BAKER AIDE NOMINATED AS AMBASSADOR TO GERMANY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00418R000100390003-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 14, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: June 29, 1991
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sl Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/14: CIA-RDP99-00418R000100390003-7
Baker Aide Nominated as
Ambassador tuAermany
~0.
By John M. Goshko
Washington Post Staff Writer
lieutenant ens announced
his intention to en a o g-pu c
service career t at has invo-FvC-d a
variety tar, intelligence and
I'lie nomination o Kimmitt to be
the chief U.S. representative in Eu-
rope's most economically powerful
nation comes at a time when Ger-
many is in the throes of major in-
ternal upheaval. It is struggling to
complete reunion with the former
communist East Germany following
45 years of postwar division.
Kimmitt, a West Point graduate
who earned several decorations in
Vietnam and then became a lawyer,
has been closely associated with
Baker for more than a decade.
When Baker became secretary in
1989, Kimmitt was one of three
aides who accompanied him to State
and who since have been his
prin- cipal operatives and.bsaintrust. The
others are Robert B. 2oellick, the
departmental counee r, and Dennis
B. Ross, chief of the policy planning
staff.
Robert M. Kimmitt, a key mem-
ber of Secretary of State James A.
Baker III's inner circle at the State
Department, was nominated by
President Bush yesterday to be
U.S. ambassador to Germany.
Kimmitt, 43, who has been un-
dersecretary of state for political
affairs since 1989, would succeed
Vernon A. Walters if confirmed b
the Hate.
tens a re ti
As undersecretary, Kimmitt has
been the third-highest ranking of-
ficial at State, occupying a post that
traditionally has been responsible
for managing the department's day-
to-day operations. Under Baker,
some of those functions were as-
sumed by Deputy Secretary Law-
rence S. Eagleburger, allowing
Kimmitt to concentrate on a more
limited portfolio of issues assigned
especially high priority by Baker.
He was involved deeply, for in-
stance, in mapping U.S. strategy for
combating Iraq in the Persian Gulf
War. Earlier, he was in charge of
U.S. efforts to resolve the civil war
in Afghanistan. He recently visited
Beijing to prod China to improve its
human rights record and halt arms
sales to the Middle East, and he is
at the forefront of U.S. efforts to
avert a breakup of Yugoslavia.
His work in foreign policy began
under former President Jimmy Car-
ter in 1978 when, while still in the
Army, he was assigned to the Na-
tional Security Council staff. He left
the military in 1982.
His association with Baker began
when the 1980 election of Ronald
Reagan as president brought Baker
tthe White House as chief of staff.
985, when Baker became treas-
ury secretary, Kimmitt went with
him as the Treasury Department's
general counsel. After two years,
he left for a brief stint in private law
practice, but returned to govern-
ment when Baker became secretary
of state.
The Washington Post i - 3
The New York Times
The Washington Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor _
New York Daily News _
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
.Date ?Jiiin tL I ! 511
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/14 _ CIA-RDP99-00418R000100390003-7