HONEST VOICE CRYING IN GOV'T WILDERNESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290076-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 16, 2012
• Sequence Number: 76
• Publication Date: March 2, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/16: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290076-1
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
:rilinE,Looktel 2 March 1987
Honest voice crying
in gov't wilderness
By HARRISON RAINIE
News Washington Bureau_
WASHINGTON?Former
Sen. John Tower voiced a
widespread perception last
week when he declared the
Iran-Contra arms scandal "is
really a story of people whose
performance was perhaps
somewhat short of heroic."
But there is one shining
light in the dim record of the
scandal. His name is John
McMahon?the lone hero in
Die story:
As deputy director of the
CIA he was the only voice in
the crowd that insisted the
law be followed in the admin-
istration's covert dealings
with Iran, and it was pres-
sure from McMahon that
forced the administration to
take steps to make the pro-
cess legal.
He also argued forcefully
against the policy of swap-
ping arms for hostages and,
according to congressional
sources, finally resigned in
protest from his job in mid-
1986 when his counsel was ig-
nored.
McMahon's actions stand in
sharp contrast to those of his
successor -Robert Gififetho
as deputy CIA director was a
willing participant in the
arms sales policies and was
one of the first administra-
tion officials to receive evi-
dence that cash from the
arms sales might have been
illegally siphoned to help the
Contras in Nicaragua.
Whistle blower
Gates was sharply criti-
cized by members of the Sen-
ate Intelligence Committee
for failing to pursue that in-
formation vigorously and for
being too willing to back the
harebrained covert schemes
hatched in the National Se-
curity Council.
McMahon, 57, joined the
CIA fresh out of Holy Cross
College in Worcester, Mass.,
in 1951, and was named depu-
ty director in 1982. He blew
the whistle on the arms sales
policy when he discovered on
Dec. 7. 1985. that the CIA was
involved in helping ship 18
Hawk anti-aircraft missile
batteries to Iran.
McMahon had authorized
CIA participation in the ship-
ment that had taken place the
previous month because
White House officials lied to
him by saying the shipment
involved "oil drilling parts."
When he learned the truth,
McMahon reportedly "went
through the overhead (roof)
pointing out that there was
no way we could become in-
volved in any implementa-
tion of this mission without a
'finding."'
A "finding" is the legally
required certification that
the President must sign in or-
der 44?11141iliatelafiiii4
pora-
tion.
At a meeting the same day
in the Oval Office, he told
those gathered, including
President Reagan "What the
hell are we doingtere? Arms
are being sent. Where is the
formal authority? You know,
what are we doing here? Is
this going to be policy?"
He also questioned the ba-
sic premise of the arms sale
policy, asserting that "we
have no knowledge of moder-
ates in Iran, that most of the
moderates had been slaugh-
tered wheriTAyatoRah) Kho-
meini took over." He argued
that any weapons sold to Iran
"would end up in the front,
and that would be to the det-
riment of the Iran-Iraq bal-
ance."
After heated debate, McMa-
hon lost Reagan signed a
"finding," but ordered that it
be kept secret from Congress
and key administration oppo-
nents of the arms sales, such
as Secretary of State Shultz,
Secretary of Defense Caspar
Weinberger?and McMahon.
However, McMahon found
out about the finding a week
after it was signed on Jan. 17.
He eventually resigned his
post in March 1986, ending a.
34-year career with the CIA,
as gleeful conservatives
claimed their pressure had
forced out an "obstruction-
ist" from the agency brass.
In fact, according to a Sen-
ate source, McMahon left in
protest of a policy he knew
was doomed to fail.
STAT?
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/16: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290076-1