Inside the National Security Council: The True Story of the Making and Unmaking of Reagan's Foreign Policy

The author served as special assistant to the president for national security affairs from 1983 to 1986. In this insider's account, he contends that Robert McFarlane and John Poindexter sought to circumvent the decision-making process of the National Security Council without President Reagan's knowledge. Resisting this, Menges made himself decidedly unpopular with both men. ``You are making too much trouble for us,'' Poindexter shouted at him; McFarlane called his objections ``subversive.'' Menges was equally disturbed by the State Department's attempts to replace Reagan-appointed ambassadors to Latin America with career foreign service officers who supported State's position, as well as by its efforts to bring about a political settlement contrary to the president's goals in Nicaragua. His attempts to inform Reagan of what was going on were blocked, and Menges maintains that he was given a phony promotion to prevent him from interfering in the Iran-Contra affair. Menges is ``virtually certain'' the president was kept in the dark in regard to the diversion of funds to the Contras. (September)