CIA POST DECLINED BY TOWER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402920009-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: March 3, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ILL FrIR
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402920009-9
A1.
WASHINGTON POST
3 March 1987
CIA Post
Declined
By Tower
Reagan Withdraws
Gates Nomination;
Scowcrof t Mentioned
B David Hoffman
av ,ngtoo s[Slat!WTTTPF
Bowing to congressional opposi-
tion, President Reagan withdrew
the nomination of Robert M. Gates
as director of central intelligence
yesterday, and sources said former
senator John G. Tower (R-Tex.),
who chaired the special review
board on the Iran-contra scandal,
has turned down the job.
White House chief of staff How-
ard H. Baker Jr. told reporters that
"certain contacts" on a new director
are "still under way," but "we do not
yet have an acceptance." Informed
Republican sources said Brent
Scowcroft, former national security
adviser to President Gerald R. Ford
and a member of the Tower board,
was one of several candidates.
Scowcroft was out of the country
and could not be reached for com-
ment yesterday.
Sources said Tower had been the
first choice of Baker, who pushed
hard for him, but that Tower turned
down an offer from the White
House.
Reagan said Gates, currently act-
ing director, requested that his
name be withdrawn. In a letter to
the president, Gates cited "strong
sentiment in the Senate" to hold up
his confirmation until after the Sen-
ate select committee on the Iran
affair completes its investigation.
Gates said "a prolonged period of
uncertainty would be harmful" to
the Central Intelligence Agency.
Later, Gates said it is "imperative
that the nation get on with its busi-
ness" and "that would not have been
possible" while controversy lin-
gered over his nomination.
Reagan met with Gates yesterday
and said he asked Gates to continue
as deputy director. "I have been im-
pressed with the class he has shown
under the enormous pressures of
recent weeks," Reagan said in a
statement. "At any other time, I am
certain that he would easily have
been confirmed without delay."
The Gates withdrawal came as
Reagan continued an effort to re-
cover from last week's damaging
Tower board report, which found
the president out of touch with ac-
tions of his subordinates and said
that aides frequently violated pro-
cedures in the Iran-contra affair.
Baker predicted that Reagan's
nationally televised speech Wednes-
day will "have a profound effect on
the county is perception of his role
as president and his future ability to
govern." Baker described a draft of
the address as "marvelous."
Speaking to reporters during his
first day on the job, Baker said he
had "never seen" Reagan "more en-
ergetic, more fully engaged and
more in command of difficult cir-
cumstances .... He has never
been better." However, an admin-
istration official who attended a
Cabinet meeting with the president
yesterday said Reagan still ap-
peared to have difficulty coping
with the Iran-contra affair.
Former CIA director Willia
Cwho resigned e . after
surgery for brain cancer, was re-
leased Saturday from Georgetown
University hospital, a spokeswoman
announced yesterday.
Following Gates' withdrawal, 7a
Sen. David L. Boren (D-Okla.),
chairman of Senate Select Com-
mittee on Intelligence, said Gates
had become a "victim of circum-
stances" because of his role in de-
liberations on the Iran-contra affair.
"The same kind of questions would
have been raised if St. Peter had
been working in the CIA over the
last two years" and had been chosen
to head the agency under the current
circumstances, Boren said.
Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), Armed
Services Committee chairman,
called Gates "a professional caught
in a very bad series of circum-
stances." Among possible nominees,
Nunn mentioned retired admiral
Bobby Ray Inman, a former CIA
deputy director, Gen. William E.
Odom, head of the National Secu-
rity Agency, and Scowcroft. "You
couldn't do any better than Brent
Scowcroft," Nunn said. 'IHe's cer-
tainly qualified."
[United Press International re-
ported last night that Inman said he
would not accept the job if he were
offered it.
["I am greatly distressed with the
handling of the Gates nomination.
The process has been used to the
detriment of the performance and
prospects of a competent public
servant," he said.)
Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Maine),
vice chairman of the Senate intel-
ligence committee, said the admin-
istration was looking for someone
from "outside the agency, outside
the bureaucracy-primarily an out-
sider coming to give policy direc-
tion." What is important, Boren
said, is a "fresh start."
As part of that effort, Republican
sources said yesterday that the
White House is considering a plan
to have the president make highly
visible trips to the State and De-
fense departments and CIA head-
quarters after his speech Wednes-
day night. This would be part of a
campaign to rebut the criticism in
the Tower report that he has been
out of touch with policy-making, and
a response to disclosures that he
bypassed these agencies.
V
Staff writsrs Helen Dewar and STAT
Walter Pincus contributed to this
report.
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402920009-9