Word: covertly
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Whatever the President's role in the diversion, North's sweeping testimony left the firm impression that the late CIA director William Casey had masterminded the covert operations that were designed to achieve two of Reagan's most cherished policy goals: to win the release of U.S. hostages in Lebanon, and to keep the contras fighting in Nicaragua, even if Congress would not provide U.S. funds for that purpose. When Congress passed the Boland amendment in 1984, specifically banning all agencies "involved in intelligence activities" from providing military support to the Nicaraguan rebels, Casey simply shifted his previous contra support...
...using Secord to handle accounts into which the millions of dollars in profits from the Iran arms sales were deposited. It was also Casey who enthusiastically embraced the idea of using those "residuals" to help the contras. "He referred to it as the ultimate irony," said North. "The ultimate covert operation...
North also explained why he had cashed traveler's checks, given to him by Contra Leader Adolfo Calero, at such places as a tire shop and a hosiery store. The checks, he said, were meant for use in his contra resupply and other covert operations. He kept "meticulous" records in the now destroyed ledger about his expenses, and when no funds were at hand, he spent his own money. Then he reimbursed himself when new checks arrived...
...punctured -- which pushed the Marine officer into the difficult spot of trying to avoid portraying his bosses as either a willful part of a cover-up or too meek to defend their policy convictions. North had his most arduous time trying to justify the creation of Casey's covert "slush fund" that not even the President need be told about. (Some of the proposed uses were for U.S.-Israeli operations that North explained in a closed session...
...director frequently provided North with instructions and advice about the secret contra-support network. It was Casey, North testified, who told him to set up an "operational account" to handle the flow of covert funds...