U.S. AMBASSADORSHIP TO INDONESIA IS POST WITHOUT A PERSON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201350005-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 30, 2010
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: October 12, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/30: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201350005-7
ARTICLE
APPS z'?::7
ON F.;G
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
12 October 1982
US. Ambassadorship.
To Indonesia Is Post
Without a Person
And Therein Lies Bizarre Tale
Of Politics and Backbiting;
The Bafflement in Jakarta
By Grrai.D F. Srix and EDWARD T. POUND
Staff Repr.rters of Tt1J w.V.L SThEJ r JO R%AL
WASHINGTON-The red carpet is being
rolled out here for Indonesian President Soe-
harto, who is arriving today to the kind of
effusive welcome the White House reserves
for important friends. But the public
warmth won't reveal that Indonesia is an
unwitting player in one of the most bizarre
back-corridor, personnel struggles of the
Reagan administration.
For nearly a year, the administration has
failed to name an ambassador to Indonesia,
an oil power and the fifth most populous
are of candidates. Four different names, in-
eLuding that of one of this country's most
distinguished diplomats, have been floated
in administration circles.
But in each case the choice has been
blacked by the political backbiting that
sometimes paralyzes the Reagan adminis-
tration and keeps important national-secu-
rity jobs vacant for months. Conservatives
fight liberals over who should get the job,
and the State Department's professionals
fight with the White House politicians. "It is
the single most tortured ambassadorial saga
of this administration," says Richard Hol-
brooke, former assistant secretary of state
in charge of East Asian affairs and now a
Mr. Crane's friends are angered by the
controversy. "It seems to me that this is a
power play and that it's an effort to reject
one more political appointee to an ambassa-
dorial post," says Richard V. Allen, the for-
mer national-security adviser to President
Reagan. "In this case, however, it involves
the rejection of a qualified appointee." (Mr.
Crane himself hasn't returned several phone
calls placed to him by this newspaper.)
Mr. Crane is' hardly the first man to be
caught In a power play over the post in Ja-
karta. The saga actually began last fall,
when Ambassador Edward Masters was-re-
tiring from the post; The administration de-
' tided at the time it would nominate Michael
Armacost, a specialist in Asian affairs in the
State Department, for the job. Indonesians
were told, and the transition was about to-be
made smoothly.
That was before Morton Abramowitz, one
of the State Department's most highly deer
orated diplomats, entered the picture. Mr.
Abramowitz had been ambassador to Thai-
land. Secretary of StateAlexander Haig. de-
cided at about that time to promote him to
assistant secretary of state in charge of
East Asia.
White House Enemies
But Mr. Abramowitz, a blunt-spoken
man, had made enemies among the conser-
vatives in and around the Reagan White
House. Some of them decided he shouldn't
.get the job. They drew up a "point paper"
about him and began circulating it in the
White House. -
Much of what the paper said is incorrect
or misleading, but Mr. Abramowitz's sup-
porters say the-.paper was poison for Mr.
Abrainowitz.'It charged he has a-political
philosophy - ., akin to McGovern, Muskie
and Mondale" and said he was the "archi-
tect for U.S. troop withdrawal from Korea,"
an idea advanced by .the Carter administra
Loeb inc.
The latest candidate for the job is Wash-
ington businessman Kent B. Crane. He
hasn't been officially nominated, but friends
say President Reagan called him recently to
ask if he'd be willing to take the job.
Controversial Choice
Yet his nomination may be dropped be-
cause of the controversy it would cause, ad-
ministration officials say. According to a va-
riety of present and former government offi-
cials, Mr. Crane is a former Central Intelli-':
gence Agency undercover agent who 'has
close ties to President Soeharto and to a
prominent Indonesian businessman.
State Department professionals, who
would like to see a diplomatic pro named to
the job, are anguished over the prospect of
Mr. Crane's nomination. Some senators,
who would have to approve the choice, are
re dy to pounce on it. They think Mr.
Crane's Indcnesian ties amount to a conflict
of interest and they question whether former
intelligence agents should become ambassa-
dors.
In truth, Mr. Abramowitz'is known as a
tough-minded political moderate, rather
than the- liberal the paper portrayed. And
friends say that Mr. Abramowitz, who was
posted to the Pentagon at the time, privately
opposed withdrawing troops from Korea.
But he publicly defended the policy' once
President Carter decided on- it.
The damage was done, however. Mr.
Haig decided against naming Mr. Abram-
owitz to the assistant secretary's job and
considered sending him as ambassador to
the Philippines. But conservative 'military
officers objected - again, complaining he-'
couldn't be trusted lo handle the sensitive is-
sue of maintaining U.S. military facilities
there.
So the White House decided to send him
instead to Indonesia. Air. Arniacost, who
had been picked for that job, was switched
at the last minute to the Philippines. Indone-
sia was baffled and miffed at the switch.
Indonesia grew more upset when the
mysterious "point paper" on Air. Abra-
mowitz reentered the picture. Somehow the
paper found its way to Indonesia and into
the hands of President Soeharto, U.S. ofh-.
cials say. Indonesian officials decided Mr.
Abramowitz was out-of step with 'Washing-
ton power circles.
Indonesia privately sent word to the State
Department last November that it didn't,
want Mr. Abramowitz. Mr. Haig thought the
Indonesian stand would change, so be sim-
ply let Mr. Abramowitz hang in limbo for
six months. Finally, last May. the State De-
partment announced that Indonesia had re-
jected him. He is still waiting to hear what
his next assignment will be.
It isn't clear who wrote the damning
point paper." Mr. Abramowitz's friends
charge that one key player was Daniel Ar-
nold, a former CIA official in Asia who had
clashed with Air. Abramowitz. Mr. Arnold
denies he helped write the memo, although
he acknowledges being called by an undis-
closed friend and answering "several ques-
tions" about Mr. Abramowitz. "1 think the
memo was written in the White House," he
says. Mr. Abramowitz's friends also suggest
that retired Gen. Richard Stilwell, a former
intelligence official and now deputy under-
secretary of defense for policy, played a
hand. But Gen. Stilwell denies that.
In any case, the State Department sug-
gested that the White House fill the Indone
sia job instead with Daniel O'Donehue. a I
foreign-service officer serving in the State
Department's Asian bureau. One of his sup-
porters, officials say, is special Mideast en-
voy Philip Habib. But the White House
turned down the suggestion and said it had
picked Mr. Crane.
State Department records show Mr.
Crane was an official in the U.S. embassy in
Indonesia from 1960 to 1962. in some unspeci-
fied job in the department from 196-2 to 1964,
in the embassy in Tanzania in 1964 and in
the embassy in Ghana in 1965. Sources in-
side and outside the government say Mr.
Crane was actually working for the CIA dur-
ing this period and using a State Depart-
ment title as cover.
Friends in High Plates
Today, Mr. Crane is president of Crane'
Group Ltd., an international investing and
consulting firm. At some point in his intelli-
gence and business career, he developed a
friendship with President Soeharto, U.S. of-
ficials say. A few years ago, friends say.
Mr. Crane helped President Soeharto's son
enroll in a college in Virginia. Mr. Crane re-
portedly even helped the son decide on a
course of study to his liking and helped en-
roll his fiancee.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/30: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201350005-7