Donald Regan

The White House chief of staff "must bear primary responsibility for the chaos that descended upon the White House" when the inevitable disclosure of the Iran initiative occurred. Regan told the commission that the President upon learning of the arms-for-hostages proposal said, "We should go slow on this but develop the contact." Ultimately, though, the panel rejected Regan's account that Reagan gave no prior approval to the Israeli arms shipments, and chastised him for giving poor advice to the President. More than almost any of his predecessors, Regan "asserted personal control over the White House staff and sought to extend this control to the National Security Adviser. He was personally active in National Security Council affairs and attended almost all of the relevant meetings regarding the Iran initiative. He, as much as anyone, should have insisted that an orderly process be observed."