PANELS VOTE IMMUNITY FOR BUSINESSMAN IN IRAN PROBE; ROLE OF NSA IS EXAMINED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605530014-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 20, 2013
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: March 12, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/02/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605530014-1
ARTICLE APPEARED WALL STREET JOURNAL
19 MArrh lg87
Panels Vote Immunity for Businessman
In Iran Probe; Role of NSA Is Examined
Ir
Zr
While tile Central Intelligence Agency has
come under considerable criticism for its
role, the NSA hasn't been much scrutin-
ized. The NSA isn't the same agency as the
National Security Council, the arm o the
By JOHN WALcoTT iid=bVVinbRocERs
Staff Reporters of THE W ALL THJ EET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON - House and Senate
committees investigating the Iran-Contra
affair voted to grant limited immunity to
businessman Albert Hakim in an apparent
effort to compel him to give the lawmakers
access to financial records involved in the
scandal.
Mr. Hakim, a close associate of retired
Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord,
would be the fourth and most important
figure yet to be granted immunity. He is
believed to have intimate knowledge of the
financial arrangements used to carry out
both the U.S. weapon sales to Iran and
arms shipments to the Contras.
Meanwhile, it was learned that congres-
sional investigators are looking into the
role of the National Security Agency-the
supersecret intelligence organization that
intercepts radio. telephone, telex and other
messages-in the administration's Iran
and Contra operations. The agency gave
Lt. Col. Oliver North, the fired White
House aide, 15 encryption devices, which
he used to provide secure communications
for a network of U.S. officials and private
arms dealers who were secretly arming
Nicaraguan rebels.
Congressional investigators also are
seeking to determine whether the NSA col-
lected any evidence suggesting that money
from arms sales to Iran was diverted to
the rebels, who are known as Contras.
Under the "use immunity" that the con-
gressional committees voted to grant, Mr.
Hakim would be required to testify before
Congress, and anything he discloses
couldn't be used against him in any crimi-
nal prosecution. The independent counsel
investigating the affair still could prose-
cute the businessman, as long as the prose-
cutor. shows that any evidence he used
wasn't derived from. the congressional tes-
timony. A Senate investigator said yester-
day that as many as 12 people ultimately
may be granted some immunity in order to
secure their testimony.
Questions about the NSA open a new
line of inquiry into the Iran-contra affair.
White House where Col. North worked.
Congressional sources said they nav 't
found any evidence of wrongdoing by the
NSA, and they stressed that the agency,
which is based at Fort Meade, Md., has
been cooperating with investigators. A
spokesman.for the NSA declined to com-
ment on the agency's role in the Iran-Con-
tra affair.
Intelligence sources said the encryption
devices, described as com u er e -
boar tat are connected to ordinary tele-
phone lines, aren't the most sophisticated
such machines developed by the NSA.
The Tower Commission re rt on the
Iranarms es disc ose tat m a ition
to Col. North, Gen. Secord, w o mans ed
the airlift of arms to the Contras had one
of the devices, as did the CIA station chief
in Costa Rica, who helped coordinate at'r
dro to Ne-insurgents. Former CIA agent
Tomas Clines, w o oversaw arms stilp-
ments to the Contras from Portupni. also
had one of the machines. Another was in-
stalled at the arms networ s secret base
at El Salvador's Ilopango air force base,
according to sources.
The intelligence sources said it was un-
clear whether NSA director Lt. Gen. il-
liam Odom or other ton NSA officials knew
that some of the devices were given to pri-
vate citizens or that they were used to help
arm the Nicaraguan rebels. It also isn't
cc ehet her t ley knew what provisions,
if any, were made to safeguard the de-
vices.
A former high-ranking intelligence offi-
cial said the should never have pro-
vided suc ui ment to a mid-level white
House official without a written directive
from the secretary of defense, who nomi-
nally supervises the NSA. But Tower Com-
mission sources said they found no evi-
dence that Defense Secretary Caspar
Weinberger directed the agency to provide
the devices, or that the NSA had requested
his permission to do so.
Senate investigators also are trying to
determine whether the NSA intercepted or
was given any messages that might have
disclosed either the existence of the possi-
bly illegal Contra arms network or any di-
version of Iran arms sales money to the
Contras. The NSA is obligated under the
law to report any evidence that a crime
may have been committed.
V /
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/02/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605530014-1