Angry Poindexter Tells GOP Critics He Won’t Apologize : Says He Lived Up to Honor Code

John M. Poindexter angrily responded to Republicans’ criticism today, declaring that he had conducted himself honorably as President Reagan’s national security adviser, that he regrets nothing he did and that “I’m not going to be apologetic about it.”

Poindexter’s break from the calm manner in which he testified before the congressional Iran- contra committees last week came during sometimes-harsh questioning by three Republican members of the committees.

When Sen. Paul S. Trible Jr. (R-Va.) suggested he had not lived up to the honor code agreed to by all midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, Poindexter, a rear admiral and No. 1 graduate in his class there, shot back:

“I think that’s a very unfair thing to say and I object to it. I have always lived by the honor concept and I still live that way today. One of the things you also learn at the Naval Academy is the ability to exercise independent judgment.”

Acted in Country’s Interest

During his White House service, Poindexter said, “I worked very hard to do the best that I could to protect the national security of the United States. I don’t have any regrets for anything that I did. I think that the actions I took were in the long-term interests of the country and I’m not going to change my mind and I’m not going to be apologetic about it.”

Poindexter drew fire throughout the day.

Rep. Jack Brooks (D-Tex.) said it was “astounding” that the admiral testified that the “American people don’t want to know” the details of a presidential policy as it is carried out.

Even as he denied misleading Congress about the Iran-contra affair, Poindexter told the hearings that “much too much information is provided to Congress about the details of covert activity.”

Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Me.) said he found it troubling that Poindexter admitted withholding information from Congress and yet insisted that was not an act of misleading the lawmakers. Poindexter had indicated he declined to give Congress notice of covert operations in order to avoid leaks.

Blackout Not Acceptable

“When members of Congress either deliberately or inadvertently disclose secrets,” Cohen said, “the Administration can’t say, ‘That’s it, no more notice . . . let’s get a private band of black bag specialists who’ll be unaccountable to anyone except the President, if we decide to tell the President.’ ”

He said it would be “suicidal” if Congress and the executive branch of government continue to “lie to each other or withhold information or . . . alter or shred documents” and that if the Administration wants to regain support of the American people “it stops insulting their intelligence and tells them the direct, unvarnished truth.”

“The reason for not misleading the Congress is a very practical one,” Rep. Dick Cheney (R-Wyo.) said. “It’s stupid. It’s self-defeating. . . . Eventually you destroy the President’s credibility.”

O’Neill Criticized

Both Cohen and Cheney conceded that secrets sometimes leak out of Congress, but both also said the same can be said of the White House.

Poindexter also accused former House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) of holding up final approval of contra aid last year “while men in Central America that were fighting for their freedom were dying.”

Reached at home in Harwichport, Mass., O’Neill said Poindexter is wrong, that he never slowed down the vote.

“It was just going through the legislative process,” O’Neill said, adding that Poindexter “still doesn’t have a real good idea of how the Congress operates.”