WHO SETS FOREIGN POLICY, VANCE OR BRZEZINSKI?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140029-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 20, 2007
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: June 18, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/20: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140029-8
ICLE APPEARED
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WAS}TI NGTON STAR
18 JUNE 1978
SETSFORflGN_POIJCY,/
ANCE OR. BRZEZINSKI?
By Henry S. Bradsher '.. 1 " -president, it is Brzezinski whose job
'Washiagronstacsuilwrxsr. - -gives him the opportunity to put his
The argument over-Cuba's role. in- own foreign policy attitudes before
the invasion of Zaire's Shaba prov- :the president many times a day.
ince is one that the State Department Also, his position in the White
of Cyrus R. Vance wanted to avoid. It House's West Wing gives him a
was uncertain o f theevidence.; _,r,-_ chance to float ideas that have major
impact on the public perception of
But Zbigniew?Brzezinski's National :-foreign policy. There is a tendency in
Security eLuncil seized the available. Athe press and the nation to pay more
evidence and., propelled; President- `attention to statements or 'leaks"
Carter into. the controversy. The--re- -.from the White House than from the
suit has been questioning ot.the.presi.. -'State Department.
dent's credibility: 'In-instances. traceable to Brze-=
This continuing case'?is the latest zinski, however, these ideas some-
_example. of the difference between '-times seem not to have been thought
the two mainunits of government ugh very carefully. Brzezinski
dealing with foreign- affairs - and -.1 has shown a tendency to take public
between the two men who shape-their =positions on policy questions without.
outlooks and activities.
It is also another piece of an an-
swer to one of Washington's most dis-
cussed, long-standing. questions: Who,
makes foreign policy-in..the Carter
administration? f..
This piece of the answer gives the
impression that: Brzezinski, an ag-;
gressive national security adviser
seeking to make - a.: stand against
Soviet power to show United Mates soned.by recent history.
strength and determination, is more IT IS THE HISTORY of Henry A.
influencial than -the less pushy IKissinger as national security
Vance,. who does not suffer from this adviser and, William P. Rogers as
apparent national inferiority com- 'secretary of state in the Nixon ad-
plex.. ministration.
The situation isinore complex than One was a naturalized American.
that, naturally. The State- Depart- with a background of academic ag--
ment and the NSC have. the different 'grandizement, the other a native law-
functions of managing- the civilian yyer with a more relaxed approach to
side of foreign relations and of super- :1ife. The hard-driving Kissinger used
vising a. wider ran et -of security - the NSC base to eclipse Rogers, and
interests, including, military aspects. - -eventually to drive him out of the
In many ways . Jimmv ' Carter 'l- ;secretary. of state job and to take. it,
ever-
r
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h
lf
nip,.
:.:aces
o e, n co
c
imse
the neio not on v of ante and rze- The same differences in back--
_ .. r w. ,~ ---, 'grounds between Vance and Brie-
arc rown, irec or tans- zmsiu have ;uelecu speculauon about
tit turner, .l . m assay Ain-
crew Young an others.
THE PRESIDENT -LISTENS to
them all. This, of course, sometimes
produces seemingly, ambiguous - re-
suits; The unclear- signal of Carter's
recent Annapolis speech on- U.S.-.
Soviet relations, an address that, re--
flected his advisers' differences. on
Soviet affairs, is but one example.
But, more than his other advisers
an foreign policy, Carter listens to
Brzezinski. While others get a chance
to discuss major decisions. with. the .j
;the careful staff study that usually
.marks State Department pronounce-
ments. .
:The difference is a reflection both
.of' the personal contrasts between
'-Vance and Brzezinski and the distinc
tions between the.- institutions they
head. They are differences that
-inevitably give rise to comparisons
competition.
For almost a year and a half the
,-two men have been trying to avoid or
ignore such speculation. It will not
die, especially with new cases like
Shaba refueling it periodically.
Vance, 61, is a pillar of the. Ameri-
can establishment - the product of
Yale, the Navy in World War II, a
leading New York law firm, impor-
tant government jobs since 1957. It is
ment from the academic world. He
brought as intellectual baggage a
hostility toward Russia - not just the
current Soviet state, but the Russians
who had oppressed his native Poland
for generations - that has produced
a more ideological approach to world
problems, a suspicion of compro-
mise.
VANCE IS A MILD, sometimes 1
shy man. He did not need to develop
the- combative instincts of one who
has had to fight his way to the top. He
tends to react with slow, precise cau
tiousness to situations. -
When Soviet Foreign Minister An-
drei A. Gromyko emerged three
weeks ago from meeting with Car-
ter ter at the Whitea House, he told re-
porters that the president's-informa-
tion on Cuban involvement in Shaba-
was not correct. Vance stood listen
ing- with his usual polite smile on his
face.. -
It was not until three hours later
that he told reporters, in Gromyko's'
presence, that "I feel I must take
exception.... The president is fully
and accurately informed."
Brzezinski, on the other ' hand, is
quick to assert himself. He tends to
sound-off without careful considera-
tion of his remarks.
When border fighting between
Vietnam and Cambodia escalated in
January, Brzezinski told interview-
ers that it was "the first case of a
proxy war between China-and the t
Soviet Union." Officials who had paid
attention to the Indochinese situation
privately denied that it qualified as a
proxy war. .
Some officials suggested that Brze-
zinski's comment showed a tendency
to interpret too many- world events in
terms of U.S.-Soviet confrontation.
.This suggestion is now being heard
again in tote Shaba case.
Brzezinski critics, who are nam er- I
ous despite his years as an academic
acolyte of the native-born establish-
ment, see, him as a man with a
limited set of ideas that he developed
early in his ca?eer and now -keeps
recycling- Vance, who epitomizes the
establishment with its old-school ties,
is seen generally as being more open-
minded ? to new ideas, less assured
that he already knows most of the an-
I
the kind of background that produces
-a self-confident official with a prag-
: matic approach to problems, a law-
'yer's willingness to find a..
-compromise solution.
Brzezinski, 50, is the outsider who
hustled his way into the establish-
BEHIND THE TWO MEN'S in.
I
stinctive reactions lie differences in 1
the natures and uses-of their power
bases. _.. = -
Vance draws on the large bureauc-
racy of the State Departmssrt to
STAT
Approved For Release 2007/06/20: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140029-8 -