REAGAN KEPT A LOOSE REIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480004-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 1, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: December 17, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/01 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480004-8
ARTICLEAP CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
ON PAGE 17 December 1986
Reagan kept a loose rein
Led to staff overreaching, Turner says
Br~Warren Richey
3 Stmt writei oof The Christian Science Monitor
Washington
President Reagan's "hands off"
management style may have encour-
aged White House staff members to
take the initiative in setting up the
secret Iran-contra connection, accord-
ing to a former director of the Central
Intelligence Agency.
Stanfield Turner, who served as
\ 'CIA director during the Carter admin-
istration, also questioned the legality
of a reported oral presidential na-
tional-security "finding" said to have
authorized secret arms sales to Iran via
Israel in 1985.
Mr. Turner warned, however, of the
dangers of an overreaction to the Iran-
contra affair in Congress that might
lead to severe restrictions on the Presi-
dent's ability to conduct covert activi-
ties in the future.
In a breakfast meeting with report-
ers Tuesday, Mr. Turner said he be-
lieved that an underlying cause of the
Iran-contra affair was President Reagan's
reluctance to become involved in the day-
to-day details of special operations orga-
nized by staff members working in his
National Security Council.
"The management style of this Presi-
dent is such that he could have encour-
aged people [under him] to feel that he
didn't want to know [the specifics of their
activities). Not necessarily
because he wanted to be
able to deny it, but because
that was not a level of
Tbmer doubts legality
of oral security findings
ficials have said they had no prior knowl-
edge of the secret Iran-contra connection.
The effort to divert the profits of Iran
arms sales to rebels fighting the Nicara-
guan government was allegedly organized
and run by Colonel North, a mid-level
NSC staff member.
Turner was critical of top members of
the Reagan administration for "running
for cover and passing the buck to every-
one else" in the current crisis. "It is show-
ing a neglect of responsibility," Turner
said. He added that many of Reagan's
senior advisers - including White House
chief of staff Donald T. Regan - should be
fired or step down.
"I don't see how the President can
reconstitute public confidence with these
detail that he normally
wanted to get into," Turner
said.
"[Lt. Col. Oliver] North
was encouraged by the
President, his chief of staff,
and [national-security ad-
viser John M.] Poindexter
to go out there and really
support these contras, even
at the risk of flouting a
law," he added.
President Reagan and
other top administration of-
same people," he said.
The former CIA director also ques-
tioned the legality of a reported 1985
presidential "finding" that orally autho-
rized secret Israeli shipments of US arms
to Iran.
According to former national-security
adviser Robert McFarlane, President Rea-
gan made an oral "finding" during a con-
versation with Mr. McFarlane in mid-
1985. The White House denies that any
finding was made until a formal written
finding was signed by the President on
Jan. 17. That finding autho-
rized secret US shipments
of arms to Iran.
The issue is a critical one
for Israeli officials who
maintain that no US arms
were shipped to Iran from
Israel in 1985 without prior
explicit US authorization.
US and Israeli officials and
assorted middlemen were
involved in various aspects
of the secret Iran arms plan
during at least the last six
months of 1985. It is un-
clear under what legal au-
thority they operated.
Turner said that, in his
view, oral findings by a president were
not a legal means to initiate a covert
operation. But others disagree.
Daniel B. Silver, former general coun-
sel of the CIA and the National Security
Agency, says that there is nothing in the
wording of the law that requires that a
presidential finding be written. He notes
that all that is required is that the presi-
dent determine that the proposed covert
action be important to US national secu-
rity. "The statute only requires that the
president make such a finding, not that he
write it down," Mr. Silver said.
He noted, however, that standard
practice in the White House has been that
national-security findings are recorded in
writing and signed by Reagan.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/01 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480004-8