North ordered to tell which secrets to reveal

The judge in the Iran-Contra case signaled his determination Wednesday to bring Oliver L. North to trial by ordering the fired White House aide to specify which government secrets he wants to disclose in court. US District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell, provisionally rejecting a defense challenge to the constitutionality of the Classified Information Procedures Act, announced what he termed a possible remedy to the problems posed by secret documents collected by independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh.

Gesell gave Mr. North until July 11 to list the classified documents he wants to disclose in his defense against charges he conspired with former national security adviser John M. Poindexter and arms dealers Albert Hakim and Richard V. Secord to illegally divert arms-sale profits to the contras.