ENERGETIC COLONEL AT BACK OF DISCUSSIONS WITH IRAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504310004-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: November 12, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504310004-8
AKICLEMW,W
ON PACE BALTIMORE SUN RLE ONLY
12 November 1986
Energetic colonel at back
of discussions with Iran
By Mark Matthews
Washington Bureau of The Sun
WASHINGTON - When Nicara-
guan rebels were sustaining their
military struggle against the ruling
Sandinistas d-espite a cutoff of U.S.
aid, a curious administration col-
league pressed Lt. Col. Oliver North
on where their money was coming
from.
"He Just wouldn't answer.... I
never got anything," the man recalls.
But he adds. "1 wasn't in a position
to accuse him.... I don't know what
his orders were."
Above all. say people who have
watched the tight-lipped National
Security Council staffer at close
hand. he is a professional Marine
who follows orders. If coordinating
continued support for Nicaraguan
"contras' pushed him to the edge of
the law - perhaps beyond. as crit-
ics allege - and if working out a
deal with Iran easing the way for
release of U.S appeared to
conflict with stated U.S. policy, he
was not acting as a loose cannon.
they say.
'He's a very energetic cannon.
but there's always someone behind
the cannon firing," says an adminis-
tration official who knows him well.
Since mid-1981. when Colonel
North joined the NSC staff. where he
Is director of political-military af-
fairs, that "someone" has been either
former National Security Adviser
Robert C. McFarlane or his succes.
sor. Vice Adm. John Poindexter.
How those orders were conceived
in the Iranian case is the focus of
growing controversy amid reports.
that two principal Reagan advisers,
Secretary of State George P. Shultz
and Secretary of Defense Caspar W.
Weinberger. were unhappy with
shipping arms to Iran in return for
help in freeing U.S. hostages.
The operation of the NSC staff
itself, removed from congressional
scrutiny and the cautionary influ-
ence of experts In the State and De-
fense departments, is likely to draw
renewed challenge in the Democrat-
ic-controlled Congress.
By all accounts. "Ollie" North, a
1968 Annapolis graduate and a dec-
orated Vietnam combat veteran.
meshed perfectly with the NSC's
style.
Impatient with bureaucracy, will-
ing to take great personal risks and
to work long hours and weekends,
he could always be counted on to
carry out the most sensitive assign-
ments "110 percent." one former of-
ficial says.
Although he avoids publicity and
the NSC is close-mouthed about his
activities. he is reported to have
helped plan the U.S. invasion of Gre-
nada. to have searched for those re-
sponsible for the bombing of the U.S.
Marine barracks in Lebanon in
1983 and to have helped conceive
last year's interception of the airlin.
er carrying the hijackers of the
Achille Lauro cruise ship.
He also played a key "crisis man-
agement" role after the Soviets shot
down a Korean airliner in 1983.
Although not a policy-maker, by
virtue of his skill and determination
"he wields much more influence
than someone of that rank would
normally have," an administration
official says.
"He's articulate, a little bit of a
bulldog - a little too pushy for a
lieutenant colonel," says one who
has worked with him.
He is also creative. "I imagine he
would be a schemer," this source
adds. "if given an assignment. he
would probably stay awake nights
thinking about ways to get it done."
And there is widespread ques-
tioning here about the extent to
which his actions in carrying out in-
structions from above eventually
loom so large AO to become a crucial
aspect of administration policy.
Such is the case with his role as
point man in maintaining support in
the United States for the Nicaraguan
contras during a congressional ban
on U.S. aid to the rebels.
Telephone 1098 that have come to
light point to a close involvement by
Colonel North in complicated private
efforts to continue supplying the
contras, although the administration
insists there was no breach of the
law.
This private aid network is the
subject of an Inquiry by the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee. One
member, Sen. John Kerry. D-Mass,
has asked that Colonel North and
others be subpoenaed tr, testify un-
der oath.
Colonel %'^rth `had tots of ideas of
his own," says a man who has
worked with him o:r other issues.
"He does what he's told, but when
people give him latitude and tell him
to achieve such and such an objec.
tive, he'll find a way to do it.
"i don't think he would knowingly
violate the law. But there are all
sorts of interpretations." this former
official says.
So secretive and "compartmental.
ized" is the NSC staff that it is not
just other agencies that are kept in
the dark on some of its actions. One
former staffer says he failed to learn
of some "major things" that occurred
within his own area of expertise un.
til "they broke in the press."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504310004-8