VERNON WALTERS DEBUNKING THE IMAGE OF MYSTERIOUS LONE WOLF

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000604920006-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: June 4, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604920006-8
WASHINGTON TIMES
4 June 1985
Vernon
WP Debunking the image
of mysterious lone wolf
By Deborah Papier
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
he lone wolf. Furtive, mysterious: A creature.
of the shadows, moving stealthily through
those nether regions of the diplomatic world
where the.light of publicity never shines. %
This was the reputation Vernon Walters developed
- some would say cultivated - in four decades of
service to the United States as a military intelligence_
officer, deputy director of the CIA and special State
Department envoy.
But Vernon IDickl Walters, who two weeks ago
became Jeane Kirkpatrick's replacement as ambassa-
dor to the United Nations, doesn't have much patience
these days with that cloak-and-dagger image.
- "It's bunk:' he says. "The lone wolf creeping around;
that's an overdone legend. I've been highly visible for
a long time. I could show you a box as large as this
coffee table. filled with cassettes of public speeches I
have made in various parts of the United States.
"I have not been publicity-seeking:' he continues. "I
don't seek the limelight, because I find I can work more
effectively if I don't. But I don't shun it either. This idea
of my fleeing and hiding ... as I said at the press
conference the day I was nominated, I have never trav-
eled under a false name, I have never used a passport
that was not made out in my name; and unlike many of
the people in this room I could say that I'd never reg-
istered in a hotel under any name but my own"
The point that Mr. Walters wishes to make is that he
is not some mole suddenly forcedrat the age of 68, to
adjust to a life above ground.. He does not see his new
-post as representing a radical change in direction for
him, but rather as a natural culmination of a long
career in foreign affairs that involved him in most of
the important events of our time, from the implementa-
tion of the Marshall Plan in Europe after World War 11
and the founding of the Organization of American
4 States, to the Paris peace talks with the North Vietnam-
ese and the normalization of relations with the People's
Republic of China.
"The reason why I do
says Mr. Walters, "is that everything I've been doing for
many years has been in direct preparation for it. For
44 years I've been serving the United States all over the
world. I've translated for six presidents. 1 would ven-
ture to say I've probably been involved in world affairs
longer than any of my predecessors in this job:'
"I think Walters comes to the job running full-speed:'
says former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, for
whom Mr. Walters worked as a special envoy. "He'll
have no learning process. He's fully abreast of all the
international issues, has been involved in the evolution
of those issues. He will garner a level of respect that
may he unprecedented in the history of that post. I
would anticipate he will be the most effective U.N.
Ombassador we've had in recent years"
Former President Richard Nixon goes even further,
haying that Mr. Walters is a "world-class strategic
'thinker;' and that this skill, com-
bined with his linguistic talents (he
speaks eight languages), makes him
"the best-qualified American
,ambassador to the United Nations
since the organization was founded"
Despite Mr. Walters'
qualifications for the post, the
course from his nomination to his
confirmation was not a smooth one.
He was nominated by. President
Reagan in early February. Six weeks
later, it was reported that he was pre-
pared to turn down the assignment
unless he could.be guaranteed the
same access to National Security
Council meetings that Jeane Kirk-
patrick had, access that Secretary of
State George Shultz evidently
wished to deny him.
"It was not a matter of personal
pique:" says Mr. Walters. "I felt that
if the position were diminished. my
voice would be muted, and it was not
in the interest of the United States to
have a U.N. delegate with a muted
voice. I also thought that coming on
the withdrawal from UNESCO, it
could be interpreted as the United
States' giving up on the United
Nations, turning its back on it."
it is still not clear exactly how
-.much access to the National Secu-
rity, Council Mr. Walters will have,
but he professes himself content
with the disposition of that particu-
lar issue.
"I've been told that the terms of
reference of my job are exactly the
same as I those of I my predecessor,
which is perfectly satisfactory to
me..A great many newspapers indi-
cated that I had accepted a down-
graded job, a lessened job, and that's
just not true.
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y position is the same as
Jeane Kirkpatrick's:' he
continues. "I've already
attended a meeting of the NSC. 1 am
not her. I don't know whether I'll be
invited.to all meetings, I don't know
whether she was invited to all of
them. If you try to make some kind
of numerical comparison, I don't
think it gets anywhere:'
Comparisons with Jeane Kirkpat-
rick, however, are difficult for Mr.
Walters to avoid, much as he would
like to. Mrs. Kirkpatrick became an
extraordinarily popular figure dur-
ing the four years she held the U.N.
ambassadorship; it is inevitable that
people view Mr. Walters, at least in
these early days, in relation to her.
On the surface, they are very dis-
similar. Mrs. Kirkpatrick is a Ph.D.
in political science; Mr. Walters does
not have a high-school diploma. She
was plucked from academia to
.serve; he has spent almost his whole
life in government service. She
became famous very quickly as an
electrifying public speaker; Gen.
Walters, despite the many speeches
he.has given, is still not widely
known as an orator.
"Jeane is the quintessential
academic/activist:' says Charles
Lichtenstein, a Kirkpatrick deputy
at the United Nations and now a
senior fellow in international rela-
tions at the Heritage Foundation.
"Her approach is that of the scholar
and also the advocate. Mr. Walters
has always been more of the insides;
he knows the ropes and he has
engaged repeatedly over the years in
classical one-on-one negotiations.
"There isn't just one single way to
be an effective U.S. ambassador at
the United Nations:' adds Mr. Lich-
tenstein. "Jeane has given people the
pattern of the eloquent advocate,
and Mr. Walters may turn out to be
an eloquent advocate, too. But if he's
not it may not he a terrible
shortcoming. Many different styles
are relevant to the job"
1 M r. Walters refuses to charac-
terize terize his own style, saying.
that is a job for others.
Those who have worked with him in
the past, however, describe him as
solid, steady, loyal, a thoroughgoing
professional.
"I have the highest respect for
him:' says former CIA director Wil-
liam Colby, "for his integrity and his
strength and his capabilities. He
obviously is enormously
knowledgeable about the world, and
he is totally dedicated to serving his
country. He has ideas of his own but
he also has total discipline. He can
present his arguments in a situation,
have the decision go against him and
carry. it out with full compliance:'
"I expect he will be a very loyal But Mr. Walters says that dealing
representative of the president;" with people is his most important
says Walter Stoessel, former deputy skill.
secretary of state. "I would not "My strong suit is dealing with
expect him to take any big initiatives eo le:' he adds. "Convincing them
on his own. He will work on I to. do things that the United- States
instructions, and that was not always wants them to do, and dissuading
the case with his predecessor." them from things the United States
Mr. Stoessel also predicts that Mr does not want them to do.
Walters, more than Mrs. Kirkpat-
ood relations with j T ithout going into detail:'
{hick, will develop g "Al I t
o
nations. For one thing, he already
knows many of them - and, more
important, knows their heads of
.I (state. For another, he isable in so
many cases to speak to them in their
down language, an immense help in
earning their trust and friendship.
Mr. Walters has somewhat mixed
feelings about his linguistic skills.
He loves languages (he speaks
French, Spanish, Italian, German,
,Portuguese, Dutch and Russian), but
sometimes feels that people see him
as just a glorified translator, over-
'looking his other abilities.
"I don't like to be known as a sort
r of weird fre'akery," he explains." I've
been dep ty director of Central
Intelligente. I was quite successful
in the business world during the
years 11976 to '811 1 was out of the
administration. I'd like it to be
(understood that the languages are a
tool to achieve the things I seek to do
in life. They are not the primary pur-
pose of my life.
CC hen I came to this
building I the State
Department], for
instance, one of my colleagues said,
''Oh, he's a man who speaks eight
languages and thinks in none' I think
the greatest: satisfaction that I have
is that he isn't saying it anymore."
But he doesn't wish to denigrate
the importance of languages. He
believes that being able to speak to
representatives of other countries in
their own tongues gives him some
special insights into their concerns.
"Americans too often think other
people do things for policy reasons:'
says Mr. Walters. "They don't. And
therefore you can get at them
through -a'knowledge of?their'-law
.
guage, their history and culture."
- As for his lack of formal academic
training in history and political sci
ence, Mr. Walters says, "I'd be ready
to discuss history, geography, world
affairs with anybody who has a more
scholarly background than I do. I do
not feel inferior in this,area to any-
one I have ever met.
"Knowledge of languages implies'
a good memory:' he continues. "I
i realized that I had shortcomings in
certain areas and I tried to fulfill
them. A great deal of what I read I
retain, and that builds up a consider-
able fund of knowledge over 44 years
of immediate, direct involvement in
world affairs:" -
he adds, Ti I ve gotten a
of people out of jail in
very hostile countries. I didn't get
advanced from private. to the
present- job just by speaking lan-
guages ... or by being a messenger
boy. The people I've worked for like
results:'
However Mr. Walters' background.
and skills may differ from Mrs.
Kirkpatrick's, it is clear that he sees
his mission at the United Nations in
similar terms. He wants, he says, to -
prevent the United States from.
being "lynched by resolution:"
"My effort. across-the-board:' he .
says, "will be to try to break up some
of these lynching parties, who really
don't hate us and really are not
against us but are voting out of some
mistaken idea that some sort of
regional or cultural solidarity -
impells them to vote against the
country that is often one of their
greatest benefactors.
"We're not perfect:' says Mr. Wal-
ters, "we've made.a lot of mistakes.
But I don't spend all my time talking
about our errors, beating my breast
about the various small things we've
done wrong. The United States has
fought three great wars in, this cen-
tury, and we haven't annexed one
square inch of territory, we haven't
made one human being become an
American. And unlike any other
nation in history, we have financed
back into competition with us our
defeated enemies and our crippled
friends.
"So I'm just not one of these peo-
ple who's filled with guilt about the
United States. Churchill once said
that the Marshall Plan was the single
most unselfish act in history., When
the Marshall Plan started, the gross
national product of the nations that
~.,Knake up the European, Commtmity--
was 6 percent of that of the United
States. Today it's larger than ours. If
that's the action of a self-interested,
selfish nation, words have lost their
meaning:"
It's a curious fact that this staunch
patriot did not grow up in the United
States. He was born in New York, but
his father was English, and from the
W- Iblized
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age of 6 to the age of 16 Vernon Wal-
,ters lived in Europe, attending
schools in England and France.
He returned to the United States
to work in an insurance firm his
father had once managed. It was not
that he had any particular interest in
insurance,. but his father was deter-
mined that one of the Walters boys
would go into the business, and the
onus fell on Vernon.
After five years, he. made his
escape by enlisting in the Army.
i "Adolf Hitler did at least one good
deed in his life;" wrote Mr. Walters in
"Silent Missions," his 1978 memoirs.
"He got me out of my father's insur-
ance company."
En route to Morocco in 1942 as
part of an intelligence unit, Mr. Wal-
ters realized he had found his .life's
work.
"There was a quiet comprehen-
sion that I had found the path I was
!seeking. Why and how I came to this
realization ..:. I cannot explain. I
only know'.... that I had found my
place in life. I was not to lose this
conviction in the 34 years that were
to follow in the Army."
Jn those 34 years, Mr. Walters rose
through the ranks to lieutenant
general, serving as an aide to
Averell Harriman at the Marshall
Plan Headquarters in Paris, with
Gen. Dwight Eisenhower at SHAPIi
(Supreme Headquarters Allied Pow-
ers - Europe), special projects offi-
cer at the NATO Standing Group its
Washington, and military attache to
Italy, Brazil and France.
It was in Brazil that Mr. Walters
was embroiled in one of the major
controversies of his career. He was
accused of aiding and abetting the
military coup of 1964 that overthrew
the left-leaning president, Joao
Goulart, an accusation he denied
and denies.
"I was a very well-informed spec- j
tator," he says. "There were people
who did think that because I was
well informed that I had some part
in organizing it. My reply to them
was, 'What advice could an
American colonel without aty,
experience in coups give Brazilian
generals who had overthrown two
presidents in the previous five
years?' -
"I was penalized because I -was
doing was a good attache should do,
because I'knew lof the developing
coup] and reported it to the U.S. gov-
;ernment. I 'was' not a participant.
'The president-elect of Brazil who
just died IThncredo Neves1, a repre-
sentative of the forces that were
idefeated in 1964, sent me a warm,
telegram of congratulations on my
appointment to the United Nations.
He clearly did not think I had any
,part in the coup."
Mr. Walters found himself in an
equally hot situation in 1972, as
deputy CIA director during
Watergate. Six weeks into that job,
he and CIA director Richard Helms
were asked by H.R. Haldeman and
John Erlichman to try to head off the
FBI investigation of the case by tell-
ing FBI director Patrick Gray that
CIA operations in Mexico were
being jeopardized by that investiga-
tion.
That message was relayed by
Mr. Walters. ("It did not occur
to me;' he wrote in his book,
"that the Chief of Staff to the Pres-
ident might be asking me to do some-
thing that was illegal or wrong.") But
he refused to provide Mr. Gray with
a written statement to that effect,
and after his own investigation into
the situation, he told John Dean that
there was no risk to the CIA.
Though his account of events did
not go undisputed, Mr. Walters
emerged unscathed from the
Watergate scandal, surviving some
20 committee testimonies and even-
tually being awarded a medal by the
CIA. .
"I was asked to do something that
would have irretrievably compro-
mised the CIA;' he says. "I refused
to do it, and I was still in office three
years later-...:: and I've been con
firmed unanimously by the Senate
for every job I've had since. My
integrity emerged quite plainly."
It is not hard to understand why,
with such experiences behind him-
not to mention his encounters with
Francisco Franco, Fidel Castro and
the North Vietnamese - Mr. Walters
is unintimidated by the U.N. post and
its high burnout factor.
"I've had a number of harrowing
experiences in my life, much more.
harrowing than that;' he Says. "I'll be
there as long as the president wants
me to stay."
"Dick Walters is not a compulsive
bureaucrat, 'always looking for
opportunities," says Alexander
Haig. "I've never known him to pro-
mote himself at .the expense of oth-
e-rs.
."I guess it goes, to. show," cone
cludes`Mr Haig, "that- while it may
be the exception, there is justice in
Washington."
3
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