North’s Much-Delayed Trial Opens : Congress Kept in Dark Because It Leaks Like Sieve, His Lawyer Says

Oliver L. North kept Congress in the dark about secret White House operations because “the Congress . . . leaks like a sieve” and individuals could have been harmed, North’s defense attorney told a jury Tuesday.

Attorney Brendan V. Sullivan Jr., delivering his opening statement as North’s much-delayed trial began, said that the former White House aide “acted at the direction of his superiors” in the Iran-Contra case and was motivated by “a strong sense of duty and patriotism.”

But prosecutor John W. Keker painted a different picture of the retired Marine lieutenant colonel, telling jurors that North “placed himself above the law” as a high-ranking staff official of President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council.

‘No Excuse for Lying’

Keker, an associate independent counsel, declared that “secrecy is no excuse for lying to Congress.”

Keker, who like North is an ex-Marine with Vietnam experience, was selected by independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh to try the case.

The newly sworn-in jury of nine women and three men spent its first day listening to conflicting views of North’s activities as opposing lawyers explained what evidence they would introduce during the three- to five-month trial. The proceedings, which began on Jan. 31 with the screening of prospective jurors, resumed Tuesday after a nearly two-week delay caused by a dispute over how classified information would be handled in court.

Lawyer Follows Guidelines

There was no hint of that dispute in the opening statements. Sullivan, as required under guidelines established by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell, did not identify specific countries in telling the jury that North’s superiors developed a policy in 1985 and 1986 for soliciting aid for the Nicaragua’s rebels from other countries.

He said that North was told by NSC officials--and by the late William J. Casey, director of the CIA--to keep the program secret from Congress. At the time, Congress had prohibited U.S. military assistance for the Nicaraguan Contras.

More than half the 12 felony charges against North relate to allegations that he gave false statements to Congress or to other government officials and sought to obstruct official investigations.

Sullivan insisted that “the fear (at the White House) was leaks of information . . . . The Congress of the United States leaks like a sieve. If you wanted to have operations damaged and have a person hurt, that’s how you would do it. You would tell the Congress.”

Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is scheduled to be the prosecution’s first witness this morning to testify about North’s alleged efforts in 1985 and 1986 to mislead the panel about White House operations in support of the Contras.

Sullivan said that Casey instructed North “to clean up the operation, and that means take action to protect people at all costs.” North had such a reputation for loyalty and hard work, the defense lawyer said, that, when a difficult task came along, Casey and other Cabinet officers would say: “Let Ollie do it.”

But Keker told the jury that lying to congressional committees “is a crime . . . that goes to the soul of our self-government.”

Threat to System Seen

“You don’t have to be a political scientist to understand why that’s so,” the prosecutor continued. “Congress enacts the law, the President approves it and enforces it. If they start lying to each other, our system of government is not going to work.”

However, Sullivan said that Reagan ordered the solicitation of Contra aid from third countries and personally obtained $25 million from the head of state of a Middle Eastern nation, an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia.

The lawyer said that Reagan told his aides: “If this leaks out, we’ll all be hanging by our thumbs in front of the White House.” Sullivan did not allege, though, that this policy was illegal in itself.

Shadow Cast on Presidency

Despite North’s dedication to his job and “his devotion to duty as a Marine,” he was “abandoned by his government” when the Iran-Contra affair unraveled and cast a shadow on the Reagan presidency, Sullivan said.

One of the charges against North alleges that while he was at the White House he accepted an illegal gratuity in the form of a $13,800 fence and security system for his home in suburban Virginia. Sullivan ridiculed the accusation.

North, Sullivan told jurors, had been warned by the FBI that a terrorist organization had marked him for assassination in 1986 because of his anti-terrorist activities, which included helping plan the U.S. air raid on the headquarters of Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi.

Sullivan acknowledged that retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, an associate of North, paid for installation of the security system. North first asked the FBI, the Secret Service and then the National Security Council “to help protect his family” but was turned down for bureaucratic reasons, including “you’re not a high enough rank,” Sullivan said.

After Hamilton’s testimony, former National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane is scheduled to take the witness stand.

THE CHARGES AGAINST OLIVER NORTH

False statements and destruction of documents:

1--Making false statements to congressional investigators on Sept. 5, 1985, regarding his efforts to solicit funds and other support for the Contras.

Maximum penalty: 5 years in prison; $250,000 fine.

2--Making false statements to congressional investigators on Sept. 12, 1985, regarding his efforts to solicit funds and other support for the Contras and regarding his efforts to organize military activities for the Contras.

Maximum penalty: 5 years in prison; $250,000 fine.

3-- Making false statements to congressional investigators on Oct. 7, 1985, regarding use of his influence to facilitate movement of supplies to the Contras and his knowledge of how the Contras received supplies.

Maximum penalty: 5 years in prison; $250,000 fine.

4--Making false statements to the attorney general on Nov. 23, 1986, regarding National Security Council knowledge of the diversion of funds to the Contras, Israeli participation in the scheme and Swiss bank accounts.

Maximum penalty: 5 years in prison; $250,000 fine.

5--Concealing, removing, mutilating, obliterating, falsifying and destroying official documents regarding the Iran-Contra affair.

Maximum penalty: 3 years in prison; $250,000 fine.

Obstruction of official proceedings:

6 to 9--The charges of false statements and document destruction listed above form the basis for four counts of obstruction.

Three counts involve Congress, with the indictment charging that North denied Congress information about NSC aid to the Contras, provision of military advice to the Contras, knowledge of military action by the Contras, North’s relationship with retired Army Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub and U.S. government officials’ knowledge of arms sales to Iran.

The fourth count charges that North’s false statements to then-Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III and his destruction of documents impeded the investigation that President Ronald Reagan had ordered Meese to make of the Iran-Contra affair.

Maximum penalty: 5 years in prison; $250,000 fine on each of the four counts.

Illegal enrichment:

10--Receipt of an illegal gratuity from retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord. The indictment says Secord gave North a security system worth $13,800 for his home.

Maximum penalty: 2 years in prison; $250,000 fine.

11--Using for personal expenditures $4,300 in traveler’s checks that the Contras had given him for official expenses.

Maximum penalty: 10 years in prison; $250,000 fine.

Fraud:

12--Conspiracy to defraud the United States, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service regarding money involved in the Iran-Contra affair.

Maximum penalty: 5 years in prison; $250,000 fine.

Total maximum possible penalties: 60 years in prison; $3 million.