North to Go on Trial Sept. 20, Get Access to Secret Data

WASHINGTON — The judge in the Iran-Contra case Friday ordered fired White House aide Oliver L. North to stand trial on Sept. 20 and ordered prosecutors to give the defense any secret documents showing that North’s actions were approved by a higher authority.

U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell ruled that, during a closed hearing earlier this week, North had demonstrated that highly sensitive documents are relevant to defend charges that he had conspired to illegally divert U.S.-Iran arms sale profits to the Nicaraguan rebels.

Gesell directed independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh to produce any documents to support North’s contention that money raised by arms dealers Albert A. Hakim and retired Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord from the U.S.-Iran arms sales was combined with government money for covert operations to help the Contras.

The judge ordered also that Walsh produce any documents corroborating North’s contention that such actions “were all approved at or near Cabinet level; their execution was closely monitored through the use of a variety of intelligence methods and sources.”

The documents should include those that show “funding of the activity from any source” and “whether or not senior government officials were aware of the activity,” Gesell said.

Any references to covert aid to the Contras in President Reagan’s daily intelligence briefings between Sept. 1, 1984, and Dec. 31, 1986, or in the President’s regular daily briefing by his staff should be given to the defense, Gesell said.

Any other information about aid to the Contras that was forwarded to the White House by the Central American Joint Intelligence Task Force during this period also should be provided, the judge said.

If problems of disclosing secret documents cannot be resolved, Gesell said, he will try North on charges that do not require extensive use of classified material.