
29 November 1986
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There were these developments
Senate Panel Opens yesterday:
^ The Senate intelligence Commit-
lee said it has opened its investiga-
Iran Arms Inquiry sera inn will can s numerous a min-
e ses. concentrating
Pressure iuilds for Independent Counsel initially on "employes of the NSC
By Howard Kurtz
and George Lardner .Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
and persons acting at their direc-
tion en. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt,
t e pane s vice chairman said wit-
nesses will be uestione under
oath. He said the White House has
been asked to make available all
pertinent documents.
^ House Foreign Affairs Commit-
tee Chairman Dante B. Fascell (D-
Fla.) said his panel is seeking a wide
range of documents in the case.
? Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.),
airman of the House judiciary
criminal justice subcommittee, said
his panel is strongly considering a
,review, including oversight hear-
ings, of the conduct of the justice
Department's investigation.
Conyers said yesterday that al-
legations already made public are
more than adequate to justify ap-
pointment of an independent coun-
sel.
.^ A White [louse spokesman, Dan-
iel [toward, announced in Santa
,Barbara, Calif., that the president's
;counsel, Peter J. Wallison, is pre-
,paring a memorandum to all White
House staff officials instructing
them to cooperate with the Justice
Department probe and the inquiry
to be carried out by the special
.commission chaired by former Sen-
ate Armed Services Committee
:chairman John G. Tower (R-Tex.).
Staff members were instructed
.to makttain the integrity of their
files and make all relevant materials
available, including memorandums
and telephone logs.
The Justice Department probe is
being carried out by the Criminal
Division and is headed by Associate
Attorney General Stephen S. Trott
and Assistant Attorney General
William F. Weld. Korten said the
probe will continue to be conducted
by the Justice Department rather
than an independent counsel unless
there are clear indications of ille-
gality by persons covered under the
Ethics in Government Act.
"The independent counsel statute
was designed to cover specific in-
dividuals who we believe may have
engaged in criminal behavior," he
said. The only person implicated in
The Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence said yesterday it had
opened an investigation of secret
arms sales to Iran and the transfer
of profits to aid the Nicaraguan con-
tras, as calls intensified for appoint-
ment of an independent counsel to
look into possible criminal involve-
ment of administration officials.
But a Justice Department official
said yesterday the department will
delay seeking an independent coun-
sel because it is not sure that fed-
eral laws have been violated.
Some administration officials pri-
vately expressed concern about the
dual role that Attorney General Ed-
win Meese III appears to be play-
ing. The officials noted that Meese
provided the legal advice to Pres-
ident Reagan at the time the Iran
weapons sales were authorized but
is now involved in the investigation
of that and the diversion of funds to
aid the Nicaraguan contras. One
administration source said the ques-
tion of whether this poses a conflict
for Meese might be discussed at the
White House next week.
Justice Department spokesman
Patrick Korten said, however, that
Meese, who is also a member of the
National Security Council (NSC),
has no need to disqualify himself
from the probe because he knew
nothing of the arm sales to Iran and
was not working at the White
House at the time. "There is noth-
ing to stop him from conducting a
full, fair and thorough investiga-
tion," he said.
Despite calls from several mem-
bers of Congress for such an inde-
pendent probe, Korten said, "The
status of the law is unclear. There
are plenty of ambiguities. We don't
even know at this stage whether or
not any laws were violated."
Members of Congress gave every
indicatipn that they will continue to
press for an independent counsel.
And various committees announced
they will conduct separate investi-
gations.
the affair who is clearly covered by
the ethics law is Vice Adm. John M.
Poindexter, who resigned Tuesday
as national security adviser.
The department is also looking
into allegations that Lt. COI. Oliver
L. North, the fired NSC official ac-
cused of playing a key role in the
diversion of money to aid the con-
tras, destroyed key documents that
may have indicated who partici-
pated in the operations. Korten
said. Sources said aides to Meese
spent most of last Saturday at
North's NSC office, reviewing doc-
uments from North's files, and in-
terviewed North for three to four
hours the following day.
"Steps were taken as soon as it
was appropriate to assure the pre-
servation of documents," Korten
said. But he added that shredding of
documents is often routine at places
such as the NSC and that "any of
that kind of activity that may have
gone on before we asked that no
documents be destroyed is not nec-
essarily untoward."
But Leahy said yesterday that he
is concerned about the security of
the documents and he doubts that
North acted alone.
"Col. North did not act alone,"
Leahy told The Associated Press.
"There are some in the administra-
tion who would like him to be the
scapegoat for the whole matter, but
the fact is that he did not act alone."
Leahy said the committee will
"find out just who gave those or-
ders, why they gave them and when
they gave them, and whether they
violated laws in doing it."
A White [louse official said the
question of whether Poindexter
should appear for questioning by
the intelligence committee staff has
"not been addressed yet. "It raises
some interesting and novel ques-
tions," he said, referring to the doc-
trine of executive privilege. "Most
of the policies on executive privi-
lege still exist on former officials."
However, given the president's
statements that he wants to get all
the facts out, Reagan might also
want to waive executive privilege
on Poindexter, the official said. The
committee's procedures call for
witnesses to be put under oath and
questioned by staff members with a
panel member present.
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At the same time, the official not-
ed that Poindexter is subject to the
Justice Department investigation
and there is a "serious question"
about whether he would want to
testify on Capitol Hill before the
probe is finished.
The federal laws that may have
been violated, Conyers said, include
criminal statutes covering conspir-
acy, misuse of public property and
obstruction of justice to the Anti-
deficiency Act. That law provides
that an officer or employe of the
United States may not expend funds
for unauthorized purposes and pro-
vides criminal penalties for knowing
and willful violations.
Meanwhile, The Times of Lon-
don reported this weekend that mil-
lions of dollars from the secret sale
of U.S. arms to Iran and destined to
aid the Nicaraguan rebels was de-
posited in the Swiss bank account of
a firm run by former Central Intel-
ligence Agency officials.
The newspaper said that between
Januar and September 1986, top
NSC officials in Washington su -
pliec a Swiss company with $12
million in CIA-Tu-nds to purchase- at
their original value, military equip-
ment or sale to Iran.
The militar hardware, including
spare parts for lh ig hers and
several thousand missiles, was de-
livered to [ran on three flights and
sold for its replacement value of
$30 million, The Times said The
mi ion profit was then pos-
iti account of Credit Fedu-
_ciaireService-
a_ Geneva invest-
ment banking operation rim ti c r-
mer CIA officials, the news pa said. From there the MQ=y was
transferred to CFS Investments
L tt., the company's account in the
Ca man Islands, it said
Staff writer David ffoffman in
Santa Barbara contributed to this
report.
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