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118565664
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Iran/Arms Transaction: North/Poindexter Classified Discovery Request (9)
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118565664
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Iran/Arms Transaction: North/Poindexter Classified Discovery Request (9)
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Records of the Office of Counsel to the President (Reagan Administration)
Arthur Culvahouse's Office Files
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118565664
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1988-12-31
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1988
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1987-01-01
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1987
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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Digital Library Collections This is a PDF of a folder from our textual collections. Collection: Culvahouse, Arthur B.: Files Folder Title: Iran/Arms Transaction: North/Poindexter Classified Discovery Request (9) Box: CFOA 1131 To see more digitized collections visit: https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library inventories visit: https://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected] Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing National Archives Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/ WITHDRAWAL SHEET Ronald Reagan Library Collection Name CULVAHOUSE, ARTHUR B .:FILES Withdrawer DLB 5/14/2014 File Folder IRAN/ARMS TRANSACTION: NORTH/POINDEXTER FOIA CLASSIFIED DISCOVERY REQUEST (9 OF 13) S643 Box Number CFOA 1131 SYSTEMATIC 143 ID Doc Type Document Description No of Doc Date Restrictions Pages 164970 CHART RE: STATUS OF DISCOVERY 2 ND B1 The above documents were not referred for declassification review at time of processing Freedom of Information Act [5 U.S.C. 552(b)] B-1 National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA] B-2 Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA] B-3 Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA] B-4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial information [(b)(4) of the FOIA] B-6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA] B-7 Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA] B-8 Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA] B-9 Release would disclose geological or geophysical information concerning wells [(b)(9) of the FOIA] C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed of gift. THE WHITE HOUSE + WASHINGTON Date: 8/05/88 TO: MANCY FROM: C. DEAN McGRATH Associate Counsel to the President ACTION For your information For your review & comment As we discussed For your files Please see me Return to me after your review COMMENTS: PRESS GUIDANCE RE: JUDGE GESELL'S ORDER VACATING TRIAL DATE The Administration has cooperated fully with Independent Counsel Walsh's investigation. We have provided him with thousands of documents aggregating hundreds of thousands of pages, much of which originally was highly classified. The Administration has worked with the Independent Counsel since the indictment was returned on March 16 to declassify the information which he expects to introduce at trial as part of his prosecution case. We have been told that the information that has been declassified is sufficient to allow the Independent Counsel to prosecute his case. On July 8, Judge Gesell ordered the Government to provide 20 items of highly sensitive classified information to defendant Oliver North by August 1. Two weeks ago the Independent Counsel informed the Court that it would take several months to locate and produce all documents responsive to some of those items. The affected agencies and departments have been working diligently to provide the discovery ordered by the Court. The Independent Counsel has commended the members of the interagency group for their tireless efforts. On August 1 the agencies and departments provided as much information as reasonably could be located by that date. Today Judge Gesell vacated the September 20 trial date, ordered that discovery be completed by October 10, and set October 20 for a hearing on the classified information problems presented by the case. No new trial date has been set. The relevant departments and agencies will do all that they can to meet the new discovery deadline set by the Court. They also will work with the Independent Counsel to arrive at solutions -- consistent with national security considerations -- to the questions presented by the use of classified information at trial. THE WHITE HOUSE 4 WASHINGTON Date: 8/9/88 FOR: ABC FROM: WILLIAM J. LANDERS Associate Counsel to the President In an effort to expedite discovery Judge Yessell allowd The IC to "dump" a number of documents in The defense SCIF without full review by The interagency group. Not all of These documents are classified, but They are being treated That way until it is determined That They in fact are not classeled north contends he hasn't gotten answers when he asks y a der- unert is classified. The IC says he ham't asked and That if he had, he could have had the services of The In thrasency group during July. In large measure lague with Yessel's characterization. In fact, when I heard about This bit of shiping lasked Chus Mexter when we were all going to be allowed to get out of The sand box. THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON Date: 9 Aug. TO: Bill Landers FROM: ARTHUR B. CULVAHOUSE, JR. Counsel to the President FYI: COMMENT: what is this all about ? (m page 2) ACTION: 813 \ AB &4 His hamil 1, it come otherwes to your Tz Phil IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT ECEIVE FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA INDEPE R AUG - 2 1988 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ) ) v. ) Criminal No. 88-0080-02 ) OLIVER L. NORTH ) ORDER Recent motions and the submissions filed on August 1, 1988 affect the CIPA § 5 in camera hearing scheduled to begin August 8, 1988 and accordingly, in an effort to focus that hearing, the Court advises counsel as follows. The Court will confine the August 8, 1988 hearing to the redactions indicated as relating to counts other than 1-3 in the Memorandum of the Government Submitting Exhibit List Pursuant to Subparagraph (8) of July 8, 1988 Order, and only those items which defendant North contends are relevant and material to counts other than counts 1-3, inclusive, that are listed in Attachment A to Second Notice of Defendant Oliver L. North Pursuant to Section 5 of the Classified Information Procedures Act. To accomplish the foregoing, it is necessary that the parties have the actual documents in controversy available for the Court at the hearing. The absence of a coherent and mutually accepted numbering system identifying the documents makes it impossible for the Court's Security Officer to identify and extract these papers from the SCIF. Independent Counsel shall 007746 provide at the hearing copies of every document mentioned in its Memorandum noted above and defendant North shall provide the documents representing items listed in Attachment A which relate to the counts specified. The Court expects that at the hearing counsel for North will particularize in detail his basis for contending that the redacted classified information is relevant and material to the defense and establish the relevance and materiality of the additional classified documents he wishes to use at trial. The Court also expects that Independent Counsel will be prepared to make a commitment concerning procedures for disclosing to the jury classified information presented publicly in summarized or camouflaged form. Again, the Court seeks a degree of mutual cooperation. For instance, the Court has noted that defendant North contends he has not been advised in all instances whether or not a document he desires is classified. Surely counsel can resolve this simple question before August 8, 1988. so ORDERED. A Ever UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE August 2, 1988. 2 7. G f OFFICE OF INDEPENDENT COUNSEL SUITE 701 WEST 555 THIRTEENTH STREET, N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20004 (202) 383-8940 August 10, 1988 MEMORANDUM CONCERNING DOCUMENT PRODUCTION PURSUANT TO JULY 8, 1988 ORDER This memorandum provides guidance to the affected agencies concerning the meaning of the term "senior government officials" for purposes of the production of documents under subparagraph (2) on page 6 of the Court's July 8, 1988 Further Memorandum and Order re CIPA and Trial Schedule. To ensure that the agencies' search for documents responsive to the Court's Order does not miss any potentially responsive documents, "senior government officials" should be construed to include all officials who were, at the relevant time, members of the National Security Council, Cabinet officers, heads of relevant agencies, and other responsible officials down to the level of Assistant Secretary. The following are illustrations of officials who would be included under this definition of "senior government officials" within the affected departments and agencies: White House/National Security Council President Vice-President President's Chief of Staff Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (including Mr. Fortier for the entire relevant period, irrespective of his title at any given time) Department of State Secretary Deputy Secretary Undersecretaries Assistant Secretaries Department of Defense Secretary Deputy Secretary Under Secretary Assistant Secretaries Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force Joint Chiefs of Staff Central Intelligence Agency Director of Central Intelligence/CIA Deputy Director of Central Intelligence/CIA Director of Intelligence Director of Operations National Security Agency Director Deputy Director As an added precaution, within CIA you should include the Chiefs of the Latin American Division and the Central American Task Force. -2- GENERAL COUNSEL MEETING RE: DISCOVERY AUGUST 11, 1988 AGENDA I. Current Status of Compliance with July 8 Order (20 items, PDB and CAJIT) (See Tab A) A. PDB and CAJIT completed B. Four items (Nos. 1, 14, 17 and 19) completed; one item (No. 15) unknown C. Remaining 15 items can be completed by October 10 with the following exceptions: - all 15 items for NSC - item 2 (CIA and DOD) - items 3 and 4 (CIA and DOD) - items 7 and 10-13 (DOD) - items 8 and 9 (DOD) II. Further Compliance with July 8 Order A. Overlap with categories of information that cannot be publicly disclosed (Item Nos. 2; 3 and 4; 7 and 10-13; 8 and 9; 16) - Note: July 8 order does not require disclosure of operational details of any program, except to extent such information is in documents concerning funding, senior knowledge, North's involvement or use of the Erria. B. Withhold some documents from defense, but provide them to the court under Section 4 of CIPA. - establish uniform criteria for withholding from defense C. Obtain OIC guidance/assistance - define "senior government official" for each agency - provide additional resources (e.g., agents to review files) D. Impact on Interagency Review - current review of documents for Poindexter, Hakim, Secord discovery - current review North's office material - Query: need to review addiitonal discovery material in North case. III. Briefing of Court on Information that Cannot be Publicly Disclosed . WITHDRAWAL SHEET Ronald Reagan Library Collection Name Withdrawer CULVAHOUSE, ARTHUR B.:FILES DLB 5/14/2014 File Folder FOIA IRAN/ARMS TRANSACTION: NORTH/POINDEXTER S643 CLASSIFIED DISCOVERY REQUEST (9 OF 13) SYSTEMATIC Box Number CFOA 1131 143 ID Document Type No of Doc Date Restric- Document Description pages tions 164970 CHART 2 ND B1 RE: STATUS OF DISCOVERY The above documents were not referred for declassification review at time of processing Freedom of Information Act - [5 U.S.C. 552(b)] B-1 National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA] B-2 Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA] B-3 Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA] B-4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial information [(b)(4) of the FOIA] B-6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA] B-7 Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA] B-8 Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA] B-9 Release would disclose geological or geophysical information concerning wells [(b)(9) of the FOIA] C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed of gift. TALKING POINTS General Counsel Meeting -- August 11, 1988 Gesell order last Friday was welcome news in sense it created opportunity for better environment to address national security issues and more time to produce documents. -- Real tribute to Bill Landers, Russ Bruemmer and others who worked long hours to prepare Walsh filing of early last week. -- Problem remains: Still have to produce by Oct. 10 the 20 items in July 8 discovery order as perhaps modified by Judge in July 27 motions hearing. (1) Problem of insufficient time and resources to meet schedule. (2) Problem of sensitivity of documents, including a portion that the Intelligence Community would not agree be publicly disclosed and would not provide to the defense. (3) Secret filing -- when give to Walsh; when file with court. -- We, at the White House, have thought about issues, consult with Chief of Staff and others: (A) Try to comply with Oct. 10 discovery order in its entirety, devote whatever resources required. If cannot meet 100% compliance much better forum, environment and Judge Walsh support to seek relief if 95% already done respects as early last spung. after superhuman ffunt. Same posture on many (B) File all documents produced either with defense or with court under CIPA. Withhold nothing. Clear from Congressional briefings that withholding altogether is not satisfactory. (C) Get Secrets filing ready and give to Walsh. Do not press to provide to court at this time. Court on notice that some information cannot be publicly disclosed. AR THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON August 25, 1988 MEMORANDUM FOR ELIZABETH KEEFER THOMAS BENJAMIN MAURICE WHITE JAMES ALSUP DAN LEVIN FROM: WILLIAM J. LANDERS us ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT SUBJECT: Document Production The Office of Independent Counsel has requested that one copy of any documents that have been located to date that are responsive to the July 8 Order be delivered to that office by August 31 for delivery to the defense SCIF. Please be sure to send these copies to the OIC to the attention of Chris Mixter. In addition, if the delivery of the documents constitutes full compliance with any item set forth in the Order -- either because all documents have been produced or because there are no responsive documents -- please inform the OIC of that fact in a transmittal letter. I will be on vacation until September 7, 1988. I have informed Chris Mixter that he should bring any questions or problems directly to your attention. However, please be sure to coordinate and clear any responses amongst yourselves.