CIA NOMINEE CAUTIONS ON COVERT ACTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403730004-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: March 5, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403730004-4
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
5 March 1987
CIA nominee cautions on covert acts
Must heed law and keep C ongrm infi rmed, Webster says
ByDavid f
lnQ u t RoVn u.ruu
WASHINGTON - FBI Director Wil-
liam H. Webster, President Reagan's
choice to head central intelligence.
pointedly asserted yesterday that
any CIA chief should "adhere to the
rule of law" and spurn secret opera-
tions that flout the agency's charter.
In a chat with reporters after meet-
ing with the President at the White
House, Webster avoided any direct
criticism of the role that his prede-
cessor, retired CIA Director William
J. Casey, played in facilitating U.S.
arms shipments to Nicaraguan rebels
- an activity that some critics say
was illegal at the time because of a
congressional ban on aid to the reb-
els.
But Webster made it clear that he
would resist any order or impulse to
involve the CIA in covert activities
that violated such a ban. And he said
he believes that Congress should "be
informed just as soon and just as
fully as is possible within the con-
straints of national security" about
covert activities.
On both counts, independent and
congressional investigators have
said that Reagan and his top national
security advisers and operatives, in-
cluding CL\ officials, failed to abide
by the rules for managing covert
operations.
Webster met with Reagan for the
first time since being asked by the
president to take the CIA post. After
the meeting, Webster spent several
minutes with reporters and said he
"wanted to take advantage of the
lessons learned" from the mistakes
made in the Iran-contra affair
Noting that on Tuesday Reagan
had instructed his National Security
Council subordinates to abide by the
rules. Webster said, "I think the Pres-
ident's remarks to the National Secu-
rity Council staff about adherence to
the rule of law, both nationally and
internationally, is a very important
principle."
On Capitol Hill, Webster's nomina-
tion was greeted yesterday with en-
thusiasm by lawmakers who gener-
ally predicted quick approval of his
appointment.
Senate Intelligence Committee
vice chairman William S. Cohen (R.,
Maine) said he hoped the panel
could start Webster's confirmation
hearings next week and get the
nomination to the Senate floor be-
fore the middle of the month.
Among candidates mentioned as The attorney general told ern \r-
the possible successor to Webster at jen Specter r k . Pa ) that rc,ardlc',s
the FBI were U.S. District Judge D. of questions if constitutionality, he
Lowell Jensen of San Francisco and wants to ensure that independent
U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani of counsels "go forward in their vars.
Manhattan. ons matters" while pre,erv:ng the
Webster told reporters that past trusts of thc;r lahors. Specter paid
political ties to the administration the best way to ensure Ihat end ~> I"
should not automatically disqualify a ? r,rk with' the current jaw" aid
person from the post, which carries a support its constitutionality
statutory 10-year term. "I don't think However, Meese said one opt:. ,n
you should rule out someone simply would be for the justice Depar'mei:t
because they have been in a govern- itself to appoint the independent
ment position or association with the counsels.
attorney general in an official capac- Meanwhile, former Secretary of
ity," he said. State Edmund S. Muskie said ye'stcr-
Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d, day that the Tower commission had
in an appearance before the Senate suspicions but no proof That Iranian
Judiciary Committee yesterday, said officials received kickbacks from the
that a successor should not be cho- sale of U.S. arms to Tehran.
sen on the basis of political connec-
tions to the Reagan administration.
'That definitely is not the way the
FBI director should be selected,''
Meese said.
Meese met yesterday with inde-
pendent counsel Lawrence F. \t'ai~h
Muskie. a member of the thrce-
man Tower commission. said the
panel had stated no such cor,clusions
because "you don't state !!;,_in' as
tacts until you can prose tile's. espe-
cially in a document supposed to be
authoritative."
and agreed to seek dismissal of a But he said someone in the arms
lawsuit that is threatening to derail industry-whom he did not Identify
i alsh's investigation of the Iran-con- - had told him about the payoffs.:\t
Ira affair. The suit, filed by Li. Col. least S20 million is believed to be
Oliver L. North, contends that the missing.
law governing the appointment of a
special counsel is unconstitutional
because it violates the separation of
powers doctrine by turning over ex.
ecutive-branch powers to the judtcia-
rv.
Meese will join Walsh's motion for
dismissal but will do so only on nar.
row legal grounds, said Justice De-
partment sources. That would Ieaye
open the possibility the Justice De-
partment could raise questions later
about the constitutionality of the
1978 Ethics in Government \et tin.
der which Walsh was appointed.
The department has not sought dis-
missal of a similar lawsuit filed by
former White House aide Michael K.
Deaver. Another independent prose-
cutor is investigating Deaver's lobby.
ing actitivies after he left the White
House.
Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D..
Ohio), a committee member, told
Meese, "if at this point the attorney
general of the United States isnt in'
the courtroom defending the consti-
tutionality, the perception of the
American people is going to be dev-
astating to the administration,"
The commission's report on the
Iran-contra at fair, released last week,
contained documents in which Mi-
chael Ledeen, a former consultant to
inc tNational Security Council. told
an unnamed CI.\ oificial about possi.
ble kickbacks.
\ftcr a meeting with Ledeen in
I)ecemher 1985. the chief of rile CI.\'s
Iran desk wrote, "Ledeen noted they
'lad purposely overcharged the Ira-
rians and had used around 5200.000
of these funds to support subject's
political contacts inside Iran.' The
ub)ect" referred to Manucher, t;oiorhanifar, the Iranian middleman
in the weapons' sales durin 1985
and 1986.
Clark McFadden. the Tower com.
missions chief counsel, said in an
interview with the Mn Francisco Ex-
aminer that Ghorbanifar had to
grease the way somehow. That's
what you would anticipate: that he
used the money for other purposes in
Iran."
V77/ v&)
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403730004-4
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403730004-4 w
A Senate Intelligence Committee
source told the Examiner that pay-
offs to Iranian officials totaled S6
million, and the paper quoted an
Iranian journalist in London, .\li
Reza Nortzadeh, as saying money
went to Uashemt Rafsanjani, the
speaker of the Iranian Parliment.
On Jan. 27, a man calling himself
%lehdi Bahremani Rafsanjani and
purporting to be the 25-year-old son
of Rafsanjani, said he planned to
return to the United States SS8 mil-
lion of the ;6 million he said he
made from secret arms sales.
The man's statements, made at
press conference in a hotel in Santa
Monica, Calif, could not be inde-
pendently confirmed. The younger
Rafsanjani reportedly disar'ieared
from Brussels. Belgium, in . De-
cember, and was headed for Canada.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403730004-4