Ex-CIA Official Faces 10 Counts in Contra Probe

In the most severe criminal action ever taken against a former high-ranking CIA official, a federal grand jury on Friday indicted Clair E. George on 10 counts of perjury, obstruction and false statements arising from the Iran-Contra scandal.

George, former head of covert operations for the agency, faces up to 50 years in prison and $2.5 million in fines if convicted of all of the charges, which involve his testimony to three congressional committees and the grand jury that indicted him.

George, who as deputy director for operations from 1984 to 1987 was the CIA’s third-ranking official, was charged with lying and obstruction of Congress in testifying about efforts to supply the Nicaraguan rebels with funds diverted from the secret sale of arms to Iran.

The charges against George provide yet another indication that the Iran-Contra investigation, which has continued for nearly five years and suffered several key setbacks, has developed new momentum in recent weeks that could broaden the scope of the probe.

The indictment--returned 10 days before the Senate Intelligence Committee is scheduled to open hearings on the nomination of George’s former CIA superior, Robert M. Gates, to head the agency--contained no information in its 33 pages that appeared to involve Gates.

Craig A. Gillen, the chief prosecutor in the case, refused to discuss its possible impact on Gates’ nomination. Nevertheless, the charges are likely to intensify questioning of Gates about his knowledge of the Iran-Contra affair, based on allegations that his boss, former CIA Director William J. Casey, as well as his subordinate, George, were both deeply involved in the illegal efforts.

Although other former Ronald Reagan Administration figures have been implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal, George is the highest-ranking official at the Central Intelligence Agency to face criminal charges. The most celebrated Iran-Contra defendant was former White House aide Oliver L. North, whose 1989 conviction on three counts was partly overturned on appeal.

George, 61, now a private security consultant, said Friday that the indictment makes him “a pawn in the continuous drama of political exploitation.”

“My conscience in this situation, as in my 33 years of CIA service, is clear,” George said, reading a statement before television cameras outside his suburban Maryland home. “In the end, I and my service to my country will be vindicated.” He refused to answer questions.

Richard A. Hibey, George’s lawyer, contended the charges “at their heart reflect complex and torturous policy differences between the Congress and executive branch of the government. It is wrong to make him the focus of these differences and to use a criminal prosecution as a means for concluding the historical record of the Iran-Contra affair.”

Hibey said that George, who retired from the CIA in 1987, has risked his life and his family’s welfare “countless times in service to his country . . . (and) has not profited one iota from his labors.”

Key elements of the charges against George reflect recent admissions by Alan D. Fiers, former chief of the CIA’s Central American task force, who pleaded guilty July 9 to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress about Iran-Contra.

George was charged, for example, with obstruction and making false statements in October, 1986, to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which was investigating the shooting down that month of a cargo plane in Nicaragua carrying weapons to the Contras.

Eugene Hasenfus, the sole survivor of the crash, said while in Nicaraguan custody that the resupply flights were being run by CIA operatives, including one named “Max Gomez.”

Incorporating elements of Fiers’ recent admissions, the grand jury charged that George falsely testified before the Senate panel that he did not know who was resupplying the Contras when he actually knew it involved North and Felix Rodriguez, a former CIA operative whose alias was Max Gomez.

Fiers, whose guilty plea and pledge of cooperation breathed new life into independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh’s investigation, said he had been instructed by George to withhold from the Senate committee information about Rodriguez and other details that would disclose North’s role.

Other charges in the indictment go beyond Fiers’ public admissions. George, for example, is accused of obstruction and commiting perjury when he told the Senate Intelligence Committee in December, 1986, that he had no knowledge of the role of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, who allegedly was involved in both the Iran arms sales and the Contra resupply operation.

The grand jury alleged that George actually met Secord in the White House situation room on Jan. 10, 1986, where the secret arms-for-hostages deal with Iran was discussed. Shortly after that meeting, George warned Casey of concerns he had about Secord’s links with Edwin P. Wilson, a former CIA agent convicted of selling arms to Libya and other felonies, the indictment said.

George was also accused of obstruction and making false statements last April 5 to the federal grand jury about his alleged role in producing misleading congressional testimony.

In a related development, James M. Potts, a trustee of a legal defense fund formed by ex-CIA officials to aid current and former agency employees, met with George and said that $50,000 already has been raised for him and others.

“Lawyers who are advising us tell us we are looking at the need for at least $1 million,” said Potts, who retired from the agency in 1982.

A Bush Administration source confirmed that the CIA has asked the Justice Department for guidance on whether legal defense funds may be used to pay lawyer fees of current agency employees who are called as witnesses in Walsh’s investigation.

Staff writer Don Shannon contributed to this report.