FOR GATES, AN ISSUE OF INQUISITIVENESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270039-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 39
• Publication Date: February 22, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
t Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/10: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270039-4
ARTICLE APPEANA?
ON PAGE
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
22 February 1987
For Gates, an issue of
inquisitiveness
By. Charles Green_
Inquirer ingion Bureau
WASHINGTON ? As the CIA's sec-
ond-in-command, Robert M. Gates
did not know ? and did not try to
find out ? about key aspects of the
Iran arms deal and efforts to fund
the Nicaraguan contras.
That, at least, is how President 'Rea-
gan's nominee to head the Central
Intelligence. Agency portrayed him-
self to lawmakers considering his
nomination at hearings last week.
Nevertheless, Gates said he had
sufficient reservations about send-
ing arms to Tehran that he recom-
mended in September, after twO
more Americans were taken hostage
in Lebanon, that the U.S. dealings
with Iran be halted because the
"whole policy was a bad idea."
The statements by Gates came as
the Senate Intelligence Committee
? concluded two days of sharp ques-
tioning of the 43-year-old career in-
telligence officer in preparation for
a vote next month on his confirma-
tion.
?
The public hearings provided a
rare glimpse into the normally se-
cret inner-workings of the CIA, re-
vealing a picture of an intelligence
agency that appeared curiously un-
aggressive in keeping tabs on contro-
versial administration actions re-
garding Iran and Nicaragua.
"They were raising their curtain of
ignorance around the agency," said
Sen. William S. Cohen (R., Maine).
"There was a conscious effort not to
know."
The pattern was highlighted at sev-
eral points during the two days of
hearings. Gates said he: ?
? Never asked . then-national secu-
rity adviser _John M. Poindexter
whether funds from the Iran arms
sale were being diverted to the Nica-
raguan contras, even though a top
CIA analyst had raised that possibil-
ity with him.
? Was still unsure of the role the
CIA played in facilitating a shipment
of anti-tank weapons from Israel to
Iran a year after the event.
? Never pressed to inform Con-
gress about the Iran arms deal, even
though he said he believed key law-
makers should not have been kept in
the dark. '
? Did not question Lt. Col. Oliver L.
North, the fired NSC aide, when
North made a reference to Swiss
bank accounts and the contras dur-
ing a lunch in October with Gates
and William J. Casey, then the CIA
director. Instead, Gates said, he fo-
cused on whether the CIA was
"clean" in its dealings with the con-
tras.
The lunch with North on Oct. 9
came more than a week after Gates
was first tipped to the possible diver-
sion of money to the 'contras by CIA
intelligence analyst ? Charles Allen.
Nonetheless, neither Gates nor Casey
? who testified before the Senate
panel Nov. 21 ? said anything about
what they knew before Attorney
General Edwin Meese 3d made it
public Nov. 25.
?
Some Intelligence Committee mem-
bers grilled Gates at length about
gaps in his knowledge and his lack of
inquisitiveness about important pol-
icy matters. Sen. Bill Bradley (D.,
N.J.) asserted that Gates "passed the
buck" when alerted to the possibility
that .funds were being sent to the
Nicaraguan rebels.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.), charac-
terizing Gates as a "number-two man
who plays it safe, doesn't speak up,"
said Gates bore some responsibility
for overseeing the preparation of tes-
timony to the committee by Casey
that Specter labeled "skimpy, scanty,
uninformative and really mislead-
ing."
In his Nov. 21 testimony, Casey
briefed the committee about the Iran
arms deal but said nothing about a
diversion of funds to the contras, the
role of North in implementing the
arms deal and the U.S. reliance on
Iranian arms merchant Manucher
Ghorbanifar despite suspicions
about him in the CIA.
Yet Gates appeared to emerge from
the public grilling with no signifi-
cant threat to his confirmation. He
told reporters , after Wednesday's
hearing that the "intensive question-
ing was important in terms of clear-
ing the air,"
Intelligence Committee members
said they wanted to wait until the
release of the Tower Commission re-
port on Thursday on the Iran-contra
affair before passing final judgment
on Gates, in case new revelations
were disclosed.
?
The CIA's involvement in the Iran-
contra affair also is being examined
by the special House and Senate in-
vestigative committees, but their in-
quiries are just getting under way.
One matter expected to be exam-
ined in depth is the activities of the
former CIA station chief in Costa
Rica, who was recalled from his post
after being linked to private efforts
to aid the contras at a time when that
activity was barred by Congress.
Gates, in the two days of hearings,
indicated that the station chief was
not acting in accordance with CIA
regulations and "may have misled
us" regarding his activities. Gates
told Intelligence Committee mem-
bers in December that the CIA ac-
tively avoided involving itself with
fund-raising efforts for the contras
for fear of running afoul of congres-
sional bans.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/10: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270039-4