CIA May Oust 2 Aides Linked to Iran Scandal : Big Shake-up Is Planned, Sources Say

CIA Director William H. Webster is planning to remove from the agency at least two top covert operations men as part of “a general housecleaning” in the wake of the Iran- contra scandal, congressional and intelligence sources said Friday.

The CIA’s deputy director for operations, Clair George, and its chief of counterterrorism operations, Duane (Dewey) Clarridge, will be dismissed or allowed to take early retirement, sources told The Times. The two men would become the first senior agency officials disciplined for their roles in the affair.

In addition, the chief of the CIA’s Central American Task Force, Alan D. Fiers, may also lose his job over the scandal, the sources said.

Worked With North

All three men worked with former White House aide Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, who was fired last November, and former CIA Director William J. Casey, who died in May, to maintain a flow of supplies to the Nicaraguan rebels when U.S. aid to the contras was prohibited by Congress.

Some intelligence officials have also accused George and Clarridge of attempting to cover up their roles in the affair while lower-ranking officers were being disciplined. The CIA suspended at least two field officers, one stationed in Honduras and another in Costa Rica, for aiding the contras despite the ban.

“There’s going to be a general housecleaning,” a knowledgeable source said.

A CIA spokeswoman, Kathy Pherson, said she could not comment on specific cases but said no agency officers have been dismissed because of the scandal.

Cites Need for All Facts

“Judge Webster isn’t going to take action until all the facts are in,” she said. “All the evidence isn’t in yet.”

Other knowledgeable sources said, however, that Webster has spoken privately of his decision to relieve the two senior operations men of their duties. One source said he understood that Webster intended to “dismiss” the two men, both 30-year CIA veterans, but another said they would probably be allowed to take early retirement.

It was not known how soon these actions would be taken, but congressional sources said an agency shake-up such as the one Webster planned had the support of Sen. David L. Boren (D-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and other leading members of Congress.

The special committees that are probing the Iran-contra scandal are already investigating the agency’s conduct, and some members believe that a handful of CIA officials attempted to cover up their actions.

Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.), vice chairman of the Senate investigating committee, charged Friday that the CIA had attempted to “stonewall” the panel’s inquiries.

“The committee has not been pleased with the level of cooperation from the CIA on a number of very key issues,” Rudman told reporters. “It has not been easy to get some of the documents that we need.”

He said that Webster and deputy director Robert M. Gates had cooperated fully with the committee--”We don’t have any problem with them”--but that other agency officers had been less forthcoming.

Points to Contradictions

Rudman said some CIA officers had given sworn testimony to the committee that had been contradicted by other witnesses. He raised the possibility that they might be investigated for perjury.

“There are some substantial conflicts in some of our sworn depositions,” he said, “and I expect that information will go to the Justice Department for whatever they want to do with it.”

Charges of CIA involvement in North’s secret airlift of arms to the contras initially centered on Joe Fernandez, the agency’s station chief in Costa Rica, who had actively aided North’s operations. The agency recalled Fernandez to Washington in January to answer the charges.

However, Fernandez told the congressional committees that he reported all his activities to both Fiers and the CIA’s chief of operations in Latin America.

Seen as ‘Victim’

A knowledgeable source said Webster now views Fernandez as “a victim” rather than a perpetrator of the Iran-contra affair and is inclined to allow him to remain in the agency.

Instead, the focus of possible disciplinary measures has shifted to higher-ranking officials such as George and Clarridge--”the big enchiladas,” in the words of a congressional analyst.

George, the chief of all CIA secret operations, was a key figure in both the Iran and contra projects, knowledgeable officials said. Last year he told both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees that as far as he knew, the agency was not connected “directly or indirectly” to North’s secret contra airlift, the officials said.

But other CIA officials have said that George was informed of Fernandez’s activities on behalf of the contras and at least tacitly approved them, the sources said. North’s notebooks, which he turned over to the committees, also indicate that George knew of the White House aide’s contra effort, they said.

George, 56, reportedly joined the CIA in 1952 and served as an operations officer in posts in Europe, Asia and Africa before becoming deputy director for operations in 1985.

Hawk Shipment Cited

Clarridge was chief of CIA operations in Europe in 1985 when the agency helped North move a secret shipment of Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Iran in an attempt to win the freedom of American hostages in Lebanon. The shipment is controversial because the CIA is prohibited from undertaking covert operations without a written order from the President, and President Reagan did not issue such an order--known as a “finding”--until after the operation.

In sworn testimony to congressional investigators earlier this year, Clarridge claimed that he believed the shipment contained oil-drilling parts, not missiles. But other CIA officials told Congress that Clarridge did know, and North’s notes of conversations with Clarridge appear to confirm their accounts.

Congressional investigators said two key CIA documents on the issue had disappeared “suspiciously” from Clarridge’s files.

Clarridge, 55, reportedly joined the CIA in 1955 and rose to the post of station chief in Rome when, in 1981, Casey named him chief of operations in Latin America. In that job, using the code name Dewey Maroni, Clarridge ran the agency’s covert war in Nicaragua, including the controversial mining of three Nicaraguan harbors in 1984.

Sparked Action

That precipitated Congress’ decision to cut off funds for the program. Clarridge handed the contra effort over to North and was transferred to chief of CIA operations in Europe. He became chief of counterterrorism operations at the end of 1985 or in 1986.

Webster’s “housecleaning” would come after months of discreet pressure from members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, who warned the new director that some CIA officials were more deeply involved in the Iran and contra operations than they had admitted, sources said.

In April, during Webster’s confirmation hearings before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) pressed Webster, then the FBI director, for a commitment to investigate abuses fully.

“If I should find that any official in the CIA . . . violated federal law, that matter will be referred to the Department of Justice for appropriate action,” Webster promised. “I . . . (would also) seek prompt administrative action.”

“If you find a room that’s dirty, you expect to clean it up?” Bradley asked.

“I expect to clean it up,” Webster replied. “I don’t want to prejudge that, senator. But I had much the same kind of questions asked of me when I took office as director of the FBI . . . I expect to do the right thing.”

Staff writer Michael Wines also contributed to this story.