NSC Running Shadow Foreign Policy Through McFarlane and Poindexter

President Reagan signs a finding on December 5, 1985, retroactively authorizing covert arms sales to Iran already conducted by National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, formalizing an illegal shadow foreign policy run through the National Security Council. McFarlane had undertaken the sale of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to Iran earlier in 1985, operating outside normal diplomatic and intelligence channels in direct violation of the U.S. arms embargo against Iran.

When McFarlane resigns in December 1985, Navy Vice Admiral John Poindexter succeeds him as National Security Advisor, continuing and expanding the illegal operations. Together with NSC staff member Oliver North, Poindexter runs a covert foreign policy apparatus that conducts arms sales to Iran, diverts proceeds to Nicaraguan Contra rebels, and systematically deceives Congress about these activities. This NSC-run operation usurps the CIA’s traditional role in conducting covert operations while deliberately circumventing congressional oversight mechanisms.

McFarlane eventually pleads guilty to four counts of withholding information from Congress, receiving a sentence of two years’ probation and a $20,000 fine. Poindexter is tried and convicted in April 1990 of five felonies: one count of conspiring to obstruct official inquiries, two counts of obstructing Congress, and two counts of making false statements to Congress. However, both men’s convictions are ultimately overturned on appeal due to concerns about immunized testimony, and President Bush pardons McFarlane on Christmas Eve 1992.

The McFarlane-Poindexter era at the NSC represents a fundamental perversion of national security apparatus, transforming an advisory body into an operational arm conducting illegal activities while concealing them from Congress and the American people. This shadow foreign policy demonstrates how national security bureaucrats can exploit secrecy and executive power to violate the law with impunity, establishing dangerous precedents for future executive overreach.