John Poindexter

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John Poindexter (1936–) was an American naval officer and the National Security Advisor of the Reagan administration.

Poindexter was one of the major players in the Iran-Contra affair, causing him to be convicted of multiple felonies. However, a 2-1 judicial decision overturned those convictions on a technicality. Incidentally, both judges who voted to overturn were Reagan appointees, while the dissenting judge was a Carter holdover.[1] Essentially, the judges held that witnesses had been influenced by Poindexter's testimony before Congress,[note 1] and since Poindexter had been granted immunity for that testimony, he could not be prosecuted.

More recently, he served a brief stint as the director of the DARPA's Information Awareness Office under the George W. Bush administration.[citation needed]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. Note that Poindexter himself declared his congressional testimony to be true: "I stand by every word that I said and when I said the buck stopped with me with regard to the matters under discussion at the time, that was correct." [2]

References[edit]

  1. Poindexter Wins Iran-Contra Case in Appeals Court, New York Times, November 16, 1991, by David Johnston
  2. Poindexter Wins Iran-Contra Case in Appeals Court, NYT, November 16, 1991