Boland Amendment
The Reagan Administration supplied funding and military training to the Contras until revelations of human rights abuses led Congress to cut off aid through the Boland Amendment.
When revealed to the public, Congress attempted to prosecute Vice Admiral John M. Poindexter, U.S. Navy (USN), and his deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), for their direct role in the affair.
[4] During the early years of the Reagan administration, a civil war raged in Nicaragua, pitting the communist revolutionary Sandinista government against Contra rebel groups.
The Reagan Administration and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), led by William Casey, covertly supported the Contras through funding and military training.
[17] Officials in the Reagan Administration argued that the Boland Amendment, or any act of Congress, could not interfere with the president's conduct of foreign policy.
[19] In this spirit, and despite the Boland Amendment, Vice Admiral John M. Poindexter, USN, and his deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, USMC, secretly diverted to the Nicaraguan contras millions of dollars in funds received from a secret deal that some alleged had explicit presidential approval – the sales of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to Iran in spite of Reagan's public pledge not to deal with terrorists.
The final report published after the hearings blamed Reagan's passive style of leadership for allowing the conduct of foreign policy without involvement of any elected official.
The amendment S.UP.AMDT.1542 by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, which aimed to prohibit the use of funds by the CIA or DOD to support military activities in Nicaragua, fell.
Amendment S.UP.AMDT.1541 by Senator Christopher J. Dodd "to declare Congressional support for restrictions on certain types of operations in Central America" was tabled.
This legislation read: "During fiscal year 1985, no funds available to the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, or any other agency or entity of the United States involved in intelligence activities may be obligated or expended for the purpose or which would have the effect of supporting, directly or indirectly, military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua by any nation, group, organization, movement or individual."
