North Silent on Retirement--Eligible for Pension Next May

Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, point man in the Iran- contra affair, will be eligible to retire from the military with a pension next May, but he hasn’t said what his plans are.

North is free to request retirement without a pension at any point. But if he left the military before completing 20 years of service he would forfeit his pension rights, Pentagon officials said today.

The 43-year-old officer and his attorney, Brendan Sullivan, have not disclosed any of North’s plans in their brief appearances before reporters in breaks during testimony before Congress during the last week.

However, North has made it clear in testimony that he is aware of one important outside factor that could affect his plans: the possibility that the grand jury directed by independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh will file criminal charges against him.

Since he was fired by President Reagan from a staff post on the National Security Council last Nov. 25, North has been assigned as a service plans and policy officer at Marine Corps headquarters here.

In that post, he works for a staff branch that is responsible for developing wartime mobilization plans for the Marine Corps and joint plans for operations with the other services. The branch is also responsible for maintaining up-to-date policy statements on various Marine Corps programs.

North’s work time in the new job has been irregular, however, because the Marine Corps has allowed him to meet frequently with his attorneys to prepare for the congressional hearings.