It seems likely that North did have an important role in the Achille Lauro interception and the mining of Nicaragua's harbors. Other stories, though, seem to depend on unknown sources, who, once again, may be North or his friends. For example, the New York Times reported in November that, according to a "government official," North led a supersecret team of Marines to the remote mountains of eastern Turkey in April 1980. Their mission: to help out, if needed, with Jimmy Carter's ill-fated rescue mission of the Iranian ho stages. The story of the " can-do" colonel standing by while the Carter team fumbled is appealingly ironic, and it may even be true. But Gary Sick, then principal NSC aide for Iran, NSC adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance have no recollection of North's involvement in the rescue mission.

Other stories about North's background have been verified. Just before Christmas the Miami Herald revealed one of the most startling ones. In 1974, after a 29-day period in command of the Company A, First Battalion, 4th Marine Division in Okinawa, North was relieved of duty and hospitalized for emotional distress at Bethesda Naval Hospital for three weeks. The Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times reported that North was found by a superior officer "babbling incoherently and running around naked, waving a .45 caliber pistol," apparently ready to commit suicide. North reportedly told the officer that "he didn't have anything to live for and was going to shoot himself." Neither North nor his lawyer denied the stories when asked to comment.

These reports raised as many questions as they answered, not only about North, but about the competence of the people who hired him. Richard Allen, the NSC director who brought North into the White House, has said he would not have done so if he had been aware of the incident. North apparently felt no need to raise it on his DD-398 form, the Statement of Personal History that every Marine with a top secret clearance or higher must complete. One of the questions is whether the applicant has been "hospitalized or treated by a doctor for nervous disorders." Failure to fill out the form accurately constitutes perjury—something that Congress should keep in mind if North ever agrees to testify under oath.

The FBI, which conducts background investigations of NSC appointees, was also in the dark about North's treatment. A spokesperson for the bureau has explained that medical records are not normally included in such investigations, "unless on their application they stated they have a problem." North failed to make such a statement. All mention of the incident was purged from North's military record — apparently by a supporter in the Marines — before North joined the NSC in 1981. While a Marine Corps spokesman was unaware whether North had disclosed his prior treatment in his NSC background check, the Washington Times reported that North "bragged" to a Marine acquaintance about having the incident expunged from his record.