military and intelligence officials and businesspeople in the resupply
of the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. He was also implicated in the sale
of weapons to Iranto raise the money for assistance to the Contras.
The operations, conducted outside the normal covert actionchannels
of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in contravention of the
law, had their own personnel, equipment, communications, and secret
bank accounts. North was convicted in 1989 on criminal charges for
his role in the affair, but his conviction later was overturned because
the prosecution at the trial had used congressional testimony that had
received immunity. North has since had a career as a talk-show host
and conservative columnist. In 1994 he ran unsuccessfully for the
U.S. senate, from Virginia.– O –
OCTOBER SURPRISE. The October surprise refers to allegations in
the early 1980s that William Casey, Republican presidential candi-
date Ronald Reagan’scampaign chief in 1980, worked to delay the
release of the American hostages held by Islamic militants in Iranin
order to prevent Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter
from arranging a release in October 1980, just prior to the general
election. However, there appears to be no evidence to corroborate the
charges, which remain unproven. William Casey went on to become
President Reagan’s director of central intelligence (DCI).OFFICE OF INTELLIGENCE (DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY).
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Intelligence is the in-
telligence community’s (IC’s) premier intelligence resource in nu-
clear weapons and nonproliferation technologies, energy security,
nuclear safety, and nuclear waste disposal. DOE’s Office of Intelli-
gence also taps the DOE’s national laboratories to provide timely an-
alytic assessments to the national policy community, as well as spe-
cialized technological applications and operational support to the
intelligence, law enforcement, and military communities.
Regulating nuclear energy dates back to the Manhattan Project,
which produced the first atomic bomb. The DOE’s predecessor, the
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), initially provided specialized146 • OCTOBER SURPRISE05-398 (2) Dictionary.qxd 10/20/05 6:27 AM Page 146