The Iran-Contra Affair was a political scandal that rocked the U.S. between 1981 and 1986.
U.S. officials were selling arms to Iran and planned to use the proceeds from the sales to fund the Contras, a rebel group in Nicaragua.
In addition, the U.S. administration justified the arms shipments as an attempt to free seven hostages being held by Hezbollah.
Eventually, a reporter broke international news with the story.
But the investigation into the scandal was slow and documents related to the arms agreements were destroyed.
However, President Reagan took full responsibility for the scandal.
And several U.S. officials were indicted for their part in the scandal, including Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North.
The U.S. government spent 25 months and more than $13 million investigating North’s role in the Iran-Contra Affair.
Then, the U.S. government suddenly dropped the charges against Oliver North.
The reason the charges were dropped was that the U.S. government would have problems protecting the classified information contained in the documents.
The prosecutor said, “A continuing problem in the case has been the protection of national-security information in light of this defendant’s insistence on disclosing large quantities of such information at trial.”
To put it plainly, I suspect Oliver North said he would have a lot to say during the trial.
Maybe indicating we would have to reveal some of the nation’s biggest secrets if the case against him continued.
In other words, North used “graymail” to prevent the case against him from moving forward.
As one defense attorney put it, “The heart of its case is destroyed.”
Shockingly, graymail is a legal tactic often used in the intelligence field.
It works like this: If a spy is charged with a crime, they “remind” the government that they have a lot to say during a public court case.
Of course, it’s not like the alleged person is going to come out and say it, because that would be blackmail.
Instead, graymail is a shadowy but legal form of blackmail.
And there are legitimate reasons why you may need to use a healthy form of graymail in your life these days.
Here are a few reasons why:
Workplace:
You may have heard stories where employers cut corners when it comes to safety or might misreport data.
There are companies that mistreat staff and think they can do whatever they want.
As an employee, this could be a situation where you use your knowledge to negotiate a fair exit from the company.
Maybe you can bring the concerns to Human Resources and explain that you will be ending employment with the company.
Now, you don’t want to threaten the company.
Instead, you want to make it clear that you are leaving on good terms but there are reasons why.
Allow them to insinuate that you’d have a lot to say if pressed or asked about the reasons you left in the event it was on bad terms.
Personal conflicts:
From family to personal relationships that sour, sometimes people might try to discredit you.
There is nothing wrong with using truth to establish your credibility.
This type of graymail is common in divorce or legal settlements among families.
It’s not a bad idea to let others know about financial or legal inconsistencies – this is not to ruin their life but rather to keep them honest.
Avoid using emotional language when using graymail in personal relationships, stick to the facts and keep communication brief.
What to avoid:
When using graymail you don’t want to make direct threats.
Avoid saying, “If you don’t do this, I’ll expose that.”
The goal isn’t to expose someone or ruin their life.
You don’t want to use lies to gain power or say things out of spite.
Remember, graymail is about using information to benefit you and protect you from being wronged by others.
It’s using words as a tool to defend yourself.
Graymail is part of espionage whether it should be or not, but it can also be a part of people’s lives.
