Iran-Contra Probe Focusing on Ex-CIA Central America Chief

Prosecutors investigating attempts to cover up the Iran-Contra scandal are concentrating on the former chief of the CIA’s Central American task force and what he knows of the roles played by other CIA and Bush Administration officials.

Considered one of the most promising younger officials in the agency until he was reprimanded for withholding information from Congress, Alan D. Fiers and his lawyers have been discussing a possible plea bargain with independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, according to informed sources.

Under one arrangement being discussed, sources said, Fiers would plead guilty, perhaps this week, to a misdemeanor charge stemming from past testimony. In turn, he would be compelled to cooperate fully with Walsh’s office in the final phase of the 4 1/2-year investigation.

Such a move by one of the highest-ranking CIA officials involved in the Ronald Reagan Administration’s worst scandal could have widespread repercussions. One government official said that among others, Fiers reported directly to the late CIA director, William J. Casey, then-deputy director Robert M. Gates and Clair George, then deputy director for operations. Senate confirmation hearings for Gates, who has been nominated as CIA director, are expected later this month.

Fiers, who headed the CIA’s Central American task force from 1984 until 1988, also dealt directly with former White House aide Oliver L. North and Elliott Abrams, former assistant secretary of state. The three served together as the key members of a restricted inter-agency group that set Administration policy for dealing with the Contras in Nicaragua.

The Iran-Contra scandal became public in November, 1986, after the disclosures that the Reagan Administration had secretly sold arms to Iran in exchange for help in obtaining the release of American hostages in Lebanon.