SHADOWY FIGURE IN IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480007-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 1, 2012
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: December 10, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480007-5
10 December 1986
figure
hadowy in Iran-contra affair
Staff writer ofT The Cfiiitan Science MOMbr
Wuhkvton
A retired two-star Air Fbrce is emerging as a key private-sectogeneral
r liai-
son in alleged covert White House ef-
forts to sell arms to Iran and funnel the
I profits to the rebels opposing Nica-
ragua's Sandinista regime.
Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord was
identified Monday by Secretary of
State George Shultz as one of three
people who secretly communicated
with the United States ambassador to
Lebanon last month in an effort to
coordinate plans to free American hos-
tages by selling arms to Iran.
The disclosure by Secretary Shultz
is the latest in a series of revelations
suggesting that General Secord played
a central role with a National Security
Council (NSC) staff member, Lt. Col.
Oliver L. North, in the covert
operations.
Other evidence suggesting a signifi-
cant role by Secord includes:
? The US Justice Department has
asked Swiss authorities to assist in an
investigation of both Colonel North
and General Secord in connection with
two Swiss bank accounts that may
have been used to channel funds to the
Nicaraguan contras.
?lblephone records show that re-
peated calls were made to Secord's
home and business from a "safe
house" in El Salvador used by crew
members of a secret air resupply oper-
ation that had been dropping weapons
and ammunition to the contras. The
operation was conducted at a time
when Congress had banned US mili-
tary aid to the rebels.
? Secord has acknowledged that he
sold a light aircraft to the contras in
1985. Federal prosecutors in Georgia
are investigating the
transaction.
North was fired last
month from his NSC
post after Attorney
General Edwin Meese
said North had planned
and run the Iran-contra
effort without Presi-
dent Reagan's authori-
zation.
Secord has denied
any wrongdoing, say-
ing his role in the Iran-
contra affair was that
of an adviser. He was
not available for com-
ment yesterday. Appearing before the
Senate Intelligence Committee yester-
day, Secord invoked the Fifth Amend-
ment in refusing to answer questions.
Secord, a West Point graduate and
former deputy assistant secretary of
defense for Near Eastern and South
Asian affairs, is described by friends
and associates as a dedicated and effi-
cient officer with experience in covert
missions and international arms Ralva
He is also patriotic, they say, with a
deep desire to serve the United States.
"I don't know of his involvement in
all this stuff," says a friend and former
government official, "but if he is in-
volved, he is involved for the good of
the country."
n b me the notion that Secord him-
self was part of a conspiracy doesn't
ring true," says retired
Lt. Gen. Ernest Graves,
former director of the
Defense Security Assis-
tance Agency. "My per-
ception of him is that
when the leadership
said get it done, he'd
get it done."
General Graves said
Secord was always
careful to inform his
superiors of what he
was doing. If he was
told to solve a problem,
he would do what was
necessary to solve it,
Graves said, adding, "But he would not
go off and take off on something when
he did not have dear authority from
above. He certainly never did that at
the Pentagon."
Secord's work with the CIA and
friendships with agency personnel
date from the 1960s when he served in
Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Secord,
a decorated Air Fbrce veteran who
C ;;tiny d
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480007-5
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480007-5
flew 285 combat missions, is reported to have been
involved in covert US bombing and other actions in
Southeast Asia during the Vietnam war. He also headed
the US Air Force military assistance group in Iran from
1975 to 1978, a time when the late Shah was building up
his air force with US firepower. Secord is said to have
been on a first-name basis with most of the leadership of
the Iranian armed forces under the Shah.
During the Reagan administration, Secord was pro-
moted and became the first military officer to hold the
deputy assistant secretary post for the Mideast. He
directed a staff of 125 and oversaw $30 billion in US
arms sales and contracts to more than 60 nations.
Secord's association with Colonel North began during
this period, when he Worked closely with the NSC in
efforts to gain congressional approval to sell US AWAC
surveillance planes to Saudi Arabia.
Secord's career hit an unexpected snag in 1981 when
a CBS News report suggested that he had worked with
arms merchant Edwin Wilson and had shared in profits
from Mr. Wilson's arms deals. The account triggered a
Justice Department investigation, and Secord was sus-
pended from his job at the
Pentagon for three
months. No charges were `When the
re .filed and Secord was leadership said get it
In 1983, Secord won a done, he'd get it
$2 million libel suit done.'
against the source of the
CBS report, but the alle- - Former colleague
gations are widely be-
lieved among associates
to have damaged Secord's career and cost him a prom-
ised promotion to lieutenant general. Secord left the
Pentagon in 1983 and went into business with former
Iranian businessman Albert Hakim.
At the time of the Secord-Wilson controversy, Secord
was defended and eventually reinstated at the Pentagon
with the help of Frank Carlucci, then deputy secretary of
defense. Mr. Carlucci was named last week by President
Reagan as his national-security adviser to replace Vice-
Adm. John M. Poindexter.
There is no indication of wrongdoing surrounding
Secord's friendship with Wilson. In fact, court records
show that Wilson, a former CIA agent, may have been a
useful source of intelligence information for Secord.
Court records say that Wilson and Secord met at least
twice in Tehran when Secord was stationed there and at
least twice in Belgium in 1979 and '80 when Secord was
working at the Pentagon and. made regular trips to
Europe for NATO meetings.
i At the 1979 meeting, Wilson told Secord that there
were North Koreans operating the Libyan's Soviet-sup-
plied MIG-25 jets.
Wilson was convicted in 1982 of illegally shipping
arms to Libya and is serving a 15-year prison sentence.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480007-5