Gregg: Those memos first surfaced to my attention in December of 1986, when we undertook our
first document search of the Vice President's office. They hit me rather hard because by that time I
had put the pieces together of what had been going on and I realized the implications of that
agenda item. I did not shred the documents. I did not hide it.... [T]his is the worst thing I have
found and here it is, and I cannot really explain it.... I have a speculative explanation which I
would like to put forward if you would be interested.^
Sen. Cranston: Fine.
Gregg: Again, turning to Felix [Rodriguez]'s book ... Felix makes the following quote.... [By the
way the book] is going to be published in October of this year. The text has been cleared by CIA
and it is now with the publishers. I was given an advance copy.... This is the quote, sir: ... I had no qualms about calling [Sam Watson] or Don [Gregg] when I thought they could help run interference with the Pentagon to speed up deliveries of spare chopper parts. '' That means helicopters. I must have made many such calls during the spring of 1986. Without operating
Hughes 500 helicopters it was impossible to carry out my strategy against the [El Salvadoran]
insurgents.... '' [There are] then documented steps that Colonel Watson had taken with the
Pentagon to try to get spare parts expedited for El Salvador.... So my construction is this, sir. I
recall that in the meeting with the Vice President the question of spare parts for the helicopters in
El Salvador was discussed and so that I think what the agenda item on the two memos is, is a
garbled reference to something like resupply of the copters, instead of resupply of the
Contras [emphasis added]. [At this point there was laughter and whistling in the hearing room.
Afterwards, Gregg told reporters, `` I don't know how it went over, but it was the best I could do.
'']
Sen. Sarbanes: How did the scheduling proposal of April 16, 1986 and the briefing memorandum
of April 30th take place?^
Gregg: They were prepared by my assistant, Mrs. Byrne, acting on advice from Colonel Watson.
She signed my initials, but those are not my initials. I did not see the documents until December
1986, when I called them to the attention of the House Intelligence Committee.... And if, you
know, if you do not--if my speculation does not hold up, I have to refer you to a memorandum that
I turned over to the Iran-Contra Committee on the 14th of May 1987, which--
Sen. Sarbanes: I am looking at that memorandum now.^
Gregg: Okay. That has been my explanation up until now.
Sen. Sarbanes: But you are now providing a different explanation?^
Gregg: It is the only one--I have been thinking about these documents for over two years, and it is
the only thing that I can come up with that would come close to explaining that agenda item--
given the fact that there was no intention of discussing resupply to the Contras. That resupply of
the Contras was not discussed, according to the testimony of everyone who was in the meeting....''^
Sen. Kerry: Douglas Minarczik is who?
Gregg: He was one of my assistants in my office responsible for Mid-East and African affairs....^
Sen. Kerry: And he was working for you in 1985 and 1986, that period?
Gregg: Yes.^