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4
40 - EVENTS/INTELLIGENCE_SCANDALS/Iran-Contra Affair.md
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@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ aliases:
- Iran-Contra
- Irangate
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-09-22
tags:
- Event
- Political
@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Between 1982 and 1986, Congress passed a series of amendments (known as the Bola
### Oliver North and the Enterprise
[[Oliver North]], a Lieutenant Colonel in the [[United States Marine Corps]] serving on the National Security Council staff, ran an illegal Contra resupply operation from the White House. He was alleged to have received drug profits from [[Monzer Al-Kassar]], a Syrian kingpin and arms dealer, which were then used to purchase arms for the Contras. The United States Tower Commission probe into Iran-gate specifically revealed that Al-Kassar had been paid $1.2 million by North's co-conspirator, General [[Richard Secord]], to facilitate the movement of weapons from [[Israel]] to the Contras.[^1][^3]
[[Oliver North]], a Lieutenant Colonel in the [[United States Marine Corps]] serving on the National Security Council staff, ran an illegal Contra resupply operation from the White House. The writer Cheri Seymour wrote that he received drug profits from [[Monzer Al-Kassar]], a Syrian kingpin and arms dealer, which were then used to purchase arms for the Contras. The United States Tower Commission probe into Iran-gate specifically revealed that Al-Kassar had been paid $1.2 million by North's co-conspirator, General [[Richard Secord]], to facilitate the movement of weapons from [[Israel]] to the Contras.[^1][^3]
North's "Enterprise" used [[Ilopango Airbase]] in [[El Salvador]] to funnel weapons to the Contras and reportedly brought [[Cocaine]] back on return flights.[^4]

45
40 - EVENTS/INTELLIGENCE_SCANDALS/Rockefeller Commission 1975.md
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@ -56,31 +56,33 @@ The commission's findings on Operation CHAOS were among the most specific it pro
On the CIA's mail-opening program, the commission found that HTLINGUAL, which intercepted mail between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1952 to 1973, had resulted in the examination of more than 215,000 pieces of correspondence. The program operated through CIA facilities in New York City and Los Angeles. The commission characterized this as unlawful.[^14]
The report did not use the cryptonym MKULTRA. Under "The Testing of Behavior-Influencing Drugs on Unsuspecting Subjects Within the United States," it found that the CIA had begun studying drugs such as [[LSD]] in the late 1940s as part of "a much larger CIA program to study possible means for controlling human behavior," including radiation and electric shock; that tests on unsuspecting subjects "in normal social situations" began in 1955 under "an informal arrangement with the Federal Bureau of Drug Abuse Control," on the West Coast and from 1961 on the East Coast; that all records of the program, 152 files, had been ordered destroyed in 1973; and that in 1953 an unnamed employee of the Department of the Army, given LSD without his knowledge at a meeting with CIA personnel, jumped from a tenth-floor window in New York several days later. It called the testing "clearly illegal" and recorded that drug projects ended in 1967.[^24] The 1977 Senate hearing on MKULTRA, which identified the man as [[Frank Olson]], found that the notes the commission had called reprimands were, in the words of the Deputy Director's covering instruction, "not reprimands."[^25]
The report did not use the cryptonym MKULTRA. Under "The Testing of Behavior-Influencing Drugs on Unsuspecting Subjects Within the United States," it found that the CIA had begun studying drugs such as [[LSD]] in the late 1940s as part of "a much larger CIA program to study possible means for controlling human behavior," including radiation and electric shock; that tests on unsuspecting subjects "in normal social situations" began in 1955 under "an informal arrangement with the Federal Bureau of Drug Abuse Control," on the West Coast and from 1961 on the East Coast; that all records of the program, 152 files, had been ordered destroyed in 1973; and that in 1953 an unnamed employee of the Department of the Army, given LSD without his knowledge at a meeting with CIA personnel, jumped from a tenth-floor window in New York several days later. It called the testing "clearly illegal" and recorded that drug projects ended in 1967.[^15] The 1977 Senate hearing on MKULTRA, which identified the man as [[Frank Olson]], found that the notes the commission had called reprimands were, in the words of the Deputy Director's covering instruction, "not reprimands."[^16]
### Suppression of Assassination Findings
The commission's most consequential suppression was of its own investigation into CIA assassination plots. In January 1975, Ford inadvertently revealed to press editors that the CIA had been involved in assassination plotting against foreign leaders. On March 31, 1975, the White House authorized the commission to investigate the matter, with a caveat about whether findings would appear in the final report. Belin, as executive director, pressed for the investigation over the objections of Rockefeller himself, using favorable press coverage to compel the commission to continue.[^15]
The commission's most consequential suppression was of its own investigation into CIA assassination plots. In January 1975, Ford inadvertently revealed to press editors that the CIA had been involved in assassination plotting against foreign leaders. On March 31, 1975, the White House authorized the commission to investigate the matter, with a caveat about whether findings would appear in the final report. Belin, as executive director, pressed for the investigation over the objections of Rockefeller himself, using favorable press coverage to compel the commission to continue.[^17]
By June 5, 1975, commission staff had completed an 86-page section documenting CIA plots against [[Fidel Castro]], [[Rafael Trujillo]] of the [[Dominican Republic]], and briefer references to plots against Lumumba and [[Sukarno]] of Indonesia. Commission staff members including public affairs director [[Peter Clapper]] warned in a May 2, 1975 memorandum that suppressing the assassination findings would appear as a cover-up and damage the commission's credibility.[^16]
By June 5, 1975, commission staff had completed an 86-page section documenting CIA plots against [[Fidel Castro]], [[Rafael Trujillo]] of the [[Dominican Republic]], and briefer references to plots against Lumumba and [[Sukarno]] of Indonesia. Commission staff members including public affairs director [[Peter Clapper]] warned in a May 2, 1975 memorandum that suppressing the assassination findings would appear as a cover-up and damage the commission's credibility.[^18]
The White House removed the entire 86-page section before publication. [[Richard Cheney]], then serving as deputy assistant to the president and deputy to [[Donald Rumsfeld]] as chief of staff, made handwritten edits to the commission's draft report. Cheney's edits removed the section on "Alleged Plans to Assassinate Certain Foreign Leaders," eliminated a provision that would have allowed CIA employees to report improper activities to the CIA's Inspector General, and changed the commission's characterization of several CIA activities from "unlawful" to having "exceeded statutory authority." The White House also suppressed Griswold's footnote recommending public disclosure of the CIA budget.[^17]
The White House removed the entire 86-page section before publication. [[Richard Cheney]], then serving as deputy assistant to the president and deputy to [[Donald Rumsfeld]] as chief of staff, made handwritten edits to the commission's draft report. Cheney's edits removed the section on "Alleged Plans to Assassinate Certain Foreign Leaders," eliminated a provision that would have allowed CIA employees to report improper activities to the CIA's Inspector General, and changed the commission's characterization of several CIA activities from "unlawful" to having "exceeded statutory authority." The White House also suppressed Griswold's footnote recommending public disclosure of the CIA budget.[^19]
On October 31, 1975, Ford wrote to [[Frank Church]] urging him to suppress the Church Committee's parallel assassination report. On November 4, 1975, Church rejected Ford's request. The Senate voted to release the Church Committee's "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders" report on November 20, 1975, revealing publicly what the Rockefeller Commission had withheld.[^18]
On October 31, 1975, Ford wrote to [[Frank Church]] urging him to suppress the Church Committee's parallel assassination report. On November 4, 1975, Church rejected Ford's request. The Senate voted to release the Church Committee's "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders" report on November 20, 1975, revealing publicly what the Rockefeller Commission had withheld.[^20]
The commission had also encountered obstruction in its attempts to investigate CIA records. CIA denied commission staff access to NSC records. [[Henry Kissinger]] withheld State Department cooperation. The commission was denied access to minutes of the [[40 Committee]] and its predecessor bodies, meaning it could not document the full chain of authorization for covert operations.[^19]
The commission had also encountered obstruction in its attempts to investigate CIA records. CIA denied commission staff access to NSC records. [[Henry Kissinger]] withheld State Department cooperation. The commission was denied access to minutes of the [[40 Committee]] and its predecessor bodies, meaning it could not document the full chain of authorization for covert operations.[^21]
### Rockefeller's Position
In 1955, as special assistant to the president, Nelson Rockefeller chaired the [[Planning Coordination Group]], set up under [[NSC 5412]] as the channel for policy approval of CIA covert operations. In May 1955 [[Charles Geschickter]] asked the CIA to contribute $375,000 toward a research building at Georgetown University Hospital, one-sixth of whose beds were to be reserved for the CIA along with cover for three CIA scientists and "human patients and volunteers for experimental use." [[Allen Dulles]] was said to have put the project to Rockefeller as chairman, who asked only whether Geschickter could offer "a reasonable expectation" of the promised space and gave his approval. The 1977 Senate hearing took testimony on the CIA's use of hospital construction money without naming him. Rockefeller initially opposed even permitting the commission to investigate assassination plots, and it was only Belin's persistence and the threat of adverse publicity that extended the commission's mandate into that territory.[^20]
In 1955, as special assistant to the president, Nelson Rockefeller chaired the [[Planning Coordination Group]], set up under [[NSC 5412]] as the channel for policy approval of CIA covert operations. In May 1955 [[Charles Geschickter]] asked the CIA to contribute $375,000 toward a research building at Georgetown University Hospital, one-sixth of whose beds were to be reserved for the CIA along with cover for three CIA scientists and "human patients and volunteers for experimental use." The journalist John Marks, working from CIA documents released in 1977, wrote that Allen Dulles personally approved the contribution and then took it to "President Eisenhower's special committee to review covert operations," which assented on the understanding that Geschickter could provide "a reasonable expectation" that the agency would have the space.[^22] The historians Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett identified the committee's chairman as Rockefeller and wrote that he gave the approval. The 1977 Senate hearing took testimony on the CIA's use of hospital construction money without naming him. Rockefeller initially opposed even permitting the commission to investigate assassination plots, and it was only Belin's persistence and the threat of adverse publicity that extended the commission's mandate into that territory.[^23]
### Report Structure and Outcome
The commission's final report, submitted to President Ford on June 10, 1975, comprised four main parts with 19 chapters plus seven appendices. The chapters covered CIA legal authority, supervision and control mechanisms, mail intercept programs, Operation CHAOS, domestic surveillance of political activists, CIA files on American citizens, and an examination of allegations regarding the assassination of President Kennedy (where the commission upheld the Warren Commission's single-assassin finding). The report contained 27 recommendations, of which 20 were agency-level reforms recommended for immediate implementation and 7 addressed CIA structure, function, and presidential oversight.[^21]
The commission's final report, submitted to President Ford on June 10, 1975, comprised four main parts with 19 chapters plus seven appendices. The chapters covered CIA legal authority, supervision and control mechanisms, mail intercept programs, Operation CHAOS, domestic surveillance of political activists, CIA files on American citizens, and an examination of allegations regarding the assassination of President Kennedy (where the commission upheld the Warren Commission's single-assassin finding). The report contained 27 recommendations, of which 20 were agency-level reforms recommended for immediate implementation and 7 addressed CIA structure, function, and presidential oversight.[^24]
The Ford administration's response to the report was coordinated by a memorandum dated August 9, 1975, from Kissinger, White House counsel [[Philip Buchen]], and [[Office of Management and Budget]] director [[James Lynn]], which argued for prompt action on the domestic-improprieties recommendations while deferring broader intelligence restructuring questions, explicitly noting that congressional committees were simultaneously investigating related matters and that delay risked losing "the initiative entirely."[^22]
The Ford administration's response to the report was coordinated by a memorandum dated August 9, 1975, from Kissinger, White House counsel [[Philip Buchen]], and [[Office of Management and Budget]] director [[James Lynn]], which argued for prompt action on the domestic-improprieties recommendations while deferring broader intelligence restructuring questions, explicitly noting that congressional committees were simultaneously investigating related matters and that delay risked losing "the initiative entirely."[^25]
The commission's records, totaling approximately 41 cubic feet (82,000 pages), are held at the [[Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library]] in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Materials related to Kennedy assassination allegations and anti-Castro activities from 1960 to 1964 were processed for research access following the [[JFK Records Act]]; significant portions of the collection remain classified.[^23]
The commission's records, totaling approximately 41 cubic feet (82,000 pages), are held at the [[Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library]] in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Materials related to Kennedy assassination allegations and anti-Castro activities from 1960 to 1964 were processed for research access following the [[JFK Records Act]]; significant portions of the collection remain classified.[^26]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Executive Order 11828, January 4, 1975. American Presidency Project, UCSB. The order established the commission under 50 U.S.C. 403 with a three-month reporting deadline.
[^2]: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Finding Aid, "U.S. President's Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States Files."
@ -96,14 +98,15 @@ The commission's records, totaling approximately 41 cubic feet (82,000 pages), a
[^12]: Edgar F. Shannon Jr., University of Virginia President 1959-1974. Washington Post obituary, August 25, 1997.
[^13]: Operation CHAOS statistics from the Rockefeller Commission report, June 10, 1975, confirmed in subsequent Church Committee findings.
[^14]: HTLINGUAL program details from the Rockefeller Commission report, June 10, 1975. The program ran 1952-1973 and processed more than 215,000 pieces of mail through facilities in New York City and Los Angeles.
[^15]: National Security Archive, NSAEBB, "Gerald Ford White House Altered Rockefeller Commission Report in 1975." Document 3: David W. Belin Memorandum to Members of the Commission, "Scope of Commission Investigation - Assassinations," March 10, 1975.
[^16]: National Security Archive, NSAEBB Document 11: Peter Clapper to David Belin, "Public Affairs Considerations in Report," May 2, 1975.
[^17]: National Security Archive, NSAEBB Document 4: Richard Cheney, handwritten comments on draft Rockefeller Commission report, circa June 1975. Cheney served as deputy assistant to the president under Rumsfeld at the time of these edits.
[^18]: Church Committee, "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders," Senate Report 94-465, released November 20, 1975. Ford's suppression request sent October 31, 1975; Church's rejection November 4, 1975; Senate vote November 20, 1975.
[^19]: National Security Archive, NSAEBB Document 10: Mason Cargill to File, "CIA denial of access to records of Special Group Augmented re Cuba," April 30, 1975.
[^20]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 18, 44, and Ch. 18 n. 32, citing MKULTRA Subproject 35-10, May 16, 1955. Sole source for Rockefeller's approval of the Georgetown project; the book calls the body he chaired the "Special Group." For the Planning Coordination Group, its membership and its role as the "normal channel for giving policy approval" to covert operations: Rowland Hughes memorandum to Eisenhower, March 3, 1955, *FRUS 1950-1955, The Intelligence Community,* Document 210, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d210. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research, *Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification,* joint hearing, August 3, 1977, testimony of Adm. Stansfield Turner and exchange with Sen. Richard Schweiker, https://archive.org/details/project-mkultra-the-cias-program-of-research-in-behavioral-modification
[^21]: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Topic Guide, "Rockefeller Commission Report, June 1975." FRUS 1969-76, Vol. XXXVIII, Part 2, Document 46, Memorandum on implementation of Rockefeller Commission recommendations, August 9, 1975.
[^22]: FRUS 1969-76, Vol. XXXVIII, Part 2, Document 46, August 9, 1975, Kissinger, Buchen, and Lynn to Ford on implementation of Rockefeller Commission recommendations.
[^23]: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Finding Aid, "U.S. President's Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States Files," collection extent approximately 41 cubic feet.
[^24]: Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States. *Report to the President.* Government Printing Office, June 1975, summary of findings and pp. 226-228. https://archive.org/details/reporttopresiden01unit
[^25]: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research, *Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification,* joint hearing, August 3, 1977, appendix, on the death of Dr. Olson. https://archive.org/details/project-mkultra-the-cias-program-of-research-in-behavioral-modification
[^15]: Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States. *Report to the President.* Government Printing Office, June 1975, summary of findings and pp. 226-228. https://archive.org/details/reporttopresiden01unit
[^16]: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research, *Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification,* joint hearing, August 3, 1977, appendix, on the death of Dr. Olson. https://archive.org/details/project-mkultra-the-cias-program-of-research-in-behavioral-modification
[^17]: National Security Archive, NSAEBB, "Gerald Ford White House Altered Rockefeller Commission Report in 1975." Document 3: David W. Belin Memorandum to Members of the Commission, "Scope of Commission Investigation - Assassinations," March 10, 1975.
[^18]: National Security Archive, NSAEBB Document 11: Peter Clapper to David Belin, "Public Affairs Considerations in Report," May 2, 1975.
[^19]: National Security Archive, NSAEBB Document 4: Richard Cheney, handwritten comments on draft Rockefeller Commission report, circa June 1975. Cheney served as deputy assistant to the president under Rumsfeld at the time of these edits.
[^20]: Church Committee, "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders," Senate Report 94-465, released November 20, 1975. Ford's suppression request sent October 31, 1975; Church's rejection November 4, 1975; Senate vote November 20, 1975.
[^21]: National Security Archive, NSAEBB Document 10: Mason Cargill to File, "CIA denial of access to records of Special Group Augmented re Cuba," April 30, 1975.
[^22]: Marks, John. *The Search for the "Manchurian Candidate": The CIA and Mind Control.* Times Books, 1979, ch. 12, n. 6, as transcribed at https://cryptome.org/mkultra-0005.htm. The Subproject 35 memorandum of November 15, 1954, does not mention the committee: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/32726-document-11-memorandum-director-central-intelligence-project-mkultra-subproject-35
[^23]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 18, 44, and Ch. 18 n. 32, citing MKULTRA Subproject 35-10, May 16, 1955. Sole source for Rockefeller's approval of the Georgetown project; the book calls the body he chaired the "Special Group." For the Planning Coordination Group, its membership and its role as the "normal channel for giving policy approval" to covert operations: Rowland Hughes memorandum to Eisenhower, March 3, 1955, *FRUS 1950-1955, The Intelligence Community,* Document 210, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d210. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research, *Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification,* joint hearing, August 3, 1977, testimony of Adm. Stansfield Turner and exchange with Sen. Richard Schweiker, https://archive.org/details/project-mkultra-the-cias-program-of-research-in-behavioral-modification
[^24]: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Topic Guide, "Rockefeller Commission Report, June 1975." FRUS 1969-76, Vol. XXXVIII, Part 2, Document 46, Memorandum on implementation of Rockefeller Commission recommendations, August 9, 1975.
[^25]: FRUS 1969-76, Vol. XXXVIII, Part 2, Document 46, August 9, 1975, Kissinger, Buchen, and Lynn to Ford on implementation of Rockefeller Commission recommendations.
[^26]: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Finding Aid, "U.S. President's Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States Files," collection extent approximately 41 cubic feet.