REAGAN NAMES 3 TO EXAMINE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL; OTHER IRAN INQUIRIES WIDEN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807260003-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: November 27, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807260003-9
O'+rA(X NEW YORK TIMES
27 November 1986
REAGAN NAMES 3 TO EXAMINE
.NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL;
OTHER /RAN INO UIRJES WIDEN
By BERNARD WEINRAUB
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 - Amid the
crisis over secret dealings with Iran
and the Nicaraguan rebels, President
Reagan appointed a three-member
panel today to investigate the role of
his own National Security Council.
Nonetheless on Capitol Hill, several
Democratic committee chairmen in
the House and the Senate made it clear
that they intended to press forward
with their own inquiries on the disclo-
sures about the affair. Some Demo-
crats called for the resignation of Don-
ald T. Regan, the White House chief of
? staff.
The President's action, announced
shortly before he left for Thanksgiving
at his ranch in California, came as the
Justice Department broadened its in-
vestigation into the secret arms ship-
ments to Iran and the diversion of mil-
lions of dollars from the arms sales to
Nicaraguan rebels.
F.B.I. Is Involved
The department announced that its
inquiry into the affair had become a
major criminal investigation that
would include agents of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.
Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d,
meanwhile, said the Justice Depart-
ment was investigating several con-
sultants and others "who have a tan-
gential relationship with the U.S. Gov-
ernment" for possible involvement in
the effort to funnel Iranian money to
the Nicaraguan rebels, or contras.
The Justice Department moves
seemed to be an effort to pre-empt Con-
gressional investigations by Senate
and House committees, now controlled
by the Democrats.
Possible Middle East Mission
In another development, State De-
partment officials said today that the
Administration was considering send-
ing Vice President Bush or Secretary
of State George P. Shultz to the Middle
East in an effort to bolster American
standing in the region in the aftermath
of the Iran revelations.
With the White House in the grip of
what one ranking official called "a
crisis atmosphere," Mr. Reagan an-
nounced that former Senator John G.
Tower of Texas would head a "special
review board" to examine the opera-
tions of the National Security Council.
Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter re-
signed as national security adviser on
Tuesday, and a deputy, Lieut. Col. Oli-
ver L. North, was dismissed.
Also serving on the panel will be for-
mer Secretary of State Edmund S.
Muskie and a former national security
adviser, Brent Scowcroft.
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan,
Democrat of New York, a former vice
chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, said he had "one reserva-
tion" about the apppintment of Mr.
Tower. "I hope that Senator Tower will
clearly and quickly set out his relation-
ship with Bud McFarlane," Mr. Moyni-
han said.
Robert C. McFarlane worked for
Senator Tower as an aide on the Senate
Armed Services Committee from 1979
to 1981. Mr. McFarlane, a former na-
tional security adviser who traveled to
Iran as part of the secret arms deal,
was said by Mr. Meese on Tuesday to
have been been aware of the diversion
of money to the contras.
Reagan Reported `Very Upset'
Mr. Reagan, who left today for his
ranch near Santa Barbara, Calif., for
the holiday weekend, has said he was
"not fully informed" that up to $30 mil-
lion had been secretly funneled to Nica-
raguan rebels from the arms sale to
Planning New Appointment
Meanwhile, a senior White House
aide said Mr. Reagan was planning to
name a new national security adviser
to replace Admiral Poindexter within
the next week, possibly by the weekend
while in Santa Barbara. Mr. Reagan
discussed the matter this morning in
the White House with Secretary of
State George P. Shultz as well as with
Mr. Regan and other key Administra-
tion officials.
Those under consideration, officials,
said, include Mr. Tower and Mr. Scow-
croft as well as the Secretary of the
Navy, John F. Lehman Jr.; Max M.
Kampelman, the chief United States
arms negotiator at Geneva; David M.
Abshire, the United States Ambassa-
dor to the North Atlantic Treaty Organ-
ization; Kenneth L. Adelman, head of
the Arms Control and Disarmament
Agency, and Paul Laxalt, who is retir-
ing as a Republican Senator from
Nevada.
A White House official said Mr. Rea-
gan was seeking someone to head the
National Security Council who was
"experienced in foreign affiars, politi-
cally smart, politically sensitive, well-
respected by Congress."
The official said that Mr. Regan, the
White House chief of staff, who has
been the object of increased criticism
because of the initial decision to pro-
ceed with the clandestine arms sale to
Iran, has been upset that the national
security adviser reports directly to the
President and not to him. Accordingly,
the official said, Mr. Regan feels he is
sometimes told of decisions after the
fact and is thus unable to influence the
President.
Iran. Mr. Reagan was described by one Admiral Poindexter, like his prede-
key aide today as concerned that the cessor, Mr. McFarlane, was one of the
controversy would "leave a permanent few people allowed to see the President
scar" on his Presidency. alone.
"He's very upset," the Reagan aide Mr. Regan, who accompanied the
said. "We're sick about it. Regan is president to Santa Barbara, told re-
sick about it. And it's not over yet. We porters today that "the N.S.C. does not
know that we don't know the full report to me."
story." L- Comparing the controversy to a bank
'
s appointment of a new
President
panel to investigate the actions of the
National Security Council would do lit-
tle to quell the crisis.
In a statement, Mr. Reagan said the
new panel would conduct a "prompt
and thorough" study of the National Se-
curity Council and would examine the
council's role "in the development,
coordination, oversight and conduct of
foreign and national security policy."
asked and answered a hypothetical
question: "Does the bank President
know whether a teller in the bank is fid-
dling around with the books? No."
The Justice Department, meanwhile,
said a "full-scale" investigation would
replace a fact-finding team that first
uncovered evidence of the multimillion
dollar diversion of Iranian payments to
the contras, a department official said.
Another department official said the
F.B.I. was expected to join the inquiry
late today and assign agents with high
cbr*Aalt
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security clearances. The clearances
will give them access to top-secret
White House documents in the case, of-
ficials said.
The broadened Justice Department
inquiry was ordered by Attorney Gen-
eral Meese, who led the team last
weekend that interviewed the Presi-
dent and other Administration officials
about the Iran deal.
Among those interviewed, officials
said, were Mr. Regan, Mr. Shultz, De-
fense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger
fa and William J. Casey, the Director of
Central Intelligence.
A department official said Mr.
Meese's involvement in the case was
motivated by concern over conflicting
accounts of the arms deal, and also by
a belief that the debate could cause ir-
reparable damage to the President.
Issue of Special Prosecutor
Department officials said they were
weighing whether to seek a special
prosecutor, or independent counsel. In
the past, the Justice Department has
responded slowly to requests for ap-
pointment of outside prosecutors in
politically sensitive cases.
But lawyers with ties to the Justice
Department said mounting pressure on
Capitol Hill and concern that a variety
of laws might, have been violated in the
arms deal would probably force Mr.
Meese to turn the investigation over to
someone else.
The official said Mr. Meese's investi-
gation began last Thursday, when he
and the Assistant Attorney General for
Legal Counsel, Charles J. Cooper, were
reviewing testimony to be given to Con-
gress regarding the arms deal.
A
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