John Tower

John Tower was a U.S. Senator and a prominent figure with connections to CIA circles. He served as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.¹

Tower was introduced to Rafi, then counterterrorism adviser to Menachem Begin, in 1978. Eitan sought to build a network within the United States to obtain information about Palestinian terrorists. Tower and his senior aide, Robert McFarlane, developed a close relationship with Eitan, and much information reaching the Senate Armed Services Committee found its way to Eitan's desk.¹

Tower was involved in the secret negotiations concerning the Iran-Contra Affair. He was present at a meeting in Santiago, Chile, in late 1986 with Carlos Cardoen, Robert Gates, and Gen. Pieter Van Der Westhuizen (South African Military Intelligence), where the U.S. reaffirmed its intention to maintain arms channels to Iraq.¹

Robert Maxwell claimed that when George H.W. Bush was head of the CIA in 1976, Tower approached Maxwell to connect him and Bush secretly with various Soviet intelligence people. Maxwell delivered, and Tower became his friend for life, later being appointed a director of Maxwell's Macmillan publishing company in the U.S..¹

Tower approached Maxwell to market the PROMIS software on behalf of the CIA group. He also personally gave Yitzhak Shamir permission to use U.S. funds as a guarantee for Maxwell's publishing empire.¹

After the Iran-Contra Affair scandal broke, Tower was appointed to head a presidential commission of inquiry into the affair. The Tower Commission's conclusions were largely seen as a cover-up, focusing only on a minor part of the sales and making no mention of the ongoing original arms channel. George H.W. Bush later nominated Tower for defense secretary, but he was not confirmed by Congress.¹

Tower died in a plane crash in Georgia in early 1991.¹