---
category: Intelligence & Government
created: 2026-09-21
location: Washington, D.C.
summary: President of Kissinger Associates while Banca Nazionale del Lavoro was its
  client, director of a Yugoslav bank that did a fifth of its business with BNL, and
  deputy secretary of state during the Iraq loans.
tags:
- Person
- LawrenceEagleburger
- KissingerAssociates
- StateDepartment
- BNLScandal
- Iraq
- Yugoslavia
- MatrixChurchill
updated: 2026-09-21
---

Lawrence Eagleburger was president of [Kissinger Associates](/organizations/kissinger-associates/) from 1984 to 1989 and deputy secretary of state under James Baker from 1989. He was secretary of state in the last weeks of the administration of [George H.W. Bush](/people/george-hw-bush/).[^1]

### BNL and LBS

The [Banca Nazionale del Lavoro](/organizations/banca-nazionale-del-lavoro/) was a client of Kissinger Associates while he was its president. In 1986 he helped establish LBS, the [New York](/places/new-york-city/) subsidiary of Ljubljanska Banka of Yugoslavia, and sat on its board until he returned to government. Representative [Henry B. Gonzalez](/people/henry-b-gonzalez/) quoted a Federal Reserve inspection report showing that from 1986 to 1989 the Italian bank supplied more than 20 percent of LBS's New York business. At a meeting in New York in 1987 [Henry Kissinger](/people/henry-a-kissinger/), [Brent Scowcroft](/people/brent-scowcroft/), Eagleburger, and the firm's economist Alan Stoga advised the bank's officers. Between 1985 and 1989 its Atlanta branch lent [Iraq](/places/iraq/) some five billion dollars off its books.[^1][^2]

### The State Department

As acting secretary on May 10, 1989, Eagleburger signed the certificate that allowed the Iraqi-owned [Matrix Churchill](/organizations/matrix-churchill/) Corporation of Ohio to open a branch in [Baghdad](/places/baghdad/). That fall, when the Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget opposed a further billion dollars in [agricultural credit guarantees](/programs/commodity-credit-corporation-iraq-program/) for Iraq, he "made phone calls and sent letters to his counterparts" to overcome them.[^2][^3]

### Testimony

Before the House Banking Committee in 1992 he said: "Quite frankly, the selective disclosure, out of context, of classified documents has led, knowingly or otherwise, to distortions of the record, half-truths, and outright falsehoods, all combined into spurious conspiracy theories and charges of a cover-up." Of the bank he said: "Although the records at Kissinger Associates indicate that I may have attended one luncheon in 1986 at which two representatives of BNL Rome were present, I do not recall this luncheon nor any substantive meetings, conversations, or other contacts with anyone from BNL." Representative Bernie Sanders asked him about a transfer of American bombs from [Saudi Arabia](/places/saudi-arabia/) to Iraq in 1986. He answered "No, I am not aware of anything," conferred with an aide, and said he would reply in writing. "The answer, when it was eventually supplied in writing, confirmed the Saudi transfer." The special counsel Frederick Lacey reported in December 1992 that Scowcroft and Eagleburger "came into contact with BNL management" at the firm and that he had seen nothing to suggest they knew of the Atlanta loans.[^2][^4]

[^1]: Gonzalez, Henry B. "Kissinger Associates, Scowcroft, Eagleburger, Stoga, Iraq, and BNL," *Congressional Record,* House, April 28, 1992, pp. H2694-H2701.
[^2]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq*. Bantam, 1993, pp. 145, 223-225.
[^3]: Gonzalez, Henry B. "Details on Iraq's Procurement Network," *Congressional Record,* House, August 10, 1992.
[^4]: 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.