Oliver North

Oliver North was a Marine lieutenant colonel and National Security Council staff member who ran the Central Intelligence Agency's illegal Contra resupply operation from the White House during the 1980s, making him a central figure in the Iran-Contra Affair.¹² North oversaw the covert arms and funding pipeline to the Contras during periods when Congress had prohibited such assistance, operating what became known as "the Enterprise."

Iran-Contra and the Octopus

North was alleged to have received drug profits from Monzer Al-Kassar, a Syrian kingpin and arms dealer, to purchase arms for the Nicaraguan Contras. The United States Tower Commission probe into Iran-gate revealed that Al-Kassar had been paid $1.2 million by North's co-conspirator General Richard Secord to move weapons from Israel to the Contras.¹

Bill Turner, a friend and confidante of Danny Casolaro, claimed to have seen papers from Casolaro that connected North and the BCCI. North's personal notebooks documenting the Iran-Contra Affair also contained Ian Stuart Spiro's name.¹

Contra Resupply Operation

North was the National Security Council official overseeing the Contra project. He wrote in his 1991 memoirs, Under Fire, about the death squad terror in El Salvador, noting: "Under the guise of anti-Communism, the death squads terrorized the entire country — murdering nuns, teachers, labor organizers, political opponents and thousands of other civilians." North wrote that it was clear most of the death squad activity was the responsibility of the ultraright ARENA party and its leader, Roberto D'Aubuisson.²

North's courier in Central America, Robert Owen, reported to North in 1985 that a DC-6 owned by Mario Calero (brother of Adolfo Calero) "which is being used for runs out of New Orleans is probably being used for drug runs into U.S." Owen's phone number was found aboard a DC-4 seized by the DEA in March 1987 on a suspected drug run off Florida's coast. Aboard the plane was marijuana residue and Moss's notes which, according to a CIA cable, contained "the names of two CIA officers and their telephone numbers."²

Barry Seal Connection

Congressional records show North was being regularly briefed by the CIA on Barry Seal's sting operation against the Sandinistas, was supplied with some of the evidence it produced, and allegedly leaked the information to the press shortly before a critical vote on Contra aid was coming up in Congress. North maintains that his only involvement in the Seal sting was as an observer, but a statement he gave to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in June 1986 suggests that his relationship with the trafficker was considerably more complex.²

After Seal's murder on February 17, 1986, North called the FBI and claimed there was an "active measures program" being directed against him by the Sandinistas. "North expressed further concern that he may be targeted for elimination by organized crime due to his alleged involvement in drug running," a Washington-based FBI agent wrote.²

Terry Reed and Mena, Arkansas

Former Air Force intelligence officer Terry Reed claimed that North was his CIA contact for both a pilot-training program and a machine-tool company front in Arkansas. Reed described a "shredding party" in which an Arkansas State Police Intelligence Unit staff member was ordered to purge the state's Mena files of nearly a thousand documents, including those referring specifically to North and Reed. North has denied knowing anything about Reed or what was going on at Mena, Arkansas. He was later indicted on multiple charges related to the Iran-Contra Scandal and was pardoned by former CIA director George H.W. Bush.²

Fraudulent End-User Certificates

When North began supplying arms for the Contras after Congress cut off funding through the Boland Amendment, he frequently used fraudulent end-user certificates (EUCs) from the Guatemalan and Honduran governments to divert weapons to the Contras. EUCs are sworn declarations in which the purchasing government certifies it actually ordered the weapons, providing assurance that American-made weapons were not ending up with terrorists or Communist guerrillas. Former CIA official Alan Fiers explained: "So what happens is an arms broker will get an intermediary country to issue false end-user certificates. . .the arms are either not shipped to the country that issued the certificate or are trans-shipped through that country on to a disguised end user, in this case, the Contras."³

Drug Money Proposal

At a top-level meeting with DEA officials in Washington in 1984, North shocked the room into silence by suggesting that $1.5 million in cocaine cash the DEA planned to seize from the Medellín cartel should be turned over to the Contras. The DEA says it declined North's suggestion. Subsequently, a White House leak blew the DEA operation, and several DEA officials believed North was responsible — something he has denied.⁴

With the assistance of CIA director William J. Casey, North created an elaborate network of offshore bank accounts to conceal the source of money sustaining the Contras through the Congressional funding cutoff. North wrote that Casey didn't want the Contras' "unofficial funds" coming into U.S. banks because of fears that Treasury agents on the lookout for drug money would grow suspicious of the large sums of cash arriving in those accounts.⁴

Dealings with Manuel Noriega

In June 1985, aboard a luxurious yacht in Panama's Pacific port of Balboa, North and Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega struck a bargain. Noriega offered to provide Contra training at bases in Panama and free access for Contra leaders. According to government documents filed during North's trial, Noriega also offered to have the entire Sandinista leadership assassinated in exchange for a promise from the U.S. government to "clean up Noriega's image." North raised the proposal at a top-level meeting but was instructed to tell Noriega the administration wasn't keen on murdering Nicaraguan officials, though Panamanian assistance with sabotage would be acceptable. A month after the torture-murder of Contra fighter Dr. Hugo Spadafora, North returned to Panama to assure Noriega that the U.S. would boost his foreign aid payments. Within a year, $200 million in additional U.S. funds and bank loans flowed Noriega's way.⁵

NHAO and Drug Trafficker Contractors

North "hijacked" the State Department's Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office (NHAO) to use as a vehicle for Contra support. He installed his courier Rob Owen as a $50,000 "facilitator" and steered contracts to companies run by drug traffickers, including Frigorificos de Puntarenas (created by the Medellín cartel), DIACSA (run by a drug dealer), Vortex Aviation (operated by Detroit drug dealer Michael Palmer), and SETCO (owned by Honduran drug kingpin Juan Matta Ballesteros). North instructed NHAO director Robert Duemling not to "dislodge or replace their existing arrangements." CIA official Alan Fiers confirmed: "I believe we guided them toward the carriers they ultimately used."⁵

Ilopango Operations

North wrote to Felix Rodriguez in September 1985 asking him to use his influence with Salvadoran Air Force commander Juan Rafael Bustillo to secure hangar space at Ilopango Air Force Base for Contra supply flights. CIA records show Hangar No. 4 at Ilopango was used by the Agency for covert Contra operations until it was turned over to the National Security Council and North's "Enterprise" in 1985. The adjoining Hangar No. 5 remained CIA-run.⁶

North's daily diaries contained several references to "Freddy Vaughn" — Federico Vaughn, the alleged Sandinista aide shown by President Ronald Reagan loading drugs onto an aircraft — including a July 6, 1984, entry: "Freddy coming in late July." A 1988 House Judiciary Committee investigation produced evidence that the Seal sting was stage-managed by North and the CIA as a domestic disinformation operation. Four DEA officials testified they received pressure from North and the CIA to leak Vaughn's involvement with drugs to the press. On October 15, 1986, North noted in his diary: "46 boxes of transcripts of SF Frogman case. Justice never provided."⁶

Dagoberto Nunez and H&M Corp

Dagoberto Núñez, a Costa Rican-based drug trafficker working for North and the CIA, obtained a contract with Heroes and Martyrs Trading Corporation (H&M Corp.), the official import-export agency of the Sandinista government heavily infiltrated by CIA operatives. A 1986 memo from CIA operative Rob Owen to North described Núñez's plan to sign an agreement with H&M for shrimping rights off the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. "Nunez is doing this so he can help us. He will cooperate and do anything we ask," Owen told North. "He believes this will provide an opportunity to use his boats for cover operations, or to implicate the Ortegas and Borge in taking money on the side for their own pocket. He is right on both counts."⁶

Ronald Lister's Claims

In November 1986, during the FBI's "Operation Front Door" probe of Iran-Contra, FBI agent Aukland interviewed Ronald Lister's realtor, who said Lister claimed to run a "CIA-approved" security business and was raising money for the Contras. When asked directly about Contra training, Lister refused to answer unless "an unidentified representative of 'another agency' be present." The next month the FBI learned Lister "had told an unidentified neighbor over drinks that he worked for Oliver North and [Richard] Secord, and had sent arms shipments to the Contras." That lead was not pursued.⁷