LETTER TO ANTHONY DAY FROM GEORGE V. LAUDER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301310055-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 55
• Publication Date: April 3, 1987
• Content Type: LETTER

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301310055-1
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D. C. 20505
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Phone: [phone]
3 April 1987
Mr. Anthony Day
Editorial Page Editor
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Times Mirror Square
Los Angeles, CA 90053
Dear Tony:
I would appreciate your publishing the following paragraphs in your
"Letters to the Editor."
Standard Fair") Robert Morris inaccurately stated: "...the nomination of CIA
19 Deputy Director Ro-o a rt j to succeed the ailing William J. Casey had to be
withdrawn after it was revealed that Gates, in a 1985 memo to the White House,
formally and enthusiastically favored the arms deal with Iran."
In the first place, Mr. Gates' nomination was not withdrawn for the
reasons Mr. Morris cites, as any reader of the record of that period would
know. In his public statement dated 2 March, Mr. Gates said that no one asked
him to withdraw his nomination and that President Reagan had never ceased his
support of it. Mr. Gates took the initiative himself to ask the President to
withdraw the nomination, believing that while he probably would ultimately
have been confirmed, a protracted struggle with Congress over the matter would
damage the Agency and Intelligence Community and prevent them from getting on
with their important tasks. He said he believed it was impossible for them to
do so while his nomination was pending. The White House issued a similar
statement when President Reagan acted on Mr. Gates' withdrawal request.
Secondly, Mr. Morris' statement that Mr. Gates "in a 1985 memorandum to
the White House, formally and enthusiastically favored the arms deal with
Iran" is totally without foundation. Mr. Morris is apparently referring to a
In an op-ed article in the LOS ANGELES TIMES on 1 April ("Iran Affair was
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301310055-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301310055-1
Mr. Anthony Day 2 3 April 1987
NEW YORK TIMES story which erroneously asserted that Mr. Gates encouraged,
approved and disseminated a paper by the National Intelligence Officer,for the
Middle East in May 1985 recommending that the US consider allowing European
arms sales to Iran.
In a letter dated 2 March to Senator Boren, the Chairman of the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence, Mr. Gates responded to this story. He told
Senator Boren: "The memorandum was prepared by the NIO at his own
initiative. I did-not know that the paper was being drafted, and neither saw
nor approved it prior to distribution. I received my copy simultaneously with
others inside and outside CIA. The NIO's actions were consistent with my
policy that intelligence analysts feel free to challenge conventional wisdom,
and provoke debate." A copy of Mr. Gates' letter to Senator Boren was made
available to the LOS ANGELES TIMES on the same day it was sent to Senator
Boren.
It is surprising that Mr. Morris, a former NSC staff, member, did not take
the trouble to check the facts before he wrote his article.
Sincerely,
George V. Lauder
Director, Public Affairs
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301310055-1