EXPECTED CHOICE AS JAKARTA ENVOY STIRS CONTROVERSY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201350007-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: September 17, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201350007-5
Expected- Choice.
:As Jakarta Envoy.
i tirs,.Co'utrover?sy
By Michael Getler
Watiiunvton Pest Stott Writer
The expected appointment as am-
bassador to,Indonesia of a Washing-
ton businessman who administration
officials said has a "close" and "spe
cisl" relationship to Indonesian Pres-
ident Suharto is stirring controversy
in the State Department. and the
U.S. diplomatic community.
Reagan - administration . officials
said Kent B. Crane, 47, who once
served as an- aide to former vice
president Spiro T. Agnew, is "in line"
to become the new ambassador. W,
Jakarta. Although a final decision
has not yet been made, the officials
said, Crane is the leading candidate.-
Suharto is due to make an official
visit to Washington next month and
officials said the. administration will
probably want to have a new ambas-
sador at least nominated by that
time. The post has been vacant for
almost a year because the adminis-
tration abandoned an intended nom-
inee in another controversy over the
ambassadorship earlier this year.
Crane served in the U.S. Foreign
Service in the the 'early 1960s in In-
donesia and Africa and in the U.S.
Information' Agency in the mid
1970s, but in the State Department,',
sources say, his prospective naming
has caused concern among some ca-
reer Foreign Service officers. White
House officials also acknowledge the
potential for controversy.
Inquiries among many current
and former officials, diplomats and
associates reveal a concern about two
issues.
Six 'of these sources allege that,
Crane worked foi the Central Intel -
ligenge Agency at times during his
overseas assignments in government
in Africa and Indonesia. Asked
about this, a CIA spokesman said
that as a matter of policy, the agency
declines to either confirm or deny
allegations. of CIA affiliation. How-
ever, one former top CIA official,
who knew Crane slightly during the
WASHINGTON POST
17 SEFI'EASER 1982
Agnew years, said he could not recall
a CIA affiliation.
There is also concern about send-
ing Crane as ambassador to a coun-
try in which these sources allege he
.has, ,. business dealings--developed
after. leaving government-and a
personal involvement with the pres-
idential family, including some han-
dling of :finances. The sources did
not elaborate-
There -are-.no allegations of any
illegalities. But the sources said they
-are concerned about ,potential con-'
flictof interest.
Crane has been president of Crane
Group: Ltd., _a consulting and inter-7i
national investment firm in Wash-
ington, for several years.
In a telephone interview yester-
dap,"Crane declined to discuss his
activities in or out of 'government.
He said he was not able to talk until
".something more formal happens, if
,it does," a reference to the decision
on whether he is appointed. He said
a discussion now about anything
would be "inappropriate" but that he
would ultimately.be "anxious to talk"
and to give "lots of assurances." -
. The post of American ambassador
to Indonesia, a Southeast Asian is-
land -nation of some 150 million peo-
ple, has been vacant since last No-
vembei. Earlier this year it became
the focus of a mysterious and ex-
traordinary, , diplomatic episode.
There is, therefore, also concern
among some officials that a second
controversy surrounding the ap-
pointment of an ambassador to the
strategically important country
would involve another diplomatic
setback.'
In the earlier episode, it was pub-
.licly disclosed that last fall President
Reagan had offered the job of am-
bassador to a veteran diplomat,
Morton I. Abramowitz, who had
been ambassador to Thailand. But
on May 20, a statement issued in the
name of then-Secretary of State Al-
exander M. Haig Jr. announced with
regret that Indonesia would not-ac-
cept Abramowitz:
The Indonesian foreign minister
later denied that his government'had
refused to accept Abramowitz and
indicated that the issue was an in-
ternal problem of the Reagan admin.'
istration.
In a detailed account of the
.episode, The Washington Post re-
ported May 21 that Abramowitz had
been opposed by political enemies in.=
the administration and that an im-
portant weapon used,: against him
was.'an anonymous and confidential'
,paper, "much of it . inaccurate, about "
him that eventually found Its 'way
into the top ranks -of the Indonesian
government.'
Although Crane declined =to dis-
cuss anything about himself at this
time, a- biography in the :1977-1978
edition of "Who's Who in .American
Politics" says he worked as a third
,secretary in the U.S. embassy in:
Jakarta from 1961 'to 1963 and in
the State -Department in ',1963.1964._ '
He is listed as then having spent ? .
time in 1964-1965 as a vice consul in
the American consulate in Zanzibar,'
Tanzania, and as a second secretary
in the embassy in Accra, Ghana,
from 1965 to 1967., .
After that, Crane worked on the
Republican National Committee, as
a special assistant to former Repub-
lican senator George Murphy, and
then as an assistant for national se-
curity affairs to Agnew between 1969
and,1971.
Crane then is listed as spending
1972 to 1974 as an assistant director
for East Asia and the Pacific for the
U.S. Information Agency.
After that, he was -an administra-
tive assistant to Rep. Peter Freling-
huysen (R-N.J.) and, in the 1975-76
period, he served as a research di-
rector for a review of intelligence
agencies for a presidential commis-
sion on the organization of govern-
,
ment.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201350007-5