During the mid-1980s, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North played a leading role in the Iran-Contra Affair, a foreign policy scandal that produced numerous investigations and trials and rocked the administration of President Ronald Reagan. At the time, North was an aide in the National Security Council (NSC). As Americans were shocked to learn, however, a mere assistant was essentially conducting U.S. foreign policy, moreover, as the White House claimed, without the president's knowledge. Though convicted of multiple felonies, North later successfully appealed.

As a secret foreign policy plan, Iran-Contra had two parts. First, the NSC sold arms to the Iranian government in hopes of winning the release of American hostages in Lebanon. Second, it used money from the sale to fund the Contra rebels fighting to overthrow the government of Nicaragua. The first part was a violation of stated U.S. policy, while the second part actually...