Poindexter Retires as Rear Admiral

Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter, President Reagan’s former national security adviser and a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal, retired from the Navy last week after 29 years of military service, officials said Wednesday.

Poindexter’s retirement had originally been scheduled for Oct. 1 but was delayed for two months for unspecified personal reasons. Cmdr. Kendall Pease, a Navy spokesman, said the admiral had left a job at the Pentagon “and retired effective Dec. 1.”

Poindexter, after his resignation as the President’s national security adviser in November, 1986, returned to the Navy and spent a year working as a special assistant for long-range planning to the chief of naval operations.

The 51-year-old Poindexter was granted permission to retire last September by Navy Secretary James H. Webb. At the time, a close friend said he wanted to leave the service “with his head held high” and before any Iran-Contra indictments were returned.

Poindexter and his former deputy, Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, are said to be key figures in the ongoing criminal investigation of the affair by an independent prosecutor. North, who was fired from his post the same day that Poindexter resigned, remains on active duty in a staff position at Marine Corps headquarters.