Reagan Gets Sharp Criticism--From Secord

Richard Secord today criticized President Reagan’s management style, said his Administration has been a weak one and said there would have been no Iran- contra scandal if Reagan had notified Congress sooner.

The retired Air Force major general, a key figure in the sale of U.S. arms sales to Iran and resupply of weapons to the contras, also said Reagan turned to private citizens in the Iran-contra affair because increasing congressional oversight on national security matters made it impossible to keep secrets.

Before Secord’s speech to the Texas State Bar convention, about 20 lawyers protested his appearance, some carrying signs calling him “the Jim Bakker of Arms Deals.”

He was being paid $7,500 to address the bar convention’s general assembly and take questions from members of the bar.

Sharp Criticism

In his speech, Secord leveled some sharp criticism at Reagan and said there probably would have been no Iran-contra scandal had the President gone public with the activities and notified Congress much sooner.

“I think it’s generally been a weak Administration,” Secord said. “I think that his style of management has been a detriment.”

He described the state of national security decision-making as “near gridlock. We can’t seem to keep secrets any more.”

He said national security has suffered greatly in the last 15 or 20 years and cited reporting requirements in recent legislation that he said have hampered the nation’s national security planners.

‘It’s an Embarrassment’

One of the lawyers protesting Secord’s appearance, Julie Howell of Austin, said, “It’s an embarrassment to me as a lawyer because he represents people who would subvert the Constitution of the United States.”

“He is a figure of notoriety in the activities he has done in supplying arms to the contras,” said Malcolm Greenstein, another Austin attorney at the demonstration outside the Bayfront Plaza Convention Center.

One protester, comparing Secord to the disgraced founder of the PTL ministry, held a sign that read: “Secord: the Jim Bakker of Arms Deals.”