North Testifies He Altered Data to Protect Reagan

Oliver L. North testified today that he thought an order to alter documents was designed to hide knowledge by then-President Ronald Reagan of secret National Security Council assistance to the Contras.

North said then-National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane told him to change the documents during congressional inquiries into the NSC staff’s assistance to the Contras during a ban on military aid to the Nicaraguan rebels.

North’s testimony contradicts McFarlane, who said it was North who proposed making changes to the documents in the late summer of 1985.

“The gist of what he wanted removed from the documents was language that would indicate his knowledge or the President’s knowledge about my activities in this time frame,” North testified on his fifth day on the witness stand.

North said the changes “weren’t done to protect me. . . . There were people above me.”

‘Didn’t Get It Done’

“I didn’t think it was unlawful” to make changes, he said, because the order came from “Mr. McFarlane, a Cabinet officer 100 steps from the President of the United States. I had been led to believe that everything I was doing was done at the direction of the President.”

“Altering documents?” asked prosecutor John W. Keker.

“Yes,” North responded.

“You had been told by the President of the United States to destroy documents? Explain how you had come to that conclusion,” Keker asked.

“Because everything I had done that was described on this list, I had been told was at the direction of the President,” North said.

North said he didn’t make the alterations in 1985 when McFarlane originally asked him to because he was busy. “I just didn’t get it done,” he said.

‘Pawn in Chess Game?’

Also, “it didn’t make sense,” said North. He added that many other NSC documents that he was not being asked to change showed secret Contra assistance.

But North made the changes when McFarlane, nearly a year after leaving the government, asked him again to do so as the Iran-Contra affair unraveled in November, 1986.

Even though North was acquiescing to a request from someone who was no longer in the government, “you were still a pawn in a chess game being played by giants?” Keker asked sarcastically.

North made the comment about being a pawn last week in testifying about being told by his superiors to attend a meeting with the House Intelligence Committee. He is charged with obstructing the committee’s work by making false statements denying that he was assisting the Contras.

“You don’t need to belittle the comment,” North replied. The former NSC aide said he had been referring to the political struggle between the executive branch and the Congress.