Fawn Hall Admits North Ordered Papers Doctored : Secretary Given Grant of Immunity

Fawn Hall, Oliver North’s former White House secretary, told the congressional Iran- contra committees today that North ordered her to alter certain documents and that files and logs of telephone calls from the offices of the former national security aide were shredded when the scandal was revealed last November.

Hall, testifying with a grant of immunity from prosecution, did not immediately say who shredded the records or what other documents were destroyed last November when the Iran-contra scandal began unraveling.

Hall, 27, a part-time model, was North’s secretary for four years on the staff of the White House National Security Council during the time he engineered the sale of arms to Iran and efforts to aid the Nicaraguan contras after Congress banned military aid.

She defended her former boss as hard-working and loyal to the nation and the President as she read a statement that began her long-awaited testimony.

She said she has “enormous respect and admiration” for North and others at the NSC with whom he worked, citing North’s “selflessness and deep sense of dedication and loyalty to the President.”

Says, ‘I Can Type’

Hall also defended her own actions, saying, “I was a dedicated and loyal secretary and performed my duties in an exemplary manner.”

She noted that she has also worked as a model, but she said pointedly and with a hint of sarcasm, “I can type.”

Hall, who began her testimony at mid-afternoon, said she kept logs of North’s phone calls that he was to return. She said the telephone logs were shredded in November, 1986, when details of the Iran-contra scandal were first revealed.

She did not say how the documents were shredded or who shredded them, but former national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane has testified that North and Hall had a “shredding party” to destroy key documents.

Hall also testified that she saw notebooks in the office of North’s lawyer after the White House aide was fired that appeared similar to the ones in which he kept his daily records.

Hall described altering a 1985 memo from North that referred to the possible sinking or siezure of a ship carrying weapons to Nicaragua.

Under questioning, Hall said she did not recall ever hearing North say that proceeds from the sale of arms to Iran were going to aid the contras.

However, she described retyping through several drafts for North a memo that mentioned the diversion of profits. She said she could not recall if a final version was seen by anyone other than herself, North and then-National Security Adviser John Poindexter.

In addition, she said she may have heard North make a joke to the effect that he was taking money from “the Ayatollah” for the contras.

“I have a recollection of something like that, but I’m not quite clear if it happened . . . or if it’s something I thought of after this has broken. I’m not quite clear on that,” she said.

Former Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord testified during the first week of the hearings last month that North had told him of joking with President Reagan on the same topic.

At another point, Hall told of asking North for a small loan for a weekend trip to the beach in June, 1985, and said he gave her three $20 traveler’s checks, totaling $60, drawn on a Central American bank.

“He said, ‘Make sure you pay back the money; it’s not mine,’ ” Hall said.

She said she found it unusual that the checks were Central American but said she didn’t ask North why and he didn’t volunteer an explanation.

“It was my policy not to ask questions,” she said.