More notable than the Hollywood-inspired set was the wizard behind the curtain: John Poindexter, a retired admiral who had once been Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser. A PhD physicist and technology enthusiast, Poindexter burnished his image in public memory as the relaxed, pipe-smoking witness during the 1987 Iran-contra hearings, which investigated the Reagan administration’s sale of arms to Iran. Poindexter helped orchestrate the convoluted deal, which was also used to finance the contras in Nicaragua, in violation of law. He then systematically shredded evidence of the scheme once
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