- Tower Commission
Commissioned on
November 26 1986 by American PresidentRonald Reagan , the Tower Commission was in response to theIran Contra scandal. Taking effect onDecember 1 , Reagan appointed SenatorJohn Tower , former Secretary of StateEdmund Muskie , and former National Security AdvisorBrent Scowcroft .Previous to the commission's findings Reagan had declined any knowledge of the scandal when it had occurred. However, the Tower Commission uncovered undeniable evidence of his involvement in the scandal.
Oliver North ,John Poindexter ,Caspar Weinberger , and others were also implicated.A major result of the Tower Commission was the consensus that Reagan should have listened to his National Security Advisor more, thereby placing more power in the hands of that chair. The National Security Advisor was to be seen as an "honest broker" and not someone who would use his position to further his political agenda.
For Additional Reading
See Chapter 5, "The Politics of Scandal: The Tower Commission and Iran-Contra," in Kenneth Kitts, * [http://www.rienner.com/title/Presidential_Commissions_and_National_Security_The_Politics_of_Damage_Control "Presidential Commissions and National Security"] (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2006).
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