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Wave G, CTC/Barcella thread, EA cluster pages, first dispatch

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Wave G rewrites (Nautilus, UAP Task Force, Six-Day War, DARPA, Aguado,
Meridian, Deckoff) with spillover deltas; ARPA merged into DARPA; new pages
for Counter Terrorism Consultants, James B. Motley, Francis J. McNeil,
House October Surprise Task Force, Greg Kehoe, Black Diamond Capital
Management, Effective Altruism Foundation, Carla Cremer, Jacob Coxon;
first dispatch in 70 - DISPATCHES.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01UCcR8CEutHnduHwhbe4btv
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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr..md
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@ -3,82 +3,200 @@ aliases:
- Lawrence Barcella
- Larry Barcella
- E. Lawrence Barcella
- E. Lawrence Barcella Jr.
- Lawrence Barcella Jr.
- Ernest Lawrence Barcella Jr.
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-10-08
tags:
- Person
- OctoberSurprise
- Lawyer
- Prosecutor
- BCCI
- EdwinWilson
- CounterTerrorismConsultants
born: 1945-05-23
died: 2010-11-04
location: "Washington, D.C."
summary: "Former federal prosecutor who built the case against Edwin Wilson, coordinated BCCI's defense after its 1988 Tampa indictment, and was chief counsel of the House October Surprise Task Force in 1992 and 1993."
summary: "Former federal prosecutor who built the Edwin Wilson case, helped coordinate BCCI's defense after its 1988 Tampa indictment, and was chief counsel of the House October Surprise Task Force in 1992 and 1993."
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
role: "Assistant United States Attorney, District of Columbia; deputy chief, major crimes division"
start: 1970
end: 1986
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Orlando Letelier]]"
role: "leader of the initial government investigation of the 1976 car-bomb murder"
start: 1976
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Edwin Wilson]]"
role: "prosecutor who gathered the evidence and arranged the 1982 arrest"
role: "prosecutor who gathered the evidence with Carol Bruce and arranged the 1982 arrest"
start: 1978
end: 1982
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Lyn Nofziger]]"
start: 1987
fn: 3
- type: represented
with: "[[Melvyn Paisley]]"
start: 1988
fn: 1
fn: 3
- type: represented
with: "[[Jose Blandon]]"
start: 1990
fn: 3
- type: represented
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
role: "defense coordinator, Tampa money-laundering case"
start: 1988
fn: 7
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc]]"
start: 1988
fn: 7
- type: member_of
with: "[[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]]"
role: "active consultant named in 1988; associate listed in the 1990 resume packet"
start: 1988
end: 1990
fn: 5
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Katten Muchin Zavis & Dombroff]]"
start: 1991
fn: 4
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Paul Hastings]]"
role: "partner, Washington office, white-collar and government contract matters"
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[October Surprise]]"
role: "chief counsel, House October Surprise Task Force"
- type: appointed
with: "[[House October Surprise Task Force]]"
role: "chief counsel"
start: 1992
end: 1993
fn: 5
fn: 12
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Lee Hamilton]]"
role: "chief counsel to the task force chairman"
start: 1992
end: 1993
fn: 12
---
E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr. was a [[Washington, D.C.]] attorney and former federal prosecutor. He served as chief counsel for the House [[October Surprise]] Task Force, the bipartisan investigative panel co-chaired by Rep. [[Lee Hamilton]] (D-Indiana) and Rep. [[Henry Hyde]] (R-Illinois) that investigated allegations that the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] campaign had secretly negotiated with [[Iran]] to delay the 1980 hostage release. Before taking that post he had been one of the Washington lawyers of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI).
E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr. (May 23, 1945 to November 4, 2010) was a [[Washington, D.C.]] lawyer and former federal prosecutor. He built the government's case against [[Edwin Wilson]], helped coordinate the defense of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI) after its 1988 indictment in [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]], and served as chief counsel of the [[House October Surprise Task Force]], the bipartisan panel co-chaired by Rep. [[Lee Hamilton]] (D-Indiana) and Rep. [[Henry Hyde]] (R-Illinois) that investigated the [[October Surprise]] allegations that the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] campaign had negotiated with [[Iran]] to delay the 1980 hostage release.[^1]
### Prosecutor
### Prosecutor (1970 to 1986)
Ernest Lawrence Barcella Jr. was born in Washington on May 23, 1945, to Ernest and Louise Berniere Barcella; his father was a reporter and news executive for [[United Press International]]. He graduated from [[Dartmouth College|Dartmouth]] in 1967 and received his law degree from [[Vanderbilt University|Vanderbilt]] in 1970, and soon afterwards was hired as a clerk in the United States Attorney's office in Washington.[^1]
Ernest Lawrence Barcella Jr. was born in Washington on May 23, 1945, to Ernest and Louise Berniere Barcella. His father was a reporter and news executive for [[United Press International]]. He graduated from [[Dartmouth College|Dartmouth]] in 1967 and received his law degree from [[Vanderbilt University|Vanderbilt]] in 1970.[^1] A family account published by the [[Washington Post]] says that a summer interview at the [[Department of Justice]] produced no summer position, and that the Justice Department official [[Harold H. Titus Jr.]] offered him a full-time job after he finished law school.[^2] He served as an assistant United States attorney in Washington, in the major crimes division, until 1986.[^1][^2]
His first major international case was the government's initial investigation of the September 21, 1976, car-bomb assassination in Washington of [[Orlando Letelier]], the former Chilean foreign minister, and his aide [[Ronni Moffitt|Ronni Karpen Moffitt]], which was traced to the Chilean intelligence service [[DINA]]; the DINA agent [[Michael Townley]] pleaded guilty in the [[United States]] in 1978. With a fellow prosecutor, [[Carol Bruce]], Barcella spent four years gathering evidence against [[Edwin Wilson]], a former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] operative who had supplied the Libyan government of [[Muammar Qaddafi]] with 21 tons of C-4 plastic explosive and had fled to [[Libya]]. In 1982, when Barcella was deputy chief of the major crimes division, Wilson was lured to the [[Dominican Republic]] by a former associate who proposed a deal involving support for the clandestine war against the government of [[Nicaragua]], and was arrested on arrival in [[Santo Domingo]]. Wilson then plotted to have Barcella and Bruce killed. He was sentenced to 52 years; in 2003 a federal judge in [[Texas]] vacated his conviction for selling explosives to Libya, ruling that prosecutors had used false testimony. The case was the subject of the 1986 book *Manhunt* by [[Peter Maas]]. Barcella also worked on the inquiries into the 1983 bombings of the American embassies in [[Beirut]] and [[Kuwait]] and the Marine barracks in Beirut, and into the 1985 hijacking of the *[[Achille Lauro]]*.[^1]
His first major international case was the government's initial investigation of the September 21, 1976, car-bomb assassination in Washington of [[Orlando Letelier]], the former Chilean foreign minister, and his aide [[Ronni Moffitt|Ronni Karpen Moffitt]]. The killing was traced to the Chilean intelligence service [[DINA]]. The DINA agent [[Michael Townley]] pleaded guilty in the [[United States]] in 1978 and served 62 months in prison.[^1]
He left federal service in 1986. In private practice he conducted internal investigations for corporations and defended clients charged with securities fraud, antitrust violations, tax evasion and money laundering. His client [[Lyn Nofziger]], a political adviser to President Reagan, was convicted of illegal lobbying in 1988; an appeals court overturned the conviction the following year.[^1]
### The Wilson case (1978 to 1982)
### BCCI
With a fellow prosecutor, [[Carol Bruce]], Barcella spent four years gathering evidence against Edwin Wilson, a former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] operative who had supplied the Libyan government of [[Muammar Qaddafi]] with explosives and had fled to [[Libya]].[^1] Wilson's shipments to Libya are put at 20 tons of high explosives in the 1992 press account of Barcella's record.[^3]
The Senate subcommittee of Senator [[John Kerry]] listed Barcella with [[Lawrence Wechsler]] and [[Raymond Banoun]] as the former federal prosecutors in BCCI's Washington "cadre of professional help," which also included [[Clark Clifford]]. He was brought onto the case shortly after BCCI's indictment in [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]] in October 1988; Wechsler, with whom he had worked at the [[Department of Justice]], recruited him "to coordinate the bank's defense." The report stated that "the full extent of Barcella's activities on behalf of BCCI remains unknown" and recorded the following. In 1988 he tried to persuade the lead partner of his firm, former Senator [[Paul Laxalt]], to meet BCCI's chief executive, [[Swaleh Naqvi]], in [[London]] and to lobby for the bank on Capitol Hill; the subcommittee could not determine what, if anything, Laxalt did for BCCI. In 1989 and 1990 he joined [[John Vardaman]] of [[Williams & Connolly]] and [[Robert Altman]] in warning the journalist [[Larry Gurwin]], then writing about BCCI and [[First American Bank|First American]] for *Regardie's* magazine, that it would be improper to link the two institutions, and called Gurwin's allegations "absurd." In early 1990, after members of Congress criticized the bank's plea bargain as too lenient, he met Senator [[Dennis DeConcini]], one of the critics, "in an effort to persuade him that BCCI was not the corrupt institution that he and others had claimed."[^2]
In 1982, when Barcella was deputy chief of the major crimes division, Wilson was lured to the [[Dominican Republic]] by a former associate who proposed a deal allowing him to return to the United States if he supported the clandestine war against the leftist government of [[Nicaragua]]. When he stepped off the plane in [[Santo Domingo]], he was arrested and flown to New York.[^1] Wilson then plotted to have Barcella and Bruce killed. He received a sentence of 52 years.[^1] In 2003 a federal judge in [[Texas]] threw out his conviction for selling explosives to Libya, ruling that prosecutors had used false testimony. Wilson was released from prison in 2004.[^1][^2] The case was the subject of the 1986 book *Manhunt* by [[Peter Maas]].[^1]
In mid-December 1989 Barcella and Wechsler represented BCCI in the meetings with the Tampa prosecutors at which the bank offered to plead guilty to money laundering in return for an end to its exposure for all offenses then known to the government; the agreement was reached in January 1990. After the United States Attorney in Tampa, [[Robert Genzman]], told Florida regulators on January 31, 1990, that he took no position on BCCI's state license, "BCCI's lawyers, principally former federal prosecutors Lawrence Wechsler, Lawrence Barcella, and Raymond Banoun, dissatisfied with this result, decided to talk to others in the Justice Department to bring about a different result." Two weeks later [[Charles Saphos]] of the Criminal Division wrote to the Florida comptroller, [[Gerald Lewis]], asking that BCCI be permitted to operate. Genzman's first assistant, [[Greg Kehoe]], testified that "[they] tried to go behind my back."[^3]
Barcella also worked on the inquiries into the 1983 bombings of the American embassies in [[Beirut]] and [[Kuwait]] and of the Marine garrison in Beirut, and into the 1985 hijacking of the *[[Achille Lauro]]*.[^1]
### Antigua
### Private practice (1986 to 1991)
In April 1989 a network of Israeli arms traffickers operating out of [[Miami]] shipped 500 Israeli-made machine guns through the Caribbean island of [[Antigua and Barbuda|Antigua]] for members of the [[Medellin Cartel|Medellin cartel]]; one was later used in the assassination of the Colombian presidential candidate [[Luis Carlos Galan]]. The principals included [[Yair Klein]], [[Pinchas Shahar]] and [[Maurice Sarfati]]. The government of Antigua commissioned an investigation of the affair from Barcella, which, according to the Senate report, "left many questions unanswered." The shipment had grown out of a "melon farm" set up in Antigua in 1983 by Sarfati and financed by a two million dollar loan from the [[Overseas Private Investment Corporation]], granted partly on financial references supplied by BCCI's Miami branch.[^4]
He left federal service in 1986 and went into private practice in Washington, initially at a firm where the lawyer for [[Barbara Studley]] also worked.[^3] His private work covered internal investigations for corporations and the defense of clients charged with securities fraud, antitrust violations, tax evasion and money laundering.[^1]
### October Surprise Task Force
His client [[Lyn Nofziger]], a political adviser to President Reagan, was represented by Barcella from 1987 and was convicted of illegal lobbying in 1988. A federal appeals court overturned that conviction the following year.[^1][^3] From 1988 Barcella represented [[Melvyn Paisley]], a former Pentagon official who was later convicted in the wide-ranging "Ill Wind" contracting investigation.[^3] Around 1990 he represented [[Jose Blandon]], a former senior intelligence officer in Panama and political foe of [[Manuel Noriega]].[^3]
The Task Force operated from 1992 through January 1993, conducting over 250 interviews. Barcella and his staff directed the investigative work and managed the documentary record. As the investigation drew toward its close, Barcella reportedly requested that Hamilton extend the probe by three months, citing substantial new evidence that had arrived in the final weeks of the investigation. Hamilton declined the request, a decision that Barcella and others subsequently cited as a significant limitation on the Task Force's completeness.[^5]
[[Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc]] had been formed in December 1987 by Paul Laxalt and Robert B. Washington Jr.[^4] A business column in the *Chicago Tribune* of July 23, 1991 reported that the Chicago-based [[Katten Muchin Zavis & Dombroff]] (then Katten Muchin & Zavis) had added Barcella, "a former assistant U.S. attorney in Washington and partner at Washington, Perito & Dubuc," to its Washington office.[^4]
The Task Force's final report, released January 1993, concluded there was "no credible evidence" of a secret deal. Barcella's request to extend the investigation was not reflected in the public report, and only emerged through subsequent reporting by journalist [[Robert Parry]], who obtained information about the Task Force's internal deliberations.[^5]
### Counter Terrorism Consultants (1988 to 1990)
The Senate BCCI report, issued in December 1992, noted that Barcella had been hired by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to investigate the October Surprise allegations, and that Greg Kehoe was on leave from the Justice Department to assist him; Kehoe was "the Justice Department official with whom BCCi lawyers, including Barcella, negotiated the bank's plea agreement in Tampa."[^2]
In August 1988 [[Carter Cornick]], a retired FBI terrorism official, and [[Eugene Propper]], a former prosecutor in the Letelier case, announced [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]], which offered governments, airlines and event sponsors counterterrorism strategies and the management of kidnappings and hijackings. Barcella, then with Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc, was to be called on for legal consultation on matters such as extradition procedures. The announcement named Robert Scherrer and Barcella as active consultants, and said that the four men had worked together on the Letelier case and on the investigation of Wilson, in which Barcella had obtained information that Wilson was shipping explosives to Libya.[^5]
A resume packet circulated by the firm, by then named CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., with a fax header of 1990, lists Barcella among its associates. The others listed were Cornick, Propper, [[Robert Scherrer]], an unnamed former senior CIA counterterrorism officer, [[Francis J. McNeil|Frank McNeil]], [[James B. Motley]] of [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]] Advanced Technologies Corporation, and a former foreign service officer named Nudell.[^6]
### BCCI (1988 to 1990)
Barcella was brought onto the BCCI case shortly after the October 1988 indictment of the bank in Tampa. [[Lawrence Wechsler]], with whom he had worked at the Department of Justice, recruited him "to coordinate the bank's defense." The Senate subcommittee chaired by [[John Kerry]] listed him, with [[Raymond Banoun]] and Wechsler, among the former federal prosecutors in BCCI's Washington "cadre of professional help," which also included [[Clark Clifford]]. The report stated that "the full extent of Barcella's activities on behalf of BCCI remains unknown" and recorded the following.[^7]
In 1988 Barcella tried to persuade his firm's lead partner, former senator [[Paul Laxalt]], to meet BCCI's chief executive, [[Swaleh Naqvi]], in [[London]] and to lobby for the bank on Capitol Hill. The subcommittee "has been unable to determine what, if any, services Senator Laxalt performed on behalf of BCCI."[^7] In 1989 and 1990 he joined [[John Vardaman]] of [[Williams & Connolly]] and [[Robert Altman]] in warning the journalist [[Larry Gurwin]], who was writing about BCCI and [[First American Bank|First American]] for *[[Regardie's]]* magazine, that it would be improper to link the two institutions. Barcella called Gurwin's allegations "absurd."[^7] In early 1990, after members of Congress criticized the bank's plea bargain as too lenient, he met Senator [[Dennis DeConcini]], one of the critics, "in an effort to persuade him that BCCI was not the corrupt institution that he and others had claimed."[^7]
One 1992 newspaper account gave a different start date, saying that in 1990 Barcella "was hired to represent" the bank.[^3]
In mid-December 1989 Barcella and Wechsler represented BCCI in meetings with the Tampa prosecutors at which the bank offered to plead guilty to money laundering in return for an end to its exposure for offenses then known to the government. The agreement was reached in January 1990.[^8] After the United States Attorney in Tampa, [[Robert Genzman]], told Florida regulators on January 31, 1990, that his office took no position on BCCI's state license, the Senate report recorded that "BCCI's lawyers, principally former federal prosecutors Lawrence Wechsler, Lawrence Barcella, and Raymond Banoun, dissatisfied with this result, decided to talk to others in the Justice Department to bring about a different result."[^8] Two weeks later [[Charles Saphos]] of the Criminal Division agreed to write to the state regulators. His letter of February 13, 1990, asked that BCCI be permitted to operate, and the Florida comptroller, [[Gerald Lewis]], answered it the next day.[^8] Genzman's first assistant, [[Greg Kehoe]], testified that "[they] tried to go behind my back."[^8] The Senate report described Kehoe as "the Justice Department official with whom BCCI lawyers, including Barcella, negotiated the bank's plea agreement in Tampa."[^7]
### Antigua (1989)
In April 1989 a network of Israeli arms traffickers operating out of [[Miami]] shipped 500 Israeli-made machine guns through the Caribbean island of [[Antigua and Barbuda|Antigua]] for members of the [[Medellin Cartel|Medellin cartel]]. One of the weapons was later used in the assassination of the Colombian presidential candidate [[Luis Carlos Galan]]. The principals included [[Yair Klein]], [[Pinchas Shahar]] and [[Maurice Sarfati]]. A subsequent investigation for the government of Antigua, conducted by Barcella, left many questions unanswered.[^9] The shipment grew out of a "melon farm" that Sarfati set up on Antigua in 1983, financed by a $2 million loan from the [[Overseas Private Investment Corporation]]. BCCI's Miami office wrote to the lender on June 14, 1983, that Sarfati was "one of our valued customers."[^9]
### Hiring by the House (1992)
House Resolution 258, adopted on February 5, 1992, created a task force of thirteen members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, appointed by the Speaker, to investigate allegations that the 1980 Reagan campaign had communicated with Iranians to delay the release of the hostages. The House agreed to the resolution by a recorded vote of 247 to 158.[^10]
The task force adopted its rules on March 11, 1992. House Resolution 258 authorized the chairman, in consultation with the ranking Republican member, to employ attorneys, investigators and consultants and allowed the task force to require its staff to enter nondisclosure agreements. Rule 9 of the rules ("Staff, Detailees, and Consultants") addressed the hiring of staff and the security procedures for classified material.[^11] The final report states that Barcella "was hired as Chief Counsel," and that his services were retained because of his experience as a federal prosecutor and as a white-collar criminal defense counsel. The staff biography in the report describes him as "presently a partner in the Washington office of Katten, Muchin, Zavis and Dombroff," states that he served in the United States Attorney's Office in Washington from 1970 to 1986, and states that since then he "has represented a variety of national and international clients in complex criminal matters and internal investigations."[^12]
Hamilton, as chairman, selected Barcella, and a May 29, 1992 press account dated the hiring to March 1992. Hamilton said in that account, "I was looking for someone that had a large amount of international experience, had done a lot of investigative-type law practice, who had worked as a prosecutor and, of course, whose reputation was very good." The same account stated that in the summer of 1985, while an assistant United States attorney, Barcella had given a legal opinion clearing a private $5 million shipment of Soviet-bloc rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers to the Nicaraguan contras. The shipment was arranged by [[John Singlaub]] and Barbara Studley, who had created [[GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.]]. In telephone interviews that month, Barcella "refused to explain" how the opinion came about.[^3] Studley, in a deposition quoted in the same account, answered the question of who in the Justice Department approved the shipment with "Larry Barcella signed it"; her lawyer, Frank Koszorus Jr., said he was "not at all certain that she was ever issued a written opinion."[^3]
Asked about the opinion in May 1992, Barcella said, "It was a simple situation where somebody in the government came to me," and said he did not identify the official who sought it. Asked about his past contacts with intelligence agencies, he said, "I don't see where that causes a problem," and "I'm going to do as thorough and independent and professional an investigation as I can." [[Joseph diGenova]], the United States Attorney in Washington in those years, first said, "Assistant U.S. attorneys do not issue legal opinions on arms shipments," and "Larry would never have done that." A week later diGenova said, "Larry was sought out by a lot of people in intelligence and by a lot of people in the marshals service and the FBI who knew that he was creative." diGenova said that Barcella, through his anti-terrorism work, knew [[Oliver North]]; Barcella said he had met North once and that North was not the official who sought the opinion.[^3] Hamilton said he had learned of the opinion after the newspaper's inquiries, and when asked whether he would look into it, said, "I will investigate all aspects of criticisms of staff, including Larry or anybody else."[^3]
### House October Surprise Task Force (1992 to 1993)
The task force's chairman was Hamilton and its ranking Republican was Hyde. The Democrats were [[Stephen Solarz]], [[Sam Gejdenson]], [[Mervyn Dymally]], [[Robert Torricelli]], [[Howard Berman]], [[Edward Feighan]] and [[Ted Weiss]]. The Republicans were [[Jim Leach]], [[Olympia Snowe]], [[Doug Bereuter]] and [[Porter Goss]].[^12] Barcella and [[Richard J. Leon]], the chief minority counsel, selected the legal staff.[^12]
The majority staff included [[Michael F. Zeldin]] as deputy chief counsel, the former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer [[Sotiris Planzos]], and two lawyers from the Katten office, [[Nancy Luque]] and [[Anne Pings]]. The minority staff included Greg Kehoe, deputy chief minority counsel, who had been first assistant United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida and joined the task force on June 18, 1992.[^12] The Senate report, published in December 1992, stated that Barcella "has been hired by the House Foreign Affairs Committee" and that Kehoe was "on leave from the Justice Department to assist Barcella in his investigation."[^7]
On October 2, 1992, the House considered House Resolution 585, which authorized the task force to file its final report with the Clerk after adjournment sine die and before noon on January 3, 1993, and limited its expenses to the amounts in House Resolution 512. Representative [[Anthony C. Beilenson]] (D-California), introducing the resolution, said its purpose was to make clear that the investigation "may continue after we adjourn, but no later than the end of this year," and that the budget would be no higher than $1.35 million. In the same debate a member speaking for the resolution said that Hamilton and Hyde had told the Rules Committee that the work would be finished "by probably the middle of November."[^13] The task force approved its report on December 10, 1992. The transmittal letter to Speaker [[Thomas S. Foley]] is dated January 3, 1993, and cites House Resolutions 258 and 585.[^12]
The report concludes that the allegations were either "wholly insufficient or no credible evidence exists to substantiate" them.[^12] Its transmittal letter says the report "was approved unanimously by the Task Force on December 10, 1992." Dymally later told [[Robert Parry]] that he knew of no such vote on that date or any other. Hamilton told Parry that he would not have claimed a unanimous vote if there had not been one. A House Foreign Affairs Committee spokesman, [[David Barnes]], wrote to Parry that "From the records we have there is no evidence of a recorded vote."[^14] The printed report states that Dymally "has declined to sign the report."[^12]
The report states that the task force "interviewed and/or deposed more than 230 people."[^12] The report describes the October Surprise Group as "a group of individuals who provided foreign policy and defense advice to the campaign," and lists ten members: [[Richard V. Allen]], [[Fred C. Ikle]], [[Charles M. Kupperman]], [[John R. Lehman, Jr.]], [[Thomas H. Moore]], [[Robert G. Neumann]], [[Eugene V. Rostow]], [[Laurence Silberman]], [[William R. Van Cleave]] and [[Seymour Weiss]].[^12] Parry wrote that Barcella and [[Michael Ledeen]] were personal friends, that Barcella had sold Ledeen a house and that the two shared a housekeeper, citing Peter Maas's book *Manhunt* for a 1982 night visit by Ledeen to Barcella, during the Wilson investigation, about two associates who had come under suspicion in the Wilson case, [[Ted Shackley]] and [[Erich von Marbod]].[^15] Parry wrote that the secret draft report named six informal members of the group, among them Ledeen, and that "the final report deleted the names of six informal members" of the group. The six were Ledeen, [[Richard Stillwell]], [[William Middendorf]], [[Richard Perle]], General [[Louis Walt]] and Admiral [[James Holloway]].[^15]
Parry reported that Barcella told him, years after the report, that so much incriminating evidence arrived in the final month of the inquiry that he asked Hamilton to extend the investigation three months, and that Hamilton declined.[^16] Barcella said Hamilton "declined to go through the necessary reauthorization of the task force and instead ordered him to proceed with the final report."[^17] In Meldon's 2008 article, with a Parry addendum, Barcella is quoted as saying that Hamilton cited the complexity of getting the task force reauthorized in a new Congress.[^18] Hamilton told Parry in 2010, as Parry reported in 2013, that he might have explained the problem of the authorization running out at the end of the session: "All I could have done is go before the next Congress and request reauthorization."[^19] Hamilton told Parry in 2010 that he had no recollection of such a proposal, and in 2011 that he had no recollection of Barcella's request.[^16][^17] Hamilton's January 24, 1993 New York Times op-ed, titled "Case Closed," stated that the task force's staff "conducted over 230 formal interviews and depositions." A 2008 article by [[Jerry Meldon]], with an addendum by Parry, quoted the op-ed as saying that the report "should put the controversy to rest once and for all." The addendum says that Barcella recommended the extension to Hamilton.[^18]
The Russian report was requested by Hamilton on October 21, 1992, and reached the task force on January 11, 1993.[^20] Parry identified it as provided by [[Sergey V. Stepashin]], chairman of the Supreme Soviet's Committee on Defense and Security Issues. As Parry described it, the report said that the 1980 hostage negotiations amounted to a competition between the Carter administration and the Reagan campaign.[^17] Hamilton presided over a press conference on January 13, 1993, dismissing the allegations.[^18] Parry wrote that Hamilton told him, "I don't recall seeing it." Barcella first said he did not recall whether he showed Hamilton the report, then wrote, "I do specifically recall discussing it with Lee."[^20] Barcella told Parry that the task force did not want to be bothered with trying to get the report declassified.[^18]
In a memo dated December 8, 1992, which Parry quotes, Barcella instructed his deputies "to put some language in, as a trap door" in case later disclosures disproved parts of it or complaints arose about selective omission of evidence. The memo language quoted by Parry states that "This report does not and could not reflect every single lead that was investigated."[^15][^21]
Parry wrote in 1996 that Barcella and Hamilton pressed Dymally to withdraw a dissent. According to sources who saw it, the dissent argued that "just because phones ring and planes fly doesn't mean that someone is there to answer the phone or is on the plane."[^22] In the same article Parry wrote that Barcella and his law firm had earned more than $2 million from BCCI, that the Laxalt and BCCI links were left out of the public report, and that the conflict "was handled simply by purging any reference to BCCI and Barcella's associates from the final report."[^22] In 2005 Parry wrote that Barcella told him he did not believe his work for BCCI created a conflict of interest, and that the Senate report said Barcella worked directly with Laxalt on the BCCI account.[^15] Parry also wrote that Henry Hyde denounced the allegations as a "myth" in a House special order on February 3, 1993.[^22]
### Later career (1993 to 2010)
The alumni magazine of Dartmouth published a cover profile in March 1993 that listed Barcella as a partner of Katten, Muchin, Zavis & Dombroff. The profile described his private clients as including BCCI and Reagan's former press secretary, who was charged with ethics violations.[^23] Parry reported that the Clinton administration considered Barcella "at the top of the list" for under-secretary of the Treasury for law enforcement, and that others in the administration opposed the appointment.[^24]
At his death he was a partner in the Washington office of [[Paul Hastings]], Janofsky and Walker, where he specialized in cases involving bribery, political corruption, fraud and government contract violations.[^2]
### Dispute with Parry
In an e-mail to Parry in 2010, Barcella wrote: "You're no longer merely cherry-picking facts and misrepresenting events, but flat out lying." He wrote that he would not go "line by line" through Parry's work.[^20]
### Death
Barcella died of bladder cancer on November 4, 2010, at a hospital near his home in Washington, at 65. He was survived by his wife of 40 years, Mary Lashley, from whom he was separated, his daughter, Laura Barcella, and his sister, Andrea Kelleher.[^1]
Barcella died of bladder cancer on November 4, 2010, at a hospital near his home in Washington, at 65. The Washington Post gave the hospital as Georgetown University Hospital.[^1][^2] He was survived by his wife of 40 years, Mary Lashley, from whom he was separated, his daughter, Laura Barcella, and his sister, Andrea Kelleher.[^1][^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Hevesi, Dennis. "E. Lawrence Barcella, Prosecutor of Terrorism Cases, Dies at 65." *The New York Times,* November 17, 2010 (corrected November 23, 2010). https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/us/18barcella.html (archived: http://web.archive.org/web/20240709144843/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/us/18barcella.html)
[^2]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 17, "BCCI's Lawyers and Lobbyists." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/17law.htm
[^3]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 8, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: The Justice Department and the U.S. Customs Service." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm
[^4]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 4, "BCCI's Criminality." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm
[^5]: U.S. House of Representatives, October Surprise Task Force. *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*. 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, January 1993; Parry, Robert. "Inside the October Surprise Cover-up." *Consortium News*, July 12, 2011.
[^1]: Hevesi, Dennis. "E. Lawrence Barcella, Prosecutor of Terrorism Cases, Dies at 65." *The New York Times*, November 17, 2010 (corrected November 23, 2010). https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/us/18barcella.html (archived: http://web.archive.org/web/20240709144843/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/us/18barcella.html)
[^2]: Shapiro, T. Rees. "E. Lawrence Barcella Jr., lawyer." *The Washington Post*, November 9, 2010. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/09/AR2010110905919.html (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/2020/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/09/AR2010110905919.html)
[^3]: Bixby, Lyn. "Head of Iran Hostage Probe Linked to Arms Deal." *Hartford Courant*, May 29, 1992; reprinted as "A Surprise in 'October Surprise' Investigation: Congress' Lead Investigator Linked to Contra-Arms Deal," *The Seattle Times*, May 29, 1992. https://www.courant.com/1992/05/29/head-of-iran-hostage-probe-linked-to-arms-deal/ and https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19920529/1494391/a-surprise-in-october-surprise-investigation----congress-lead-investigator-linked-to-contra-arms-deal
[^4]: "Kinder, gentler profession urged," business column, *Chicago Tribune*, July 23, 1991. https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/07/23/kinder-gentler-profession-urged/ Firm formation: Karlyn Barker and Kathleen Day, "Robert Washington, Laxalt Team Up to Replace Failed Law Firm," *The Washington Post*, December 23, 1987. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1987/12/23/robert-washington-laxalt-team-up-to-replace-failed-law-firm/71c2b588-772c-47c4-acdb-68bc9bdfe123/
[^5]: "A group of top former FBI agents and federal prosecutors," *United Press International*, August 2, 1988. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/08/02/A-group-of-top-former-FBI-agents-and-federal/9684730900658/
[^6]: CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., "Proudly Presents the Resumes of its Associates," fax copy (header 1990), pp. 141 P01 to P12, in the Casolaro papers, folder "Promotional Material," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^7]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 17, "BCCI's Lawyers and Lobbyists." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/17law.htm
[^8]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 8, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: The Justice Department and the U.S. Customs Service." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm
[^9]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 4, "BCCI's Criminality." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm
[^10]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Journal of the House*, February 5, 1992, pp. T 9.18 to T 9.19 (H. Res. 258 agreed to, 247 yeas, 158 nays). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/HJOURNAL-1992/pdf/HJOURNAL-1992-02-05-para9-18.pdf
[^11]: Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980, *Rules of the Task Force*, adopted March 11, 1992 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1992), Rule 9. https://archive.org/details/RulesOfTheOctoberSurpriseTaskForce
[^12]: U.S. House of Representatives, October Surprise Task Force, *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*, H. Rept. 102-1102, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, transmittal letter dated January 3, 1993 (Part I, sections "Task Force Organization and Structure" and "Staff"; Task Force Members; the October Surprise Group discussion in the chapter on Reagan campaign activities). https://archive.org/details/6199732-Joint-Report-of-the-October-Surprise-Task-Force
[^13]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Congressional Record*, October 2, 1992 (H. Res. 585, "Providing for completion of activities of Task Force to investigate certain allegations concerning holding of Americans as hostages in Iran in 1980"; text of the resolution and floor statements of Representative Beilenson and another member speaking for it). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_cr/h921002-october.htm
[^14]: Parry, Robert. "Dymally and the Unanimous Vote," *Consortium News*, June 17, 2010 (article on the task force report's cover letter). https://consortiumnews.com/2010/061710.html Sole source for the Dymally, Barnes and Hamilton statements as reported by Parry.
[^15]: Parry, Robert. "A Lawyer & National Security Cover-ups," *Consortium News*, May 4, 2005. https://consortiumnews.com/2005/050405.html Sole source for the trap door memo, the Ledeen and October Surprise Group claims, and the Laxalt account, as reported by Parry.
[^16]: Parry, Robert. "Inside the October Surprise Cover-up," *Consortium News*, July 12, 2011. https://consortiumnews.com/2011/07/12/inside-the-october-surprise-cover-up/ Sole source for the extension request and the Hamilton response as reported by Parry.
[^17]: Parry, Robert. "The October Surprise Mysteries," *Consortium News*, October 22, 2012. https://consortiumnews.com/2012/10/22/the-october-surprise-mysteries/ Sole source for the Barcella and Hamilton statements, the Stepashin identification and the January 11, 1993 transmittal as reported by Parry.
[^18]: Meldon, Jerry. "Dr. Hamilton and Mr. Hyde," *Consortium News*, March 27, 2008, with addendum from Robert Parry. https://consortiumnews.com/2008/032608c.html Sole source for the quoted phrase "should put the controversy to rest once and for all" attributed to the op-ed and for the addendum account of the extension and the declassification remark. Hamilton, Lee H., "DIALOGUE: Last Word on the October Surprise?; Case Closed," *The New York Times*, January 24, 1993, Section 4, p. 17. https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/24/opinion/dialogue-last-word-on-the-october-surprise-case-closed.html
[^19]: Parry, Robert. "Second Thoughts on October Surprise," *Consortium News*, June 8, 2013. https://consortiumnews.com/2013/06/08/second-thoughts-on-october-surprise/ Sole source for the Hamilton statement as reported by Parry.
[^20]: Parry, Robert. "The Russian Report," *Consortium News*, August 5, 2010. https://consortiumnews.com/2010/080510.html Sole source for the Hamilton and Barcella statements about the Russian report and the e-mail quoted. Request date and transmittal per the Parry translation page, https://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/russianreport1980.html
[^21]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise X-Files: The Ladies' Room Secrets," *Consortium News*, 1996. https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile2.html Sole source for the memo quotation as reported by Parry.
[^22]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise X-Files (Part 8): Lies Spun into History," *Consortium News*, 1996. https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile8.html Sole source for the Dymally dissent, the BCCI and Laxalt omissions, and the Hyde special order as reported by Parry.
[^23]: "Lawrence Barcella '67," cover story, *Dartmouth Alumni Magazine*, March 1993. https://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/article/1993/3/1/lawrence-barcella-67
[^24]: Parry, Robert. "Clinton & a BCCI Lawyer," *Consortium News* (undated archive article, 1993). https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/story3.html Sole source for the Treasury consideration as reported by Parry.