DIPLOMACY-BY-GENERALS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000700060066-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 17, 2005
• Sequence Number: 66
• Publication Date: December 13, 1981
• Content Type: NSPR

STAT
ARTTCL,E APPEARED
ON PAGE C_ 13 December 1981
Jack .Anderson 7
'uh-domac'' by-Gene"rals..
'if you have wondered. about the sounds of
saber-rattling emanating from " the State De=
pertinent, I have discovered a possible explana-,
tion: the department is being rung by generals.
Senators were uneasy over the appointment.
of a four-star general, Alexander.Haig, to head,
the State Department. He has lived up to their. has taken a personal part in the get-tough ap- .
worst fears; he has quietly put military men. inproach.. So has his counselor, Robert
charge of diplomacy. McFarlane, a retired Marine colonel.
Nowhere is the militarization of the State The assistant secretary in charge of the bu-
Department more striking than in.. the Bureau , reau, Thomas Enders, has. no military back-
of Inter-American Affairs. It's hardly a coinci-_ ground per se, but the hawks have usually
dapce that the toughest talk of armed interven- found him cooperative. -
tion.comes from this bailiwick. - Technically reporting to.Enders, though a
On the subject of insurgency below the bor power in. his own right, is Gen. Vernon Walters,
der, the State Department generals are more who holds the rank of ambassador-at-large. He
militant than the Pentagon generals. Out of the was deputy director of the. CIA during the
State Department have come hints of gunboat .,. Watergate era and is an old hand at top-level
'diplomacy. Specifically, the military. diplomats bureaucratic infighting. -
from smuggling arms into Central America..
-The strategists at the Pentagon point out.that
Approved For Release 2005/07/01 : CIA-RDP91-00901R0 0700060066-6
the Cubans can fly over the blockade and deliver
the arms by plane. .
Still the growlirgs continue to be heard at
the State Department, threatening ac -
0
Lion or at least CIA-sponsored mischief against,
undesirable elements in Latin America. Haig
But the. most interesting brass hat helping to
formulate Latin American policy in Foggy Bot-
tom is Lt. Gen. Gordon Sumner. What makes his
appointment fascinating is that Sumner is an out-
spoken ultraconservative and used to chair thel
right-wing Council for Inter American Security.
Sumner holds the personal rank of ambassa.'
dor, but unlike others in that exalted category,
the general has not been required to get Senate
confirmation. The reason, the State Depart-,
ment explains,, is that his ambassador's title,
which he has used on trips to Latin America, is]
only "temporary"-and has been for months.
It is Sumner's affiliation with the Council for t
Inter-American Security that is most troubling.
The council is so conservative and jingoistic that it
is. considers President Reagan's tough-talking!
policy toward Later America too soft.
By bringing military men into so many impor
tent positions in his department, the secretary of
state has given legitimate cause for alarm. . {
"You have a large military presences at State,'
and as a result, you get a lot of military solu
tions," explained a former high official
Approved For Release 2005/07/01 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000700060066-6
THE WASHINGTON POST