CONFIRMING MCFARLANE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100830004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 19, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/01 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100830004-7
f=T= =f~ h wYogi;?' s
PAG 10 October 1983
STAT
WASHINGTON Nevertheless, he concedes that if
the White House is to be the engine of
foreign
policy, and the national se-
(> n ~1 r~-y~ 1111 ml j g facts and advice to the President,
McFarlane
then the .adviser, when be is ap-
By James Reston pointed by "the President, should be
subject to confirmation by the Senate
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 - When The President Ehose the east- way, and not hide behind executive prior '
President Reagan introduced Robert end he may very
well have been right lege but be required to answer the
McFarlane as his third Assistant for xo choose Mr. McFarlane. But be may questions of the House and Senate
National Security Affairs in the White have been wrong. Mss..Kirkpatrick when called.
House, he spoke about the importance --has ideas, and sometimes won't even It should be possible ; - with a little
of "experience". and "the need for a lake "yes" for an answer, but she is common sense, to avoid a conflict be-
strung America, and an effective bi- the most impressive woman to.ap- .'; tween'the White House and Congress
partisan foreignpolicy." 'pear around .here in a long time, and about Mr. McFarlane and his new
it was an interestingstateimertt. His ",even if you disagree with :tier, you-. job.-He's probably better qualified to
first appointment to the National Se- } aye careful. ... fill it than many of his predecessors,
curity Council, Richard Allen, was a Meanwhile, there's always another and would welcome any questions'the
man of long experience and strong ^question. If the President,.as_hesays, Senate t:ou]d-tbrow at him. It's not a
honest anti-Communist 'convietions. -Teal)Y wants "an effective bipartisan :,. big deal. `The men appointed as na-
His second, Judge William Qark, was foreign policy," shouldn't he submit tional security advisers have been as
a man of little experience but strong .~ffis no tination of Mr. McFarlane to ,good an outfit as any advisers in any
loyalty to the President. '.the Senate for confrmation? Other country in the world.
Neither 'was Primarily .concerned This is an old chestnut around here. The main question is whether they
about the "need for an effective bi- Henry K? ssinger who haMbeld the job will have the experience to win the
partisan foreign policy," and both and also been Secretary of State, says' trust of 'Congess and the country.
failed fordifferent reasons. "No!" On balance, he thinks the na- This was Judge Clark's problem. But
President Reagan, almost wept at nom security adviser should be the Mr. McFarlane, while not widely
their departure, as he did when Secre, .resident's man, not subject to con- mown, has been around longer than
tan' of the Interior James Watt fi- firmation by the Senate and not sub- almost anybody else in this Adminis-
nally had the good judgment to quit ! jest to call by the Congress to explain tration, and if given a chance will un-
while be was behind. Mr. Reagan what advice he's giving the Presi- douttediv make his way.
gave them the usual letter of sad fare_ -dent-
well, but he didn't bar the door. On the other hand (in a world of
He was probably right. To get sup- one-handed people things might be
port for his foreign policy, he needed easier), Zbigniew Brzezinslti, who
bipartisan support. What he didn't succeeded Mr. Kissinger in the post,
need, or so it seems, was a national thinks that "consideration should
security adviser like Jenne Kirkpat- again be given to making the nomina-
rick, the chief delegate to the United tion of the Assistant for National Se-'
Nations; who is a symbol of the anti- curitv Affairs subject to senatorial
Communist right wing of the Republi. confirmation." In his book, "Power
can Party. and Principle," be explains why:
What is clear about all this is that "As the United States moves into
Mr. Reagan is taking a different tack the 21st century, with its global in-
as the 1984 election approaches. He is volvement, so intense and so central
moving away from the extreme right to our national survival, the nerve
ward the center, where elections center for national security is bo
are usually won. und
to be increasingly the White House."
Even under provocation from the The separate departments and
Soviet Union, he is cooling his anti- agencies of the Federal Government,
Communist rhetoric, agreeing with he argues, all are involved in foreign
the allies to try at the Geneva talks to policy - Defense, Commerce, Agri-
find a compromise on the control of culture, the C.I.A. - and no one will
intermediate-range nuclear missiles, submit to the authority of the other
and appointing moderates like Mr' but only to the White House.
McFarlane - thus risking the hos- Therefore, as the world has
put y of the right-wing Republicans changed, he insists, the government
who helped put him in office. structure in Washington must adapt
to deal with the realities. And these,
be concludes, cannot be handled ex-
cept in the White House.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/01 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100830004-7