FICKLE WINDS FAVOR WEINBERGER AFTER A STORMY PASSAGE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301260002-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 21, 2013
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: February 17, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

i Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/21 : CIA-RDP99-01448R000301260002-5
At
WASHINGTON TIMES
17 February 1987
Fickle winds favor
Weinberger after
a stormy passage
By James M. Dorsey
The WASHINGTON TIMES
Untarnished by the Iran-Contra
affair, Defense Secretary Caspar
Weinberger is reaping the harvest of
his foresight and his loyalty to Pres-
ident Reagan.
Since the scandal broke in Novem-
ber, a paradoxical calm seems to
have settled over Mr. Weinberger's.
sometimes stormy tenure, and he
has consolidated his position in the
administration's internal defense
debate.
Recently, he has argued vigor-
ously and with some success for a
reinterpretation of the 1972 anti-
ballistic missile treaty so the United
States can test proposed weapons
systems in space. Mr Weinberger
also is urging Mr Reagan to endorse
early deployment of the Strategic
Defense Initiative, popularly known
as "star wars."
"Weinberger has quietly been
making gains," said Kim Holmes, a
foreign policy expert with the Heri-
tage Foundation.
Critics argue, however, that it is
too early to say he is in the ascen-
dancy.
"Weinberger is talking about
short-term deployment of SDI, but
he's got nothing to show yet," said
John Steinbrunner, director of the
foreign policy studies program at
the the Brookings Institution. "As-
cendancy should be based on some-
thing more substantive than that."
Mr Holmes said Mr. Weinberger
had won support for early SDI de-
ployment within the Office of the
Secretary of Defense, but had yet to
lobby the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who
apparently remain skeptical of his
proposals.
Nevertheless, Pentagon officials
and analysts attribute Mr Weinber-
ger's enhanced stature within the
administration to:
? his unquestioned loyalty and
longstanding ties to Mr Reagan;
? his intuition that the bungled at-
tempts to woo Iran with arms would
end in failure;
? __
? the appointment of one of his
closest associates, Frank Carlucci,
- as Mr Reagan's national security ad-
viser;
. ? the defense secretary's im-
proved relations with Congress de-
spite Democratic control of the Hill;
and
? Secretary of State George
Shultz' perceived attempt to dis-
tance himself from the administra-
tion regarding the 'sale of arms to
Iran.
?
Although the arms sold to Iran
originated in Pentagon depots, Mr.
Weinberger, 69, has remained aloof
from much of the infighting charac- ?
terizing .the affair.
The defense secretary advised
Mr. Reagan against selling weapons
to Tehran and dismissed as "absurd"
a CIA report citing evidence that the
Soviet Union was ready to exploit a
power struggle inside Iran.
He pronounced himself "horri-
fied" to learn that proceeds from the
sales had been diverted to the Nica-
raguan resistance.
But Mr. Weinberger's reaction has .
never been to say, "I told you so."
"Weinberger probably fits the
ideal role model of a Cabinet officer
at a time that the president is under
attack," said one of the Secretary's
aides. "His reservations about the
Iran policy were known, but he
hasn't tried to rub anyone's nose in
the mud."
"Weinberger was simply follow-
ing orders from the White House,"
said James Hackett, editor of the
Heritage Foundation's National Se-
curity Record.
Unlike Mr. Shultz, Mr. Weinberger
has avoided discussions of the de-
gree to which he was aware of
America's .secret dealings with Iran
and the 'diversion of funds to the
Contras.
Mr. Shultz and former National
Security Adviser Robert McFarlane
have clashed publicly over the ex-
tent of the secretary of state's
knowledge of the seoret efforts to
improve relations. with Iran and
achieve the release of Americans
held hostage in Lebanon.
"Shultz has been damaged by his
lack of public support for the pres-
ident on Iran," said Mr Holmes.
"That has helped Weinberger"
Mr Weinberger's aides say White
House reaction to the secretary's
speech last month to the National
Press Club is an indication of his
current stature within the adminis-
tration. Mr Weinberger argued then
. that Mr. Reagan should be allowed to
pursue his agenda despite the Iran-
Contra affair
"His speech was well-received,"
said one aide. "The president or-
dered that hundreds of copies of the
speech be distributed through White
House channels.
"His loyalty to the president was
always well-known, but now it is be-
ing appreciated in the White House,"
the aide said.
It has not always been so.
Mr Weinberger was cut out of
U.S.-Soviet summit meetings in 1985
and 1986, illustrating the difficulty
he once had in getting a hearing in
the Oval Office.
During Mr McFarlane's tenure as ?
national security adviser, Mr Wein- ?
berger was excluded from White
House meetings and his advice often
ignored.
"Things began to change with
McFarfane's departure," said an aide
to the defense secretary. "Wein-
berger now has regular one-on-one
meetings with the president."
Mr Carlucci, a former deputy un-
der Mr Weinberger and Mr. Rea-_
gan's new national security adviser,
has helped pave the way for the sec-
retary.
"Weinberger is now being given -
due treatment," said a senior Pen-
tagon official. -That's all he ever
asked for"
Earlier this 'month, Mr. Shultz
publicly shifted his position on SDI
a long way toward Mr Weinberger's
view. Since then, the Pentagon has
been careful to downplay the deep
divisions between the two on arms.
control issues.
"There are greater differences of
opinion between the subordinates in
Ceirleci
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/21 : CIA-RDP99-01448R000301260002-5
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved
the Pentagon and those in the State
Department than there are between
Weinberger and Shultz," said one
Pentagon official. The bureaucra-
cies like to put their own spin on
whatever their bosses' views are."
But .officials and analysts doubt
- whether Mr. Weinberger and Mr.
Shultz have really buried their dif-
ferences. A possible litmus test, they
say, will be their responses to new
arms control proposals expected
soon from Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev
? "Weinberger has the best inter-
. ?
ests of the nation in mind while
Shultz has to take the international
community into account," added a
Pentagon official.
Said Sen. John Warner, Virginia
Republican and a former secretary
of the Navy: "There has always been
a turf war between State and De-
fense and there will always be one."
Officials and analysts predict Mr.
Weinberger will feel the .absence of
William Casey in . future battles
within the administration. The airing
Mr. Casey resigned this -.month as
CIA director and his deputy, Robert
Gates, has been nominated.
for Release 2013/05/21: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301260002-5
"Gates is a career man with whom
the conservatives are satisfied, but
who will not support Weinberger as
strongly as Casey did," Mr. Holmes
said,
. "The jury is still out on whether
Weinberger has gained more influ-
ence overall," Mr. Hackett said. ?
.One indication of Mr. Weinber7
ger's stature, according to officials
and analysts, will be the fate of the
1988 budget the secretary presented
to Congress. Mr. Weinberger's $303
billion defense spending plan calls
for a 3 percent increase. -
Said one official: "Although the
Democrats are in the majority. Wein-
berger is no longer being perceived
as ineffective on the .Hill, and .his
budget proposals are seen as realis-
tic.
"In fact, members of Congress
now come to Weinberger, asking him
to use his influence with the pres-
. ident."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/21 : CIA-RDP99-01448R000301260002-5