Richard V. Allen may suffer from a poor memory, a self-admitted lack of good judgment and a reluctance to break off relations with old business associates despite the sensitivity of his position in the White House. But at least the President’s embattled National Security Adviser cannot be accused of giving up without a fight. After his surprise announcement that he was taking an “administrative leave” (with pay), the hitherto reticent Allen faced any and all questions of reporters in an extraordinary media blitz (see PRESS).
Amid this saturation campaign, Allen got a helpful boost from the Justice Department, which declared that no federal crime had been committed when he intercepted and failed to report a $1,000 honorarium that the Japanese magazine Shufu-no-Tomo had tried to give Nancy Reagan. As a result, Attorney General William French Smith officially closed the Justice Department’s inquiry into the $1,000 gift and declared that a special prosecutor would not be appointed to dig further.
Allen was still the focus of two other FBI probes. One was of his acceptance of two wristwatches, valued at about $270, from the same Japanese friends who had asked his help in setting up the magazine’s brief interview with the First Lady. The second involved the question of whether Allen had violated any laws when he first claimed in a financial disclosure form that he had sold his former business, an international consulting firm, in 1978. Allen later corrected the date to Jan. 19,1981, the day before he took office.
Based on interviews with 36 people in Japan and the U.S., the FBI probe of the $1,000 honorarium showed that “there is no evidence that the money was intended for Allen or was kept by Allen for a corrupt purpose.” According to the Justice Department’s summary of the investigation, Chizuko Takase, wife of a longtime business associate of Allen’s, asked his help on the magazine interview with Mrs. Reagan. Allen passed on the request to the Reagan transition officials in charge of scheduling, recommending that the interview be granted if the First Lady’s time permitted.
After deciding that $1,000 should be given to Mrs. Reagan if she agreed to an interview, Mrs. Takase and two women working for the Japanese magazine flew to Washington. The three drew $10,000 from the magazine’s funds to cover their trip expenses as well as the honorarium. That explains a $10,000 notation found on the envelope that Allen had received. The interview, which lasted for ten minutes at most, took place in the White House on Jan. 21. One of the Japanese women gave Mrs. Reagan a lacquer box (valued at $75), which she turned over to White House officials. Allen stepped forward when another of the women tried to give Mrs. Reagan an envelope and some newsclippings. When asked by one of the women to sign a receipt for the envelope, Allen declined. He did not return the envelope, says the report, “because he thought it would offend” the Japanese.
Once back in his temporary quarters in the Old Executive Office Building after the interview, Allen opened the envelope. Only then, the report says, did he realize that it contained ten $100 bills. The FBI does not explain why Allen decided to intercept the envelope in the first place, or why he was asked to sign a receipt for it without being told of the contents. Allen told his secretary, Irene Derus, that the money should be turned over to appropriate officials. She placed it in a four-drawer safe and, says the report, “Allen did not thereafter see the envelope.” Shortly after Jan. 21, Allen told both his wife and Secretary of the Navy John Lehman about the incident.
According to the FBI, Derus “wanted to accept full responsibility for the money, since it was her responsibility to dispose of it properly.” When she and Allen moved into the White House, the cash remained behind. It was seen by later occupants of the office, but was not turned over to Presidential Aide Edwin Meese until Sept. 21. He then notified the Attorney General.
Although the summary concluded that Allen’s actions were “inconsistent with an intent to keep the money for personal use,” there is no guarantee that he will return to his old job. The White House last week quickly named a caretaker replacement: Allen’s own deputy, James (“Bud”) Nance, 60, a retired rear admiral, who is not seen as a permanent successor. But ominously for Allen, Meese disclosed that even if he is cleared of any violation of the law, his conduct will be examined to see if it violates the ethical standards that the President has proclaimed for all high Administration officials.
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