by Howard Levine, Vince Bielski, and Dennis Bernstein
July 22-August 4, 1987 - In These Times

An investigator on the select senate Iran-contra committee worked with Lt. Col. Oliver North in March 1985 on an aborted attempt to shuttle aid to the Nicaraguan contras, In These Times has learned. The revelation raises serious conflict-of-interest questions about investigator Joel S. Lisker. 

Lisker, at the time of his discussions with North, was an aide to former Sen. Jeremiah Denton (R-AL). Lisker said he solicited North's help after meeting with an American mercenary in Denton's Washington, D.C., office. 

The mercenary, Jack Terrell, was then a military commander of the Misura Indian contras in Nicaragua. Terrell said he went to the senator's office seeking help in obtaining food and boots for his troops. In exchange Terrell was offering intelligence on alleged illegal Sandinista drug-processing labs. 

Lisker's appeal to North has raised conflict-of-interest questions from other congressional investigators as well as questions of possible violations of the Boland Amendment. 

At the time Lisker approached North, the National Security Council (NSC) aide was managing the covert supply network to the contras. In March 1985, when the events took place, the Boland Amendment barred U.S. intelligence agencies from supporting the contras with either humanitarian or military aid. 

The Misura contra force with whom Terrell was working was covered by the Boland Amendment, according to a Senate aide familiar with the amendment. The Misura force, which was active in the Atlantic coast region of Nicaragua, consisted primarily of Miskito Indians. 

The deal to swap aid for intelligence broke down when North and Terrell couldn't agree on the details of the shipment, Terrell said. 

"A buddy of North's"
Despite his ties to North, Lisker was selected to be an associate counsel on the Senate select committee by Sen. James McClure (R-ID), one of 11 senators on the panel. 

"How can you get someone who is actively involved in events and put him in charge of the investigation?" asked one congressional investigator who requested anonymity. 

"We were told a year ago," he said, "that this guy was in the middle of it and a buddy of North's." 

A Senate aide who requested anonymity said that Lisker and North had been involved in a "variety of contra support operations, the nature of which has never been determined." 

Lisker denied that his presence on the committee created a conflict of interest because he and North had had only limited professional contact. "I knew him like I knew other government people," Lisker said. "I talked to him on the telephone, met him a couple of times, that sort of thing." 

Lisker said that to avoid a possible conflict of interest, "I have stayed out of the Oliver North interviews. I don't want to deal with people I know. It's not fair to them, and it's not fair to me." 

Committee Chief Counsel Arthur Liman told In These Times that he knew the two had past contact but he was unaware of Lisker's efforts to work with North to funnel aid to the contras. 

"That I had not heard," Liman said. "Given the fact that he's a believer in the cause, it wouldn't have bothered me a bit." 

He added that Lisker's presence on the panel wasn't a conflict of interest because each senator on the panel chose an investigator to represent his own political views. 

"Lisker was chosen by a senator who is an ardent proponent of the contras," Liman said, "and who had a right to have a designee, as long as I was satisfied that the designee would work for me... and Joel has worked hard and faithfully and effectively." 

A question of law
The congressional investigator who requested anonymity questioned whether Lisker's activities didn't violate the law because he was trying to aid Misura refugees through humanitarian channels. 

However, Terrell and another Denton aide, Margaret Hunt, say the supplies were clearly earmarked for the contra cause. 

"It was fair to say that Terrell was working with the [contras]," Hunt said, "and was up here to make an appeal on their behalf." 

Lisker said he contacted North after a March 8, 1985, meeting he had with Terrell in Denton's office. He said he called North at the NSC to discuss the mercenary's offer of intelligence for food. 

North was apparently already well acquainted with Terrell's activities, according to a January 1985 memo to North from North aide Robert Owen. "[Terrell] is...setting himself up to be the one who handles all financial support for the Miskitos." 

Lisker said he was very interested in Terrell's offer of intelligence because he would have like to have held congressional hearings on Sandinista drug smuggling using Terrell as a star witness. At the time, Lisker was chief counsel of the Senate Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism, which had already held hearings on drug trafficking by community countries. 

Lisker said he believed Terrell's claim that the Indians were starving because he had seen it himself on an October 1984 trip to the region. 

"[Terrell] asked me to inquire about the availability of food that could be sent down there," Lisker said. "And I didn't intend to do that, but we never got that far." 

Lisker said that as soon as he mentioned Terrell's name to North, the White House aide told him not to make any deals with Terrell because the mercenary was "looney-tune. And that ended it." Lisker said that he discussed no aspect of the proposed Terrell deal with North. 

Hunt disputed Lisker's account. She said she also participated in the phone call to North, and that "North said he never heard of Terrell." 

Hunt also disputed Lisker's claim that there was no conversation with North about Terrell's offer or the Misura's need for food. 

Another version
Terrell offered a third version of the events, saying that he was present when Lisker called North and that Lisker acted as an intermediary between himself and North in working out an agreement. "Lisker told me I'd get all the food I want if I supply them with the satellite coordinates on Sandinista drug-processing labs," he said. 

Terrell said that North was especially interested in his offer because North had been otherwise unsuccessful in obtaining intelligence in the Atlantic Coast region where the Indians lived. North couldn't get the intelligence, Terrell said, because the Misura contras refused to cooperate with the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) -- the largest contra faction, with which North was working. 

But Terrell said the deal fell through when North insisted that the food be shipped through the FDN rather than directly to the Misura. Terrell said the FDN had been keeping food from the Misura to force them to cooperate with the FDN. 

At this time North was planning to send "8 million worth of munitions" to the FDN, according to a White House memo. 

Lisker's role in the affair throws into question his ability to investigate the Contragate scandal, in which North was a central figure. But Lisker is not the only congressional prober with an apparent conflict of interest. Thomas Polgar, a former CIA station chief in Saigon with close ties to several contragate figures, now finds himself investigating his former agency and colleagues (See In These Times, June 10). 

House and Senate Ethics committee staffers said there are no guidelines governing conflict of interest for congressional investigators and refused to answer questions about whether Lisker's activities constituted a conflict. 

One Senate aide close to the select Senate committee investigation said that if Lisker were acting as North's prosecutor, there would "clearly be a conflict." He added that ethical standards for attorneys state that lawyers generally should exclude themselves when there is an "appearance of impropriety."