White House Says It Would Discuss Covert Operations

The White House, seeking to patch up its relations with Congress in an effort to limit the political damage of the Iran- contra hearings, is willing to discuss with the House and Senate the sensitive issue of consultations about covert operations, presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Thursday.

President Reagan’s aides also are considering opportunities for Reagan to comment on the findings of the congressional Iran-contra investigating committees when the hearings draw to a close next month. Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. has ordered preparatory work for a possible presidential speech on the subject.

The White House announced its plans one day after former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter testified that he never told Reagan about the diversion of Iran arms sale money to the Nicaraguan rebels--perhaps the most important issue for the President in the investigation. With the breathing room afforded by the Poindexter statement, the White House immediately began a campaign to improve the President’s political standing.

The task, however, may prove to be a formidable one, for polls continue to show that the public questions whether Reagan knew more about the fund diversion than he has acknowledged. The President has steadfastly maintained that he knew nothing about the diversion until Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III conducted a preliminary inquiry into the operation last November.

Renewed Criticism

Moreover, the separation of the President from the diversion renewed another barrage of criticism against Reagan that was leveled earlier this year by the Tower Commission, a special investigative board that he appointed to examine the Iran-contra affair. Echoing the panel’s findings, many critics are denouncing Reagan for his ignorance of actions carried out by subordinates whose White House offices are only a few feet from his own.

Presidential aides, responding to these charges, are making clear that the White House was unhappy with Poindexter for not keeping Reagan fully informed about the use of the Iranian money to pay for contra operations when Congress had cut off funding for the rebels fighting the leftist Sandinista regime of Nicaragua.

Fitzwater was unwilling to openly criticize the former national security adviser by name, saying: “We don’t think it’s appropriate to comment on the motives and actions of a man who’s under investigation.” However, there was no reluctance to criticize the sort of action in which he was engaged. “I would say that any time the President is not allowed to make the decisions that are presidential, he is done a disservice,” Fitzwater said.

Leak Fear Asserted

Poindexter and Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, the central figure in the Iran-contra operation until he was fired from the National Security Council staff Nov. 25, told the Iran-contra committees that Congress was kept in the dark about the plan out of concern that details of the clandestine effort would be leaked and publicized.

Fitzwater, indicating the White House’s wish to close the wounds inflicted by this contentious point, said: “We are willing to explore with the Congress this process by which intelligence information is shared with them.”

He raised the possibility, which he said was suggested by Vice President George Bush, of the creation of a single intelligence committee in Congress, rather than one in the Senate and one in the House. Such a move would limit the number of people given top-secret information and, theoretically, reduce the possibility of leaks.

In keeping the contra operation secret, Poindexter and North ignored procedures, established over more than a decade, by which the White House is required to notify Congress in a timely fashion about even the most covert activities undertaken by the government. In the most strictly held operations, eight people--the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate and the chairmen and vice chairmen of the two chambers’ intelligence committees--must be informed.

Policy Concern Cited

Members of Congress, sharply critical of Poindexter’s and North’s secrecy, said the two withheld the information not out of concern for Congress’ keeping it private, but out of concern that the congressional leaders would find fault with the policy.

Fitzwater, seeking to portray a new atmosphere in the national security apparatus at the White House, stressed that Congress has continually been kept informed about covert operations under internal rules established when Frank C. Carlucci succeeded Poindexter at the start of 1987.

As a result of a recent interagency study, for example, guidelines were established for deciding whether a presidential intelligence “finding”--a secret order declaring a covert activity in the national interest--is appropriate, Fitzwater said. The questions raised in making this determination are: Is it legal? Has Congress been adequately informed? Does it adhere to U.S. policy? If it becomes public, will the American people accept it?

The presidential spokesman said the review brought about the end of some covert operations, the consolidation of others and the continuation of some. He refused to divulge any details of current operations but emphasized that all are being run with the knowledge of Congress.