# Robert McFarlane Robert Carl "Bud" McFarlane (1937-2022) was a U.S. Marine officer who served as President Reagan's National Security Advisor (1983-1985). A central architect of the secret arms-for-hostages dealings with Iran, he was one of the few [[Iran-Contra Affair]] principals to plead guilty. He resurfaces in [[The Octopus]] frame for both his Iran-Contra role and his presence at Trump's 2016 Mayflower Hotel speech. ## Iran-Contra In May 1986 McFarlane led a secret mission to Tehran as Reagan's emissary in the arms-for-hostages initiative. In March 1988 he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress, receiving probation and a fine; he had attempted suicide in 1987 amid guilt over the affair. On December 24, 1992, he was one of six Iran-Contra figures pardoned by President George H.W. Bush. ## The Big-Oil thread After government, McFarlane worked as an energy consultant. [[Dave Troy]]'s [[The Octopus]] essay cites a 2006 article in which McFarlane argued for U.S. strategic access to Russia's Arctic oil -- reserves that would become accessible only if climate change continued -- as a motive for the frame's Big-Oil strand. He was present at Trump's [[2016 Trump Mayflower Hotel Foreign Policy Speech]] on April 27, 2016, the event Russian ambassador [[Sergey Kislyak]] also attended. ## Epistemic status McFarlane's guilty plea, pardon, and Tehran mission are documented. The specific 2006 Arctic-oil article is cited by Troy but has not been independently confirmed; its existence and exact wording rest on Troy's account. The significance of his Mayflower attendance is interpretive, not evidence of wrongdoing. ## See also - [[The Octopus]] - [[Iran-Contra Affair]] - [[2016 Trump Mayflower Hotel Foreign Policy Speech]] - [[Oliver North]]