WHITE HOUSE DECISION NEARS ON WHETHER TO WITHDRAW GATES CIA NOMINATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290072-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 16, 2012
• Sequence Number: 72
• Publication Date: March 2, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/16: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290072-5
2 March 1987
Int WILT STAT
WHITE HOUSE DECISION NEARS ON WHETHER TO WITHDRAW GATES CIA NOMINATION
BY JOAN MOWER
WASHINGTON
Robert M. Gates met with new White House chief of staff Howard H. Baker Jr.
today after a presidential spokesman said the question of withdrawing his
nomination to head the CIA "is a matter for Mr. Gates to decide."Spokesman
Marlin Fitzwater said Gates requested the meeting with Baker, in Baker's first
day as chief of staff, at midmorning.
They met for about 30 minutes, a source who declined to be identified said.
"The president stands behind his nomination of Mr. Gates,"Fitzwater said.
He added, however, "I have no knowledge of his (Gates') position. It's a
,matter for Mr. Gates to decide."The Washington Post, citing administration and
congressional sources it did not name, said Gates had decided "without much
prodding" to withdraw his name.
CIA spokeswoman Kath Pherson said, "He hasn't withdrawn as nominee, and as
far as we know he doesn have an plans to do so."The Senate Intelligence
Committee, which is reviewing the nomination, had not been informed of such a
decision by Gates, David Holliday, a spokesman for committee Chairman David
Boren, said today.
Holliday said as recently as Friday Gates was still defending his nomination,
sending to the panel documents which he said would mitigate concerns about his
role in a 1985 plan for a joint U.S.-Egyptian invasion of Libya.
While Holliday said committee members had not yet had time to read the
material, it was presented as something that would show Gates had argued against
the invasion idea in discussions with then- CIA director William Casey.
President Reagan was aware of the potential problem Gates faced in gaining
confirmation if a quick vote was sought, Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., said Sunday on
NBC-TV's "Meet the Press."At the same time, Dole said he didn't think Gates
"should be sort of held out there for five or six months until we finish all
the committee hearings" into the Iran-Contra affair.
Gates, 43, was picked to head the CIA after William J. Casey resigned in
December because of brain cancer.
Reagan's nominee, who held key CIA posts during the period that weapons
were shipped secretly to Iran and money apparently was diverted to Contra rebels
in Nicaragua, was quizzed about his involvement by members of the Senate
Intelligence Committee.
At least one senator, Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he was troubled by
information he had received about Gates' actions.
Dole said Sunday he was canvassing senators on the Gates nomination, and once
he finished he was expected to relay the results to the White House.
"I would guess that there would be some judgment made on this early this
week," Dole said.
If Gates' nomination is sent to the Senate floor, "it could be a long
process," Dole said, adding he indicated to Reagan last Thursday the nomination
"could be in some difficulty" if senators pressed for a quick vote. ONfted
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a?,
Boren, D-Okla., has said he favors an early vote because the CIA should not
be operating with a temporary chief.
Sources told the Post the White House needed a CIA nominee with no role in
the Iran-Contra arms affair.
"It is crucial to have a new CIA director who can credibly investigate and
clean up any remains of Iran-Contra, not a director who himself is the subject
of the investigation," the Post quoted a senior administration offial as saying.
Brent Scowcroft, a member of the Tower commission which investigated the
Iran-Contra affair, said the panel found no evidence Gates knew about the
diversion of profits to the Nicaraguan Contras.
? The Tower panel, a three-member board headed by former Sen. John Tower,
R-Texas, released a 300-page report last week that was sharply critical of the
Reagan administration's handling of the Iran-Contra case.
Scowcroft, a former national security adviser, also said the discussion of
whether intelligence reports on Iran in 1985 had been doctored by the CIA to
back up the objective of selling weapons to Tehran should not disqualify Gates'
nomination.
"We merely call attention to that (slanting intelligence) as something that
has to be guarded against," Scowcroft said.
Until February 1986, Gates was head of the CIA's analytical division, which
performs research and produces intelligence reports.
Reagan formally approved selling weapons to Iran in a written "finding" in
January 1986, a month before Gates became Casey's deputy.
The president gave verbal approval for the 1985 shipments through Israel,
although there has been a dispute over whether the presidential permission was
granted before or after the shipments were made.
Scowcroft, who has been mentioned as a possible CIA chief should Gates'
nomination be withdrawn, said no one has talked to him about the job and it
would be "purely hypothetical" to discuss it. Scowcroft appeared on the same
program as Dole.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved fo.r. Release 2012/08/16: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290072-5