SENATE PANEL OPENS IRAN ARMS INQUIRY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710008-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: November 29, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

" ~ ~ Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403710008-2
WASHINGTON POST
29 November 1986
Senate Pane O~Qj~],S y There were these developments
1 eacerday:
? 'the Seaate intelligence gommit-
? tee saw tas opene tts inves~iga-
ran rms Inquiry ;sera ion w,t mm-
nesSe~. Cencentratinr
P-'essure /lriild.4 fnr Independent Counsel initially on "employes of the NSC
an3 persons actin at their direc-
' tion. en. atrtc c eahv (D-VtJ.
By Howard Kurtz t e ane s vice chairman said wit-
and George Lardner Jr. nesses wt uestione un er
Waahmgion Pwt Staf( Wntere oath a said the White House has
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 [[I appears to be play-
ing. The officials noted that Meese
provided the legal advice to Pres-
ident Reagan at the time the [ran
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 [ran and
was nod 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, '"fhe
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
indication that they will continue to
press for an independent counse!
And various committees announced
they will conduct separate investi-
gations.
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.),
chairman of the House Judiciary
criminal justice subcommittee, said
his pane! 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 Ifouse spokesman, Dan-
iel Howard, announced in Santa
Barbara, Calif., that the president's
Counsel, Peter J. Wallison, is pre-
paring amemorandum 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
do maitttain 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 affair who is clearly covered by
the ethics law is Vice Aclm. John M.
Poindexter, who resigned 'Cuesday
as national security adviser,
The department is also looking
into allegations that f.t. Col. 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 sane 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 Efouse official said the
question of whether Poindexter
should appear for questioning by
the intelligence committee staff has
"not been addressed yet. "[t 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. '['he
committee's procedures call for
witnesses to be put under oath and
questioned by staff members with a
panel member present.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403710008-2
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403710008-2
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 Hilt before the
probe is finished.
'Che 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-
cleficiency Act. 'Chat law provides
that an officer or employe of the
United States may not expend funds
for unauthorized purposes and pro-
videscriminal penalties for knowing
and willful violations.
bteanwhile, The Times of Lon-
don reported this weekend that mil-
lions of dollars from the secret sale
of U.S. ar-ns to Iran and destined to
aid the Nicaraguan rebels was de-
posited in the Swiss bank account of
a fir-n run by former Central Intel-
ligence Agency officials.
The news a er said that between
Jamia~ a tem er 198 top
SCC of~f''ici~TTs m as m ton su -
pliec a wiss company wit . 12
mi ion m un to ourc ase_ at
their original value, military equip-
men or sa e o ran. -
The militar hardware, including
several thousand missiles. was de-
livered to [ran on three flights and
sold for its replacement value of
630 million, The Times 4a~~ ThP
mi ion profit was t_ h_ e~~-
ited in the accounC of Credit Fedu-
ciaire Services a Geneva inv~st-
_ment banking oop.~-;,,,, ,., ,, ~ r-
mer CIA officials the new- c__o~oPr
say . [~ rom there th
trans erred to CFS Invetrm nac
Lt ., the comoanv'a a~~?~,.,. ? .~
Ca man Island- s~ id.
Stajjwrittr Qaoid ffojfman in
Santa Barbara contributed to this
report.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403710008-2