Gregg, Former Bush Aide, Failed FBI Polygraph Test : Iran-Contra: Sources say a question about release of hostages was among those that drew a questionable response during exam given in 1990.

Donald P. Gregg, a top aide to George Bush when he was vice president, failed a 1990 FBI polygraph test on his knowledge of the Iran-Contra scandal--evidence that, while not admissible in court, has nevertheless encouraged prosecutors to continue their investigation of his role, sources say.

Gregg, now U.S. ambassador to South Korea, has testified repeatedly that he did not know about the efforts of White House aide Oliver L. North to supply weapons to Nicaraguan rebels in 1985 and 1986, when U.S. aid to the Contras was illegal.

The polygraph test was requested by independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, who has been probing the Iran-Contra affair since 1987.

Gregg was asked seven questions by the FBI polygraph examiner, his attorney Judah Best confirmed Friday night. Sources familiar with the investigation said Gregg failed several questions, including one regarding the release of U.S. hostages held by Iran in 1980.

A spokesman for Walsh refused to say whether the prosecutor planned any action against Gregg, but other knowledgeable sources said the ambassador remains one of several persons under investigation. Action against Gregg by Walsh would pose a potential political problem for Bush, who also has denied any knowledge of the secret arms network to aid the Contras.

The polygraph results have come to light because Best is understood to be seeking a court order to block Walsh from disclosing to House and Senate committees Gregg’s answer on a so-called “October Surprise” question. The special committees are investigating whether Republicans in 1980 sought to delay release of U.S. hostages until after the November presidential election to benefit Ronald Reagan.

Best, in an interview Friday night, declined to confirm the court action, but said that he knew Walsh planned to release the results of the hostage question to the congressional investigating committees.

The “October Surprise” question on which the FBI found Gregg to be “lacking in candor” was: “Were you ever involved in a plan to delay release of the hostages in Iran until after the election?”

The FBI examination was administered on July 24, 1990, after Gregg volunteered to take the test as a means of resolving prosecutors’ doubts about his role in the Iran-Contra scandal.

Best said Gregg retained him after the FBI polygraph exam and that he arranged for Gregg to take a second polygraph test from Richard Arthur, a New York polygraph operator whom Best described as a “nationally known.”

According to Best, Arthur contended that the FBI polygraph was “complicated and unproductive” in its ability to determine truthfulness.

The second exam was administered on Nov. 27 and 28, 1990. Best said Arthur found that Gregg was telling the truth.

In the Arthur test, Gregg was asked four questions:

--”While the ’80 hostages were still in Iran. did you then know of a plan to delay their release until after the election?

--”While under oath (in previous testimony to Congress), did you deliberately tell even one lie about Felix Rodriguez (a friend and former CIA operative who played a key role in the Contra resupply network)?

--”Before Aug. 8, 1986, did George Bush and you discuss the sale of arms to Iran?

--”While under oath, did you deliberately tell one lie about Ollie North?”

Gregg answered no to all four.

Several arms dealers have claimed knowledge of a 1980 deal between the Reagan campaign and the Iranian government to delay the hostages’ release and have said that Gregg--then an official in the National Security Council under President Jimmy Carter--played a role in the plan. None of their allegations has been proven.

Best said that through Gregg’s diaries and by other means, he can show that Gregg was not involved in any plot to delay release of the hostages. “A battle of polygraphs is not a way to handle the truth,” Best said.

Neither effort by the House and Senate panels probing the timing of the hostage release by Iran has turned up conclusive evidence to support the allegations, sources close to those investigations have said.

Ironically, however, at least one of the panels is already aware of the polygraph result that Gregg is seeking to withhold, one source said.

Gregg initially drew the attention of investigators partly because of a memorandum he wrote to Bush in 1986 setting up a briefing on “resupply of the Contras.”

Gregg later testified that he did not know anything about efforts to resupply the Contras, and so could not explain why that phrase appeared on his memorandum. Instead, he suggested, he might have intended to write “resupply of the copters,” referring to a separate operation to maintain helicopters in El Salvador.