SHULTZ'S TOP AID BLASTS REAGAN STAFF ON IRAN SALES, ESCALATING PUBLIC FEUD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302500005-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: November 25, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302500005-0
2
ARTICLE AMIAM
ON PAS
WALL STREET JOURNAL
25 November 1986
Shultz's Top Aide Blasts Reagan Staff
On Iran Sales, Escalating Public Feud
By ROBERT S. GREENBERGER
J And JANE MATER
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON-The public feud within
the Reagan administration over secret
arms sales to Iran escalated, as the State
Department blasted the president's na-
tional security staff while Mr. Reagan met
with his top foreign policy advisers to seek
ways to end the worst crisis of his presi-
dency.
In blunt and highly unusual congres-
sional testimony, the State Department's
second-ranking official, John Whitehead.
charged that the president "may have
been poorly advised" on the Iran affair.
Mr. Whitehead, who sharply questioned the
wisdom of shipping arms to Iran, contra-
dicted Mr. Reagan himself on certain key
points.
The public display of internal friction
seemed certain to increase pressure on the
president to take the private advice of
longtime supporters that he overhaul his
top foreign policy echelon, including Chief
of Staff Donald Regan, Secretary of State
George Shultz and National Security Ad-
viser John Poindexter.
'Not Firing Anybody'
But in a brief encounter with reporters,
Mr. Reagan said. "I'm not firing any-
body." He left the door open to accepting
resignations from top staffers, though.
When asked if he had ruled out staff
changes. he said, ''I'm not commenting ei-
ther way."
Meanwhile, sources close to the White
House chief of staff said first lady Nancy
Reagan, who is said to be angry about the
performance of the president's aides.
called Mr. Regan to deny that she favored
his ouster. These sources put out the word
that Mrs. Reagan and the chief of staff
both had advised the president to speak
publicly about the Iran affair shortly after
news of it broke, but were frustrated by
Mr. Poindexter, who wanted to keep the
matter from public view.
Mr. Whitehead was the first senior ad-
ministration official to testify publicly be-
fore a congressional committee on the Iran
operation. Joining in the finger pointing by
senior officials who are trying to assign-
and deflect-blame for the unpopular pol-
icy, he told the House Foreign Affairs
Committee that the policy of shipping
arms to Iran originated with the National
Security Council.
Call for Review of NSC
"We at the State Department find it dif-
ficult to cope with NSC operational activi-
ties." he said, adding, "particularly when
we don't know about them." He called for
a review of the extent to which the council,
which traditionally advises the president,
should be involved in operations.
Mr. Whitehead also declared that "it's
hard to point to a major accomplishment"
resulting from President Reagan's decision
to sell arms to Iran, a move the president
said was made to open a new dialogue with
Iran and help win the release of American
hostages held by pro-Iran terrorists in Leb-
anon.
Even without such shipments, Mr.
Whitehead suggested, the three American
hostages who were released by Lebanese
terrorists influenced by Iran "might have
been released anyhow. We can't be
sure."
Some White House officials last night
were aghast at r. i e ea s testimony.
One escn r. Whitehead as "ex-
tremely naive." Another defended t e : a-
tional Securit Council y suggesting t at
the entra Intelligence Agency y a
bieeer onerationa roe an e i
Both Republicans and Democrats on the
congressional panel criticized the presi-
dent's handling of the Iran incident. Rep.
William Broomfield of Michigan. the com-
mittee's ranking Republican. said that al-
though the White House had authority in
some cases to act without notifying Con-
gress. "I strongly question the administra-
tion's judgment in exercising it in this
case."
Shultz's Knowledge of Shipments
There is little doubt that Mr. Whitehead
was speaking for Mr. Shultz during his tes-
timony. He told the panel that he had scant
personal knowledge about the incident, and
he insisted that Mr. Shultz didn't know
much about the details of the arms ship-
ments either. He confirmed that Mr. Shultz
had attended two meetings in December
and January about the arms plan, but that
"from then on I believe he was only in-
formed occasionally and intermittently and
never in any detail."
A senior State Department official last
week said Mr. Shultz thought the idea of
sending arms to Iran had been scrapped
after he and Defense Secretary Caspar
Weinberger opposed it. But officials at the
White House yesterday charged that Mr.
Shultz deliberately had ''turned his head
the other way, and now he's trying to
claim he was kept in the dark.'Besides questioning the policy of send-
ing arms to Iran, Mr. Whitehead contra-
dicted President Reagan's assertion last
week that Iran had ceased sponsoring ter-
rorism against the U.S. during the past
year. _l don't like to differ with my presi-
dent, but I believe there's some continuing
evidence of Iranian involvement with ter-
rorists." he told the congressional panel.
U.S. intelligence sources say that Iran
has influence over the radical Shiite terror-
ists in Lebanon who recently have taken
three additional American hostages.
Reagan's Assertion Undercut
In his testimony, Mr. Whitehead also
undercut President Reagan's assertion
that the Iran policy was designed to
strengthen moderate elements in Tehran.
"I don't think we know who are the moder-
ates in Iran," Mr. Whitehead said.
The State Department official said that
the U,S. occasionally picks up "little
clues" about possible internal opposition to
the Iranian regime, but he noted that de-
partment officials don't know who actually
received the arms the administration
agreed to sell to that country. "I don't
know who signed the check," he said.
Mr. Whitehead said he and Mr. Shultz
also didn't know what equipment was
shipped, whether Israel played a role in
the operation as has been widely reported,
or under what authority the president ap-
proved the shipments.
"I feel somewhat embarrassed to be in
that position," Mr. Whitehead told the law-
makers.
Discussing the potential long-term ef-
fects of the Iran policy, Mr. Whitehead
said that moderate Arab states are "dis-
tressed and embarrassed and tell us that
they believe we have deceived them."
Asked how the U.S. could repair the dam-
age, Mr. Whitehead said the administra-
tion must reaffirm its previously stated
policies of taking a tough stand against ter-
rorists and refusing to provide arms to ei-
ther side in the Iran-Iraq war.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302500005-0