CIA Opposes Iran Case Trial Use of Its Files

An unprecedented defense move in the Iran-Contra case would require the CIA to review millions of pages of documents and could do “grave damage” to national security, an agency lawyer warned Friday.

Russell Bruemmer, the CIA general counsel, told U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell that few people other than President Reagan have the proper security clearance to review all of the documents sought by the defense.

Bruemmer’s sworn statement to Gesell was in response to a request by former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter and his former aide, Oliver L. North, for highly sensitive government documents.

Data Highly Sensitive

“Of great concern to me as CIA general counsel is the extraordinary sensitivity of the documents that the defendants have requested,” Bruemmer said. “This information--much of which refers to irreplaceable human sources--cannot be compromised without causing exceptionally grave damage to the nation’s security.”

Independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, echoing Bruemmer’s concerns, filed a separate motion Friday urging Gesell to reject the defense request for a “virtual catalogue of the United States’ most sensitive intelligence assets.”

Lawyers for Poindexter and North argue that they are entitled to see the documents because of the prosecution’s obligation to turn over information vital to their clients’ defense.

Delaying Tactics Charged

In a 38-page legal brief, Walsh accused the defense of making overly broad, irrelevant requests for documents to delay the legal proceeding for months, and he listed the material he has provided to the defense to date.

The prosecution disclosed that it had seized evidence from the offices of North and Poindexter, including an attache case found in North’s work area, and offered to provide the defendants with an inventory of those items.

Poindexter and North, along with Iranian-born arms dealer Albert A. Hakim and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, are accused of conspiring to defraud the government by diverting to the Nicaraguan rebels profits made in secret U.S. arms sales to Iran.