North Tied to Second Shredding After Meese Interview

Lt. Col. Oliver L. North shredded a second batch of Iran- contra documents within hours after he was interviewed by Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III last November and shown a crucial memo indicating funds had been diverted to the contras, congressional sources said Friday.

The second shredding incident came the night of Nov. 23, after the interview with Meese and his Justice Department investigative team, said one source, who declined to be identified by name. The National Security Council aide’s offices were not sealed until two days later.

It was at that session that Meese handed North the so-called “diversion” memo that had been found earlier that day in NSC files. The memo, believed to have been written by North, was the 1718186611Iran arms sales had been diverted to the contras.

Pile Called ‘Substantial’

One source described the pile of documents involved in the second “shredding party” as “substantial” but probably not as large as the 1 1/2-foot stack that North’s secretary, Fawn Hall, described at congressional hearings earlier this month as being shredded.

No further details were available, and it was not clear if the Marine officer was alone at the time of the shredding.

Hall testified that she and North shredded an 18-inch stack of documents pertaining to the secret arms sales to Iran and the unauthorized diversion of profits to the Nicaraguan rebels. That shredding occurred before North was summoned to Meese’s office at the Justice Department.

The disclosure of more shredding came as investigators released additional evidence of deception by former Reagan Administration officials as the Iran-contra affair unraveled last November.

The committees made public the declassified testimony of former CIA Director William J. Casey before the House Intelligence Committee last Nov. 21, when Casey largely carried out a cover-up plan that had been contrived a day earlier by North and other senior Administration officials.

Deleted One Falsehood

Because of objections from the State Department and elsewhere, Casey did delete one falsehood from his prepared remarks but still withheld the truth about Administration knowledge of a November, 1985, shipment of missiles to Iran.

The broadening story of deceit raised doubts in the minds of some members of the House and Senate investigating committees about whether they can count on North to tell the truth.

The congressional questioning of North--under a limited grant of immunity that bars independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh from using North’s own words against him--begins with a private session Wednesday.

“I had hoped we’d get all the facts,” Rep. William S. Broomfield (R-Mich.), a member of the House panel, said Friday. “I’m not so sure now. . . . In view of the circumstances recently, I’m skeptical.”

Growing Debate

Casey’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee came as debate was swirling over revelations that the United States had been involved in arms shipments to Iran, and just four days before Meese announced to the nation last Nov. 25 that there had been a diversion of money to the contras.

The only reference by the late CIA director to a Hawk missile shipment in November, 1985, was his statement that the CIA had recommended a “reliable airline” to the Israelis for transportation of unspecified “bulky cargo.”

The Hawks were never mentioned, even though evidence shows that Casey knew about the shipment by the time he testified and establishes that other officials were aware of the anti-aircraft missiles at the time of the shipment.