The CIA: See No Evil, Hear No Evil

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Senate scrutiny of Robert Gates had barely begun when an aide handed intelligence-committee chairman David Boren a slip of paper. Its message: all charges against Oliver North, the former White House aide who carried out the Iran-contra affair, had just been dismissed by a federal judge. As Boren read the bulletin aloud, some of the air went out of the long-awaited hearings on Gates' appointment to head the Central Intelligence Agency. The North dismissal, dimming any prospect of further immunity deals for key Iran-contra players, all but ensured that the Senate may never fully learn what Gates knew about the arms-trading scandal.

It was probably inevitable. Four years ago, Senate select committees on Iran-contra granted North limited immunity from prosecution in return for hearing his side of the story. That gave North a large opening: though he was subsequently found guilty of obstructing Congress and mutilating government documents, his attorneys convinced an appeals-court judge that the case should be reviewed "line by line" to ensure that none of the witnesses in his trial had been influenced by the nationally televised hearings. Two weeks ago, North's old boss, former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, stunned prosecutors by admitting that he had indeed been swayed by the retired Marine lieutenant colonel's emotional testimony in the summer of 1987.

Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh then faced a difficult choice. He could either prosecute North all over again or let the matter drop. Walsh chose to write North off and concentrate on prosecuting Clair George, the CIA's former chief of covert operations, who was indicted three weeks ago for lying or obstruction during a series of investigations into the Iran-contra affair. Pronouncing himself "totally exonerated," North declared, "I've had my last hearing."

Many legal experts predicted this outcome four years ago when lawmakers granted North immunity on the ground that the public had a right to know the Iran-contra story. Today even some of those who supported that decision have their doubts about its wisdom. "I think the lesson is that the Congress, when they grant immunity now, must be very cautious," said Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton of Indiana, "because doing so probably defeats any criminal prosecution."

The North dismissal has implications for other cases. The five guilty verdicts against John Poindexter, McFarlane's successor at the NSC, may be jeopardized by the influence of immunized testimony. The North outcome works in Gates' favor as well. The intelligence committee had discussed granting immunity to George, who worked directly under Gates and allegedly knew more about the diversion to the contras than he has admitted. But members decided against it, fearful of meddling again with Walsh's prosecutions -- even if that meant making a less than fully informed decision about Gates.