GATES TO WITHDRAW AS CIA NOMINEE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290082-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 21, 2013
• Sequence Number: 82
• Publication Date: March 2, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/21 : CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290082-4
,
41. i
WASHINGTON POST
2 narch 1987
Gates to Withdraw
As CIA Nominee
Reagan 's Choice Facing Senate Rejection
By Lou CaoiLand
---Wsshington Post S niers
Robert M. Gates will withdraw as
President Reagan's nominee as di-
rector of central intelligence this
week, according to well-informed
.administration and congressional
sources.
One of these sources said Gates
had arrived at the decision "without
much prodding" in the wake of
warnings from Republican congres-
sional leaders that his nomination
was likely to be rejected by the Sen-
ate.
The Republican leaders, four of
whom met with Reagan on Friday,
said that the fight over Gates' con-
firmation on the Senate floor would
focus additional attention on the
Iran-contra affair at the same time
that the administration is trying to
make a fresh start with a new White
House team headed by former sen-
ator Howard H. Baker Jr. (R-
Tenn.).
Former senator Paul Laxalt (R-
Nev.), a close friend of the presi-
dent who was instrumental in the
selection of Baker, said yesterday
on ABC News' "This Week With
David Brinkley" that the nomination
has "the smell of Irangate" on it.
"Quickly, it must be done quick-
ly," said one well-placed source.
"Gates is a negative symbol and the
situation at the CIA is critical and
has to be transformed into a pos-
itive symbol."
The sources said that means find-
ing a nominee who has professional
intelligence experience, stature,
unquestioned integrity and with no
role in the Iran-contra affair, which
is expected to be the subject of in-
vestigations for most of this year by
the independent counsel and con-
gressional committees.
Within the Central Intelligence
Agency, some officials expressed
urgency about Gates' withdrawal in
hopes of protecting the agency from
what one source said could be a "re-
ROBERT M. GATES
. viewed as a "negative symbol"
visitation of the Church commit-
tee," a reference to the Senate com-
mittee that investigated intelli-
gence abuses in the 1970s.
A number of key people in the
Directorate of Operations, the elite
clandestine arm of the CIA, were
involved in the Iran arms sales
transactions or the private White
House support effort to the Ni-
caraguan contras. The directorate
can expect intensive scrutinjr in the
coming months.
A senior administration source
said "it is crucial to have a new CIA
director who can credibly investi-
gate and clean up any remains of
Iran-contra, not a director who him-
self is the subject of the investiga-
tions."
Gates, the agency's deputy direc-
tor, took over as acting director of A
the CIA in December after William 11
J. Casey underwent brain surgery
for removal of a cancerous tumor.
Subsequently, after Casey resigned
and Baker rejected a presidential
overture to replace him, Reagan
nominated Gates. If confirmed,
Gates, 43, would have become the
youngest CIA director in the agen-
cy' 40-year history.
The nomination came under im-
mediate fire from members of the
Senate Select Committee on Intel-
ligence, some of whom have sharply
criticized Gates for failing to be
forthcoming about all his knowledge
and suspicions in the Iran-contra
affair.
Criticism of Gates stems largely
from his failure to ensure that
Casey's Nov. 21 testimony to the
Senate committee was complete.
Gates had an important role in pre-
paring that testimony, which
sources said describes an operation
that does not resemble what was
known within the CIA at the time.
Senators are particularly dis-
tressed that Casey, Gates and the
CIA did not alert them to the pos-
sible diversion of money from the
Iran arms sales to aid the contras.
A senior administration official
said yesterday that there was "a
consensus in the White House" to
avoid a fight over the nomination,
although the president was not per-
sonally critical of Gates. Officials
said that Gates, while wanting to be
CIA director, had come to the same
conclusion and would withdraw his
name.
"We're not angry with Bob
Gates?we're dealing with practical
political realities," the senior official
said, and on Saturday, White House
spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said
"the president stands behind the
nomination." On Saturday a CIA
spokesman said that reports the
nomination would be withdrawn are
"totally false, totally without foun-
dation." Yesterday an agency
spokesman stood behind that state-
ment.
In the Senate committee, which
is considering Gates' nomination
and is expected to hear closed-door
testimony from him Wednesday, a
number of key Republicans this
weekend said Gates would not be
confirmed. One called the nomina-
tion "stillborn," and another said
that "Gates could not be recon-
firmed as deputy" because commit-
tee members, especially the Repub-
licans, are so anxious to move away
from the Iran-contra affair.
Sources said that no decision
would be reached on the next nom-
inee until Gates withdraws. Possi-
ble choices-mentioned by adminis-
tration and congressional sources
include Brent Scowcroft, a retired
- Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/21 : CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290082-4
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/21 : CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290082-4
Air Force general, national security
adviser to President Gerald R. Ford
and a member of the Tower com-
mission that has just completed its
report on the Iran-contra affair; FBI
Director William H. Webst
whose 10-y-EFF.'M7m as-fferd-o the
FBI expires next year, and Casey's
first two CIA deputies, John N. "9
McMahon and Bobl_2.L.g,..duaan.....,9
both of whom are advocates of lim-
ited use of covert action. Even for-
mer senator John G. Tower (R-
Tex.), who headed the commission
that harshly criticized the admin-
istration last week, had been men-
tioned.
Sources said a Scowcroft nom-
ination is unlikely because of pro-
spective opposition from Defense
Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger
and Secretary of State George P.
Shultz. Weinberger and Shultz op-
posed the sale of arms to Iran, but
the report said they had "simply
distanced themselves from the pro-
gram" and did not do all they could
to stop it. Weinberger, especiaIly,
was said to resent this -conclusion.
Scowcroft said yesterday he does
not expect to be offered the job.
Said one Republican senator,
"The White House now has to come
up with the moral equivalent of
Howard Baker for the CIA."
Staff researcher Barbara Feinman
contributed to this report.
n,,,-inecifiarl in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/21 : CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290082-4