---
category: Intelligence & Government
created: 2026-09-21
location: Washington, D.C.
summary: Vice chairman of Kissinger Associates, where he advised Banca Nazionale del
  Lavoro for fees, who as national security adviser kept agricultural credits flowing
  to Iraq in 1990 while his staff resisted measures singling Iraq out.
tags:
- Person
- BrentScowcroft
- KissingerAssociates
- NationalSecurityCouncil
- BNLScandal
- Iraq
- GeorgeHWBush
updated: 2026-09-21
---

Brent Scowcroft, a retired Air Force lieutenant general, was vice chairman of [Kissinger Associates](/organizations/kissinger-associates/) until January 1989, when he became national security adviser to President [George H.W. Bush](/people/george-hw-bush/).[^1]

### The Bank

"BNL was a client of Mr. Scowcroft's while he was the vice-chairman of Kissinger Associates," Representative [Henry B. Gonzalez](/people/henry-b-gonzalez/) told the House on April 28, 1992. "Mr. Scowcroft regularly provided advice to BNL's management and received hefty fees in return." At a meeting in [New York](/places/new-york-city/) in 1987 he, [Henry Kissinger](/people/henry-a-kissinger/), [Lawrence Eagleburger](/people/lawrence-eagleburger/), and Alan Stoga advised officers of the [Banca Nazionale del Lavoro](/organizations/banca-nazionale-del-lavoro/), and he and Stoga took them to lunch. The special counsel Frederick Lacey found that the two men "came into contact with BNL management" and saw nothing to suggest they knew of the lending to [Iraq](/places/iraq/) by the bank's Atlanta branch.[^1][^2]

### The White House

Bryan Siebert of the Energy Department "had been waging a lonely and unsuccessful battle to get James Baker and National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft to do something about the steady flow of U.S. exports that were materially assisting Iraq's nuclear weapons program." [Matrix Churchill](/organizations/matrix-churchill/) "was not discussed at the cabinet meeting, even though the [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) had reported its activities to both the White House and the [State Department](/organizations/state-department/) in November 1989." Scowcroft's aides "objected to any measures 'that singled out Iraq.'" On May 18, 1990, he telephoned Secretary of Agriculture Clayton Yeutter and asked him "not to put out any press release today saying we are terminating the program" of [credit guarantees](/programs/commodity-credit-corporation-iraq-program/). "We would be shooting ourselves in the foot," his staff said of cancelling the second 500 million dollars. Iraq invaded [Kuwait](/places/kuwait/) on August 2.[^3]

Lawyers of his staff under Nicholas Rostow met with those of other agencies to coordinate replies to congressional requests for documents on Iraq. Gonzalez called them "the Rostow gang." His investigator was told by Rostow that "it would be a cold day in hell before Congress got NSD 26."[^3]

[^1]: Gonzalez, Henry B. "Kissinger Associates, Scowcroft, Eagleburger, Stoga, Iraq, and BNL," *Congressional Record,* House, April 28, 1992, pp. H2694-H2701.
[^2]: Lacey, Frederick B. "The Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Investigation: Report of the Independent Counsel," reproduced in House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, Serial No. 103-95, pp. 514-15.
[^3]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq*. Bantam, 1993, pp. 153-156, 162, 192, 216, 221.