Secord Is Reported to Be a Target of Special Counsel’s Investigation

The independent counsel in the Iran- contra scandal has made retired Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord a formal target of his grand jury investigation, a source close to the investigation said Tuesday.

The special counsel, Lawrence E. Walsh, has spoken with lawyers who represent the targets of his investigation and is likely to ask the grand jury in late September or October formally to issue indictments, the source said. “Walsh is absolutely dedicated to the proposition of indicting people,” the source said. “It’s not a question of whether, it’s just when is it coming and how many counts?”

Secord was recruited by Lt. Col. Oliver L. North to run the “enterprise” that sold arms to Iran and funnelled proceeds to the contras in Nicaragua. He is the second person whose status as a target has become public. The lawyer for North’s one-time boss, former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter, has told the congressional committees investigating the scandal that his client is a target.

Neither Walsh nor North’s lawyers have said whether North is a target, but--according to another lawyer involved in the case--”everybody who represents a principal in this thing is acting as if he is at the center of the prosecutor’s attention.”

Walsh is believed to be centering his investigation on a charge that Poindexter, North, Secord and others involved in the “enterprise” conspired to defraud the U.S. government in their operations. The fraud could involve the misuse of government funds and interference with the normal operations of government in the attempts to provide aid to the anti-government rebels in Nicaragua.