On this day, June 11, in 1990, former National Security Advisor John M. Poindexter was sentenced to six months in prison for lying to Congress about secretly arming Nicaraguan rebels and shipping missiles to Iran. Poindexter, 53, served as President Reagan’s national security advisor from 1985 until the Iran-contra affair forced his resignation in November 1986.
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Poindexter’s conviction was reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia on the grounds that Congress had given him immunity for his untruthful testimony.
More recently, Poindexter headed up a controversial Pentagon data-mining program to tap into Internet emails and computer databases to find terrorists in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
— Scott McCabe
