IRAN ARMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301310040-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 40
• Publication Date: April 21, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301310040-7
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21 April 1987
IRAN ARMS
BY ROBERT DOHERTY
WASHINGTON
The congressional committees probing the Iran-Contra scandal want to verify
that former CIA Director William Case s too sick to talk to investigators,
leaders of the Senate pane said uesday.
The committees are working on the assumption Casey will not be able to.
testify when hearings into the scandal start on May 5, and have no indication
that his medical condition is anything but grave, sources said.
Casey resigned as CIA director in February two months after surgery.for
brain cancer.
Sen. Warren Rudman, R-N.H., vice chairman of the select committee, said it is
important to verify his condition since many people believe he could provide
important testimony on the sale of U:S. arms to Iran and efforts to aid the
Nicaraguan Contra rebels.
''The record should be hlstorically correct, '' Rudman said. ''The committee's
taken no official action. but I expect at some point there'll be a discreet
inquiry made in some way.
''1 don't think anybody has any doubt (that Casey is seriously ill) but I
think ... since Casey potentially is such an important witness .... there-ought
to be some corroboration, " he said.
A?spokesman for independent counsel Lawrence Walsh said he would not comment
on his investigation or how it related to Casey.
The Senate panel Tuesday voted to-grant immunity to Rear Adm. John
Poindexter, a move that would compel the former national security adviser-to
testify about his and President Reagan's role in the scandal.
The vote was taken by polling members of the committee without a formal
meeting. The House panel planned to take a similar vote Wednesday.
Poindexter, who quit as Reagan's national security adviser when the diversion
of arms sales profits to the Nicaraguan Contra rebels was revealed Nov. 25, is
considered a key witness who will be asked what he told Reagan about the two
covert operations.
Rudman also said the committees have pretty much nailed down the complex
trail of money involved in the affair.
"The committees ... have an excellent idea of where the majority of the
money went, how it was handled, and we-Ill have it certainly as complete as you
can ever get anything like that by the time the hearings start,'' Rudman said.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a panel-member, said people would be ''surprised
about the money trail -- where it came from and where it went."
Hatch said, "You'll be surprised -by the size' but he wouldn't say whether
it was more or less than $10 million to $30 million Attorney General Edwin Meese
originally said was diverted to the Contras.
In discussing the Casey matter, Sen'. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, chairmani of the
select committee, said he was "sensitive" to Casey's privacy but said the
committee had a ''responsibility'' to verify his medical condition. 14
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301310040-7
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301310040-7
''There is no question that Mr. Casey has much to tell the nation either
through this committee or otherwise,'', Inouye said. ''If he is unable to .
participate, then the record should so indicate.
''At the present time, the only thing we have on the record (about Casey's
condition) are newspaper articles,'' he said.
He said the verification would be done by an ''expert,'' meaning ,a doctor,
but that it would not go forward if Casey or his family object.
Reports on-the Iran-Contra affair by the Senate Intelligence Committee and
the presidentially appointed Tower Commission said Casey, 74, learned ofa
possible funds diversion to the Contras about a month before the story became
public last Nov. 25.
"(Casey) did not move promptly to raise the matter with the president. Yet
his responsibility to do so was clear," the Tower Commission said. It also
criticized Casey for allowing the National Security Council, not the CIA, to
have ''operational responsibility'' for the arms-sale initiative.
In addition, it was reported last month that congressional investigators had
clear indications Casey masterminded 'the administration's efforts to help-the
Contras get military supplies and had become a central focus of the
panels'investigations. -
Casey had testified before three congressional committees probing the-
Iran-Contra scandal -- and was scheduled for additional appearances - when he
suffered a seizure last December at his CIA office.
Three days later he underwent brain cancer surgery and was hospitalized until
mid-February. Casey, who resigned as CIA director on Feb. 2, returned to the
hospital for more treatment in mid-March. A month after the operation he"was
reported to have difficulty speaking and walking. Heavy secrecy has surrounded
his condition since that report, but there is no indication he has improved.
Acting CIA Director Robert Gates-recently told a member of the Senate
Intelligence Committee that Casey is doing ''as well as could be expected,"
according to a congressional source.
-The congressional committees expect to receive from the White House excerpts
from-President Reagan's diaries related to the affair shortly, possibly by the
end of the week, a Senate source said.
-The committees expect to receive from the Israeli government chronologies of
Israeli contacts in the affair by the time hearings start in two weeks, the
source said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301310040-7 I