Tower Commission Report (Report of the President's Special Review Board). February 26, 1987. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC 20402.

The Iran-contra scandal was at full steam when President Reagan appointed a Special Review Board on December 1, 1986, consisting of John Tower, Edmund Muskie, and Brent Scowcroft. They hired 24 staff people and interviewed 50 named individuals and three unnamed CIA officials, along with a "substantial number of additional interviews conducted by the staff." Oliver North and John Poindexter declined to appear, and the Commission lacked subpoena power.

The report was expected to be a whitewash, but it was surprisingly critical of Reagan's "management style" and provided one of the first official confirmations of the NSC's arms-for-hostages policy. Internal memos and PROF notes (computer mail) between the major players were quoted in detail, and a major portion of North's private funding network was exposed. The best measure of the Tower Commission's success can be seen in the fact that their report, a ten-week effort by three "safe" appointees, had more impact than the Congressional report released on November 18, 1987, which absorbed the best efforts of both the Senate and House and a combined staff of 100 lawyers, investigators, accountants and auditors. One difference is that Congress went for the TV cameras, while the Tower Commission didn't waste any time with Fawn Hall.
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