Loose Lips: Reagan Seeks to Trace a Leak

Reagan seeks to trace a leak

The recommendation was an explosive one, discussed in secret in a National Security Council meeting. Robert McFarlane, then the special envoy to the Middle East, was urging the President to order air strikes against Syrian positions in Lebanon. But the next day, even as McFarlane toured the troubled region, all three major television networks had stories on the classified proposal.

The leak, which occurred last September, touched off an intensive FBI investigation involving the President's top aides that is still under way. The day after the information became...

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