Investigators Offer Political, Security Expertise

John Tower, named Wednesday by President Reagan to head a three-man inquiry into National Security Council staff operations, has close ties to the staff’s new acting chief, Alton G. Keel Jr., as well as to a recent predecessor, Robert C. McFarlane, who faces intense scrutiny for his role in the secret arms deal with Iran.

Both McFarlane and Keel served as top aides to Tower when the Texas Republican was the ranking minority member on the Senate Armed Services Committee. In fact, Keel keeps in his office a photograph of himself and Tower.

Another former Tower aide, Ronald F. Lehman, was director of the NSC arms control office until last May, when he succeeded Tower as U.S. negotiator at the arms reduction talks with the Soviet Union in Geneva.

Such personal ties led some on Capitol Hill to question Wednesday whether Tower will be able to remain objective in the inquiry.

Tower, now a defense consultant, college lecturer and public speaker based in Dallas, declined immediate comment on his plans for the inquiry and how they might be affected by his relationships with McFarlane and Keel.

Some congressional aides expressed skepticism that Tower would be able to make objective judgments in the inquiry because of such relationships. However, R. James Woolsey, who was general counsel to Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee and served on the strategic forces panel, and others said they do not think the ties will cause a problem.

“Tower was a very important senator in the national security area and he tended to attract very able people like McFarlane, Keel and Lehman who had a future,” Woolsey said. “I don’t think there is any reason why he shouldn’t do an excellent job” on the NSC review.

‘Diligence, Objectivity’

In a statement, the 61-year-old Tower said that he will “pursue this task with diligence and objectivity” but will answer no questions until he and the other members of the NSC review board, Edmund S. Muskie and Brent Scowcroft, meet with Reagan on Monday.

Muskie, former Democratic senator from Maine and secretary of state under former President Jimmy Carter, is highly respected by members of both political parties.

“He has an intimate familiarity with the National Security Council and its juxtaposition with both the State Department and Congress,” noted Leon Billings, a former aide.

Muskie, 72, a senior partner in a law firm specializing in international law, is chairman of the Center for National Policy, a Democratic think tank, and is active in the Council on Foreign Relations.

Scowcroft, national security adviser to former President Gerald R. Ford, once was called by Carter the best person ever to hold the position. But his appointment to the NSC review panel apparently takes him out of consideration for appointment as permanent national security adviser to Reagan--a move pushed by many of his supporters.

The 61-year-old Scowcroft, a retired Air Force general and prominent consultant on arms issues, headed Reagan’s Commission on Strategic Forces, which was formed in 1984 to examine the vulnerability of land-based intercontinental missiles, particularly the MX.

“These are three excellent choices,” Woolsey declared.

“In Tower and Muskie, you have two people who have been prominent in their political parties, are influential across party lines and have held senior positions not only in the Senate but outside,” Woolsey said. “Their good contacts on Capitol Hill will be especially helpful” in developing support from a skeptical Congress for whatever comes out of the NSC inquiry.

As for Scowcroft, Woolsey added, “he is very useful here as a career military man” who might offer insight into the operations of (Marine) Lt. Col. Oliver L. North--fired from the NSC staff after it was disclosed that he allegedly funneled Iranian arms sales proceeds to Nicaraguan contras-- and Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, who resigned as national security adviser amid the controversy.

Scowcroft also will help the inquiry, Woolsey said, because he “is the model for the way the national security adviser to the President should function. Obviously, (Henry A.) Kissinger (who held the post under former Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Ford) and (Zbigniew) Brzezinski (adviser to Carter) were brilliant people, but only Scowcroft has been able to pull off the balance of being both a judicious staff person and a substantive adviser.”

Keel, who was named acting national security adviser after Poindexter resigned Tuesday, began his Washington career as an aide to Tower on the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1977 to 1981.

Similarly, McFarlane served under Tower for three years before he moved to the NSC staff in 1981 and rose to head it in 1983. He resigned last year but faces questioning on why arms were shipped to Iran in 1985 without the President’s authorization--and why he told no one of the secret payments to the Nicaraguan rebels after learning of them last spring.