---
title: Robert McFarlane
aliases:
  - Robert McFarlane
  - Bud McFarlane
created: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-05-17
category: "Key Figures"
tags:
  - Person
  - Politician
  - 1980s
  - ContraWar
  - IranContra
summary: "Ronald Reagan's national security adviser who in January 1985 advised FDN leader Adolfo Calero that it might be time to consider cutting losses on the Contra project."
born: 1937-07-12
died: 2022-05-12
location: "Washington, D.C., USA"
---
Robert "Bud" McFarlane served as President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s national security adviser during the period when the [[Contras]] reached their lowest ebb, both on the battlefield and in the battle for U.S. public opinion during the winter of 1984–85.[^1]

### Advice to FDN Leadership

In January 1985, as the [[FDN]] spent its last batch of [[Central Intelligence Agency]] money and Contra forces retreated from Nicaragua into Honduras, McFarlane told FDN leader [[Adolfo Calero]] that perhaps it was time to start thinking about "cutting both our losses and theirs." The administration's prestige was riding on the Contras; Reagan had compared them to the founding fathers of the American Revolution during a speech. The FDN's only ray of hope was to withdraw from battle and lie low until spring, when Congress agreed to let the administration make one more pitch for funding.[^1]

### Context

McFarlane's pessimistic counsel came after twelve months of consecutive public relations disasters for the Contra project, including the CIA's seeding of [[Nicaragua|Nicaraguan]] harbors with mines, a bombing at [[Eden Pastora|Eden Pastora's]] jungle headquarters, the public exposure of a CIA-printed terrorism manual, and the passage of a stringent [[Boland Amendment]] in October 1984 that cut off all U.S. government funding for the Contras.[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"