WHITE HOUSE SHIFT REALIGNS INFLUENCE IN FOREIGN POLICY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201560012-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: December 5, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST"T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201560012-8
ON PAGE L "p--
WASHINGTON TIMES
( December 1985
White House shift
realigns influence
in foreign policy
NSC seen taking
a backseat role
By Tom Diaz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The appointment of Vice Adm. John M.
Poindexter as White House national security
adviser is being viewed by conservatives as
a sign that there won't be a strong, indepen-
dent conservative voice on military and for-
eign policy in the president's inner council.
Most conservative leaders interviewed
yesterday said the Poindexter appointment
signals a less important role for the National
Security Council. But they said they would
take a "wait-and-see" attitude toward Mr.
Poindexter, who is not widely known.
A less prominent role for the NSC will
mean more head-to-head clashes between
Secretary of State George Shultz and De-
fense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, and
more power for White House chief of staff
Donald T. Regan, the conservative sources
said.
"Regan will be the swing vote," said one
congressional source who works closely
with the NSC.
"I don't know a great deal about Adm.
Poindexter," said Rep. James A. Courter,
New Jersey Republican. "I thought Bud
McFarlane did a good job and I was
disappointed he stepped down ...
but I have every reason to believe
that he [Mr. Poindexter] is going to
follow the type of positions that
McFarlane did."
However, Mr. Courter said, "It is
also obvious that, with the selection
of another career military officer,
they really are not looking for an
independent voice"
"I guess they feel comfortable
enough that George Shultz and Cap
Weinberger are going to be the
policy recommenders, and they
want a good technician:' he said.
Mr. Poindexter, whom one former
co-worker described as "the bland-
est, most cautious man I ever met:'
has kept a low profile since his
original appointment to the National
Security Council in 1981 as "military
assistant to the assistant to the pres-
ident for national security affairs."
Another source said Mr. Poindex-
ter "has no opinions but simply ex-
presses both sides of an issue."
The 49-year old Indiana native,
who graduated at the head of his U.S.
Naval Academy Class in 1958,
earned a Ph.D. in nuclear physics
from the California Institute of lhch-
nology.
Described by one former associ-
ate as a "real black-shoe sailor" who
has "done everything you would ex-
pect a career naval officer to do:' Mr.
Poindexter commanded a guided
missile cruiser and a destroyer
squadron and served in several Navy
staff jobs. But former associates do
not regard Mr. Poindexter as an ex-
pert in any particular field of weap-
onry or foreign affairs.
"Everything he knows about for-
eign affairs he learned sitting
outside Bud McFarlane's office:'
said a former NSC staff member.
One source said Mr. Poindexter
has often expressed concern that his
Navy career would suffer as a result
of his service on the NSC staff.
"He was considered the Navy's
godfather on the NSC:' the source
said.
But in spite of - and indeed, in
some cases, because of - Mr. Poin-
dexter's low profile, several other
conservatives were outspoken in
their criticism of the appointment.
Some said the selection of a quiet
technician for the job virtually
assures that Mr. Reagan won't get a
strong conservative voice on na-
tional security matters independent
of the State Department.
"Poindexter is the last one who
can put up any kind of fight against
Don Regan:' said a former NSC staff
member. "He's a follower, not a
leader."
"Part of the problem is that no
national secure adviser in the Rea-
gan Wtute House has been able to
survive between the secretaries of
State and Defense and the CIA direc-
to_r" said James Hackett, editor of
the Heritage Foundation's National
curi Record. e mam conce
we have is that the State Department
follows the policies normally pur-
sued by the bureaucracy ... an ap-
proach more moderate than Pres-
ident Reagan has articulated :'
Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey, New
Hampshire Republican, said he also
knew little of Mr. Poindexter, but
was concerned about the quality of
the NSC staff in general.
"I honestly don't know the man,
but I think who the staff are is just
as important as who the head is:" Mr.
Humphrey said. "Presently, the For-
eign Service corps State Depart-
ment 'twinkies' dominate the staff.
Without some change there, I am not
optimistic that we will see more ef-
fective policy, for example, in
Afghanistan "
"It's a net loss for conservatives:'
said Howard Phillips, national direc-
tor of the Conservative Caucus.
"Even though McFarlane wasn't a
conservative's conservative, he was
able, because of his personal rela-
tionship with the president and Mrs.
Reagan to be a counterweight to
Shultz:'
"We'll have to wait and see how
Poindexter is going to turn out, but
the fact that he doesn't have any con-,
stituency of his own diminishes his
ability to look over Shultz's
shoulder:" he said. "That diminishes
the NSC as a force in its own right
and makes it much harder for staff
members who have independent
views to survive and retain their in-
dependence."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201560012-8