amendments and acts Throughout
the Iran-Contra Affair
"The Iran-Contra affair, like the CIA-organized invasion of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba in 1961, struck a global blow to American credibility. Officials at the highest level had been detected organizing international terrorism (i.e., the Contras), violating U.S. law, and lying under oath."
-Internet Archive
Throughout the Iran-Contra affair, President Reagan and his aides violated numerous laws, some were passed to specifically target the scandal. Still, they disregarded laws and continued with the Iran-Contra affair.
Freedom of Information Act
"The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a law that gives you the right to access information from the federal government. It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government." This act had been violated when the government refused to release information to the public about the affair. Oliver North took a part by obstructing the flow of information when he shredded documents linking the US to the operation.
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"Under the Freedom of Information Act, government agencies then decide whether or not national security considerations should block the release of these documents, or parts of them. It is not for a government employee like North to simply destroy documents so that this process can never play itself out in accord with the law. The documents were not North’s property; they were the property of his employer, the U.S. government and, in a certain way, those of the people of the United States. North had no right to destroy them, and he had a responsibility as a government employee to see that public documents in his care were preserved properly." |
Boland Amendments
This was a series of amendments imposed by Congress that limited the executive branch's power to aid the Nicaragua rebels.
"In the 1986 fiscal year, Congress approved $27 million in aid for the contras but stipulated that none of it could be spent on weapons. The Administration was explicitly permitted to solicit contra aid from other nations, but only if that aid was not used to buy weapons." |
"In 1984, the Boland Amendment passed, which said that the CIA and Department of Defense could not give militaristic aid (specifically in Nicaragua). " The Iran-Contra Affair was a direct violation due to the fact that President Ronald Reagan circumvented many of these restrictions with the help of the National Security Council (NSC).
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National security act of 1947
"The National Security Act of 1947 mandated a major reorganization of the foreign policy and military establishments of the U.S. Government. The act created many of the institutions that Presidents found useful when formulating and implementing foreign policy, including the National Security Council (NSC)." |
"It is clear to me that [President Ronald Reagan] violated the National Security Act of 1947, as amended many times afterward... The National Security Act and its later amendments required any U.S. president to issue a legal document, called a presidential “finding,” that describes a covert action he or she plans to pursue, and to inform a select few members of the Congress (in the 1980s these included the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees) of this proposed covert action before it is implemented." |
arms export control Act
"The President's disregard for civil laws enacted to limit presidential actions abroad... the Arms Export Control Act and congressional-notification requirements in covert-action laws -- created a climate in which some of the Government officers assigned to implement his policies felt emboldened to circumvent such laws." President Ronald Reagan neglected this act when transferring arms to Iran using Israel.
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"The AECA forbade the retransfer of U.S. arms to a third country unless the United States itself could make the transfer directly. It required certifications from the recipient country concerning further transfer. Finally, it required reports to the Speaker of the House and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee concerning retransfer agreements and notice to Congress 30 days after the end of each quarter of a transfer of more than $1 million of major defense equipment." |