CIA ROLE IN IRANIAN ARMS DEAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630009-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: November 23, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630009-7
RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.
PROGRAM NBC Sunday Night News STATION WRC TV
NBC Network
DATE November 23, 1986 6:30 PM CITY Washington, DC
CHRIS WALLACE: When the story of the Iranian arms deal
first broke, it appeared to be a White House operation. But
recent disclosures indicate the Central Intelligence Agency also
played a significant role.
Jim Miklaszewski reports that CIA critics are asking
some familiar questions.
JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: While the White House has been burned
by the arms deal with Iran, the CIA and its Director, William
Casey, are beginning to feel the heat.
REPORTER: Have you broken the law'?
DIRECTOR WILLIAM CASEY: No.
MIKLASZEWSKI: But key members of Congress want to know
more about the CIA's role in the Iran arms deal.
SENATOR SAM NUNN: I think there are some real problems
there. We have not heard, I don't think, all we're going to have
to hear from the CIA on this one. They were more involved than
we thought they were.
MIKLASZEWSKI: And suggest any shake-up in the White
House should extend to the CIA.
SENATOR DAVID DURENBERGER: The problem is not so much
the NSC as it is the Operations Directorate in the Central
Intelligence Agency.
"'?1ef` Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630009-7
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630009-7
MIKLASZEWSKI: It's become clear the CIA was a central
player in the Iran arms deal. The CIA reportedly drafted the
White House report last January to justify the arms deal, ordered
the anti-tank rockets and anti-aircraft missile parts from the
Pentagon, then arranged their final delivery to Iran.
DAVID WISE: Well, the CIA seems to have a penchant for
getting into trouble ever since it was founded in 1947. And
under William Casey, there's been no exception to the rule.
MIKLASZEWSKI: In fact, Casey's record is littered with
embarrassing failures: the mining of Nicaraguan harbors: a
contra booklet with "how to" instructions for political assassin-
ations; and the loss of two spies to the Soviets, one of theirs
and one of ours.
Former CIA Director Stansfield Turner says all that has
piously eroded public confidence in the agency.
ADMIRAL STANSFIELD TURNER: There's lots of doubt in the
country as to whether the CIA's being run legally or illegally,
and that certainly is a thing that's going to hurt the CIA in the
long run.
MIKLASZEWSKI: CIA supporters fear that, in the long
run, the agency will be forced to pay for the mistakes in Iran if
Congress attempts to exert even more control over future covert
operations.
Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News, Washington.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630009-7