COMMITTEES MEET WITH SECORD ON EVE OF TESTIMONY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504550014-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: May 5, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sl Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504550014-1
WASHINGTON POST
ON PACE
"'^LE APPEARED
Committees Meet
With Secord on
Eve of Testimony
Leadoff Witness Expected
7b Offer New Disclosures
-J By Dan Morgan and Walter Pincus
I Washington Post Staff Writers
On the eve of the long-awaited Iran-contra
hearings, congressional investigators continued
meeting privately with their leadoff witness, re-
tired major general Richard V. Secord, whom
they expect to reveal publicly new details of the
Reagan administration's most controversial for-
eign policy initiatives.
Speaking of the months of testimony ahead,
Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), chairman of the
House select committee, said that much of it
would be familiar to the news media and the pub-
lic. But he added: "I think a good deal of the tes-
timony will be new," beginning with Secord's
appearance this afternoon.
In related matters, Hamilton disclosed that:
^ The committee will vote at a later date on the
release of classified documents and classified
testimony of some 300 witnesses given to inves-
tigators in private over the course of the four-
month prehearings inquiry. Rep. Dick Cheney
(R-Wyo.), vice chairman of the select committee,
said he expected that "the [amount of] material
that will remain classified will be relatively
small."
^ The House committee does not anticipate call-
ing President Reagan as a witness at this time,
but there has been no final judgment on this and
it "depends on how the hearings develop," Ham-
ilton said.
^ The private, preparatory questioning of Rear
Adm. John M. Poindexter, former national secu-
rity adviser, which lasted almost eight hours Sat-
urday, will continue, but probably not until the
weekend because of the hearings. Poindexter is
considered the most knowledgeable witness con-
cerning what the president knew of the secret
funding of the contras during the cutoff of U.S.
5 May 1987
military aid, and the diversion of
U.S-Iran arms-sale funds to the Ni-
caraguan rebels.
? Congressional investigators still
have not reached agreement with
the Israeli government over the
release of a "financial chronology"
of the Iran-contra events compiled
by officials in Jerusalem. Hamilton
described the financial material as
extensive and called the coopera-
tion of Israeli officials "very good."
The handling of classified infor-
mation took up most of a meeting
yesterday of the House select com-
mittee.
Sources said the members decid-
ed that during the public hearings,
witnesses would be alerted if the
questioning was expected to take
them into classified areas. Of par-
ticular sensitivity is the subject of
other nations that allegedly sup-
ported the contras.
The most prominent example is
Saudi Arabia, which is widely be-
lieved to have provided $33.5 mil-
lion to the contra forces immediate-
ly before and after Congress
stopped direct U.S. military aid.
Testimony concerning the alleged
Saudi contribution is expected dur-
ing Secord's appearance.
Saudi officials repeatedly have
denied that their government was
the source of the funds.
Also, the State Department has
never officially acknowledged that a
donation to the contra cause was
solicited from the sultan of Brunei.
For each witness, only after hear-
ing testimony in public will the con-
gressional committees vote on
whether to release related classi-
fied information.
Hamilton said yesterday that rel-
atively little of the Secord testimo-
ny would deal with classified mate-
rial. The retired Air Force general
served as the principal private op-
erator in the effort to channel mil-
itary supplies to the contras after
direct U.S. military aid was cut off
in 1984, and in the arms sales to
Iran.
While at the Pentagon, Secord
was deeply involved in administra-
tion lobbying leading to congres-
sional approval in 1981 of the sale
of AWACS (Airborne Warning and
Control System) surveillance planes
to the Saudis.
In 1984-86, Secord served as the
principal private operator first in
the effort to resupply the contras,
and then in last year's U.S. arms
sales to Iran. He also worked in a
semiofficial capacity. For example,
in the November 1985 shipment of
U.S.-made arms to Iran, according
to the Tower review board report,
he acted to obtain government
flight clearances for the aircraft on
its way to Iran.
Secord also on several occasions
helped arrange dual use for aircraft
in two operations.
In November 1985, for example,
Secord delayed a planned arms
shipment from Portugal to Central
America in order to use the same
aircraft to send arms to Iran. Last
May, Secord arranged for a South-
ern Air Transport Inc. charter to
carry U.S.-made military equipment
destined for Iran to Israel, and then
have the same aircraft return via
Lisbon to pick up arms shipments
for the contras.
Last October, when the U.S. Cus-
toms Service subpoenaed informa.
tion from Southern Air after a C123
cargo plane was shot down over
Nicaragua, airline officials called
Secord, who in turn notified Lt. Col.
Oliver L. North-then a National
Security Council aide-of their con-
cern that the documents might
show a connection to the Iran hos-
tage program. North called a top
official at the Customs Service and
the records were not taken from
Southern Air.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504550014-1