McFarlane Released by Hospital After Treatment

Former National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane, who took an overdose of Valium two weeks ago amid the mounting pressures of the Iran- contra arms scandal investigations, has been released from Bethesda Naval Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday.

McFarlane, admitted to the military hospital Feb. 9 after what police called a suicide attempt, was discharged Monday, the spokesman said.

The 49-year-old former Marine lieutenant colonel was interviewed twice at the hospital last week by the presidential commission investigating the National Security Council’s role in the Iran scandal. On both occasions, sources said, questions from the three-member commission headed by former Sen. John Tower (R-Tex.) focused on evidence that the Reagan Administration tried to cover up its dealings.

McFarlane reportedly continued to insist that President Reagan personally authorized an Israeli shipment to Iran of U.S.-made arms in 1985--a contention that has put him at odds with embattled White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan and raises the prospect that the President may have violated federal laws in an effort to renew American ties with Iran.

In addition, McFarlane told the panel that he helped draft an inaccurate chronology of the Iran arms affair to protect the President from political damage, according to those familiar with his testimony.

Associates speculated that his lonely stance on the arms deal and despair at his prospects for future involvement in sensitive national security matters may have prompted the drug overdose.

McFarlane will continue to cooperate with investigators, said his attorney, Leonard Garment. In the meantime, Garment said Tuesday, McFarlane “will try to get himself back to a normal course of life as fast as he can.”