Robert McFarlane

Robert Carl "Bud" McFarlane (born July 12, 1937) is the former National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan, serving from 1983 to late-1985. He was one of the major players in the Iran-Contra affair.

He eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanors counts of withholding information from Congress. He was pardoned by George H. W. Bush. McFarlane occasionally appears on national television and publish articles on U.S. national security.

Early life and education

After graduating high school, McFarlane entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1955, where he graduated in 1959. He was the third member of his family to attend the Academy, after his uncle Robert McFarlane (1925) and his brother Bill (1949). At the Academy he graduated in the top 15 percent of the class and lettered twice in gymnastics. He also sang in the Chapel Choir and was a Brigade Administrative Officer (four-striper) and later 14th Company Commander.

Marine Corps service

Following graduation from the Naval Academy in 1959, McFarlane was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps where he served as an Artillery officer. He retired in 1979 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

As a Marine Corps officer, McFarlane commanded platoons, a battery of field artillery howitzers, and was the Operations Officer for an artillery regiment. He taught Gunnery at the Army Advanced Artillery Course, and Executive Assistant to the Marine Corps' Operations Deputy from 1968-1971; in that position he prepared the Deputy for meetings with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During this assignment he was also the Action Officer in the Marine Corps Operations Division for Europe/NATO, the Middle East, and Latin America.

McFarlane served two combat tours in Vietnam. In March 1965, he commanded the artillery battery in the first landing of U.S. combat forces in Vietnam. While deployed during his first tour, McFarlane was selected for graduate studies as an Olmsted Scholar. McFarlane received a master's degree (License) in strategic studies with highest honors from the Graduate Institute of International Studies (Institut de Hautes Etudes Internationales, HEI) in Geneva, Switzerland.

After attending the Graduate Institute of International Studies, McFarlane returned for a second tour in 1967-1968 as a Regimental Fire Support Coordinator for the 3rd Marine Division deployed along the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone during the Tet Offensive. He organized all fire support (B-52s, naval gunfire from the USS New Jersey (BB-62), and artillery) for forces deployed at Con Thien, Cam Lo, Dong Ha, The Rockpile, Khe Sanh, and points between. McFarlane received a Bronze Star and a Navy Commendation Medal, both with Valor device.

Following his second tour in Vietnam and a tour at Headquarters Marine Corps, in 1971 he was named a White House Fellow. He was the first Marine Corps officer selected for the program.

McFarlane was assigned to the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House, and at the conclusion of that assignment was selected as the Military Assistant to Henry Kissinger at the National Security Council. In this post, McFarlane dealt with intelligence exchanges with the People's Republic of China from 1973 to 1976, giving detailed intelligence briefings to China at the time of the Sino-Soviet split. He also accompanied Kissinger on his visits to China. In addition, McFarlane dealt with other aspects of foreign policy, including the Middle East, relations with the Soviet Union, and arms control. McFarlane was appointed by President Gerald Ford as his Special Assistant for National Security Affairs while a Lieutenant Colonel and was the Distinguished Service Medal in 1976.

Upon leaving the White House, McFarlane was assigned to the National Defense University where he co-authored a book on crisis management while concurrently receiving a Diploma from the National War College.

He ended his Marine Corps career in Okinawa as Operations Officer for the 12th Marine Regiment. McFarlane retired in 1979.

Civilian posts

In 1979, he was appointed by U.S. Senator John Tower to the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he was responsible for staffing Senate consideration of the SALT II Treaty from 1979 to 1981. He also authored much of Ronald Reagan's foreign policy platform during the 1980 presidential campaign.

In 1981, President Reagan appointed and the Senate confirmed McFarlane as Counselor to the Department of State.^[1] In this post he assisted Secretary of State Alexander Haig.

In 1982, Reagan appointed McFarlane as Deputy National Security Advisor, where he was responsible for the integration of the policy recommendations of the Departments of State, Treasury and Defense. In 1983, he was appointed by the President as his Special Representative in the Middle East where he was responsible for Israeli-Arab negotiations.^[2]

Following that assignment, he returned to the White House and was appointed President Reagan's National Security Advisor.^[3] In that post, he was responsible for the development of U.S. foreign and defense policy. He is best remembered of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI or "Star Wars").

Iran-Contra affair and resignation

The Iran-Contra affair involved running arms to Iran in order to get money to support the Contras in Nicaragua. McFarlane and his successor, Admiral John Poindexter, were heavily involved in both the Iran and Nicaragua sides of the scandal.

McFarlane was serving as an assistant to Secretary of State Alexander Haig, in 1981, when he authored Taking the War to Nicaragua and led the Restricted Inter-Agency Group (RIG) which formulated and carried out the administration's Central America policies. Later, as National Security Adviser, McFarlane urged Reagan to negotiate an arms deal with Iranian intermediaries against the advice of Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Secretary of State George Shultz.

In May 1986, after his retirement, he acted as an envoy for two planeloads of weapons parts delivered to the Iranians. When the first planeload failed to win Iranian cooperation or the release of any hostages, McFarlane refused to deliver the second plane and returned to the U.S. where he advised the president to quit. When news of the secret mission was published in the Lebanese weekly Al Shiraa complete with unflattering details and confirmation from top Iranian officials, Chief of Staff Donald Regan attempted to spin the story. McFarlane refused to speak to the press but was rattled by Regan’s accusation that he had been the sole official behind the weapons transfers. McFarlane quickly sent an email to Poindexter threatening a libel suit and warning that he "wouldn't tolerate lies from Don Regan."

Aftermath

Disheartened, and abused by his former colleagues, McFarlane tried to kill himself with an overdose of Valium on February 9, 1987, saying he had failed his country.^[4]

In 1988, he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress for his role in the Iran-Contra cover-up.^[5] He was sentenced to two years’ probation and a $20,000 fine but was pardoned by President George H.W. Bush on Christmas Eve 1992 along with the other key players in the scandal, during the lame duck period of Bush's presidency.

McFarlane later co-founded and served as CEO of Global Energy Investors.

McFarlane is a member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) Board of Advisors, the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security Board of advisors, The Advisory Council of Aegis Defence Services and he is a founding member of the Set America Free Coalition. He is also an Advisory Board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy.

On April 18, 2001, McFarlane said "I think in the Defense Department you may be seeing a little bit of a change, a significant change in how the Pentagon will contribute to policy formation, and that is that you have a very strong team, unusually strong team of service secretaries, who are usually irrelevant to the policy process. I think that'll be different in this administration."

Current activities

McFarlane currently serves on a number boards including:

• Aegis Defence Services - Non-executive director
• Vadium Technology, Inc. - Non-executive director
• Partnership for a Secure America - Advisory Board
• BioEnergy International, LLC - Advisory Board
• Advisor to the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign
• Member of the Committee on the Present Danger

Bribery Scandal

On September 30th, 2009, the Washington Post released a story proving that McFarlane recently accepted $1.3 million from the Sudanese government routed through Qatar. In exchange for the bribe, McFarlane was expected to lobby in favor of normalizing U.S. relations with Sudan, a country still considered a "state sponsor of terrorism." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/29/AR2009092903840.html?nav=emailpage

Awards and honors

• Distinguished Service Medal
• Secretary of the Navy Medal for Distinguished Public Service
• Secretary's Distinguished Service Award (Secretary of State)
• Bronze Star with Valor device
• Meritorious Service Medal
• Navy Commendation Medal with Valor device
• Army Commendation Medal
• Combat Action Ribbon
• Presidential Service Badge
• American-Swiss Friendship "Man of the Year" Award
• Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement

See also

United States Marine Corps portal

• US-Iran relations

Notes

References

• “Complaint That Donald Regan May Be Placing Blame for the Iran Initiative on Robert McFarlane,” Secret PROFS email (November 7, 1986). Original source: US National Security Council.
• Kornbluh, Peter and Malcolm Byrne, eds. The Iran-Contra Affair: The Making of a Scandal, 1983-1988 (Document collection). Alexandria, VA: Chadwyck-Healey; Washington, D.C.: National Security Archive, 1990.
• Kornbluh, Peter and Malcolm Byrne, eds. The Iran-Contra Scandal: The Declassified History. New York: New Press, Distributed by W.W. Norton, 1993.
• Walsh, Lawrence E. Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-up. New York: Norton, 1997.
• Timberg, Robert, The Nightingale's Song. New York: Free Press, 1996.
• Daalder, Ivo H., James M. Lindsay, Robert C. “Bud” McFarlane, Carla Anne Robbins (panelists) (April 18, 2001). "Assessing the Bush Foreign Policy Transition" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute. http://www.brook.edu/fp/research/projects/nsc/transcripts/20010418.pdf. 
• McFarlane, Robert C. / Smardz, Zofia: Special Trust. Pride, Principle and Politics Inside the White House. Cadell & Davies, New York, NY, 1994

External links

• Official Web Site of Aegis Defense Services
• Official Web Site of Vadium Technology, Inc.
• April 2007 press release from JohnMcCain.com
• Official Web Site of the Partnership for a Secure America
• Official Web Site of the Committee on the Present Danger

Further reading

• Timberg, Robert (1996). The Nightingale's Song. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0684826739. http://books.google.com/books?id=89xm-0eIfG8C.  Tells the stories of John McCain, James Webb, Oliver North, Robert McFarlane, and John Poindexter; the impact of the Vietnam War.

• Johnson, Haynes Bonner (2003). Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393324346. http://books.google.com/books?id=_kFA6DGrlG8C.  Discussion of Iran-Contra and McFarlane's role in the Reagan administration.

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