KIRKPATRICK POSES PERSONNEL PROBLEM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 10, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450001-0
P r
WASHINGTON POST
10 November 1984
Kirkpatrick Poses Personnel Problem
E. 4
A Reagan Favorite, She Faces Resistance for NSC But
By John M. Goshko
Washington Post Stal( Writer
President Reagan is determined to keep
U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick in his
administration, although that would confront
him with a thorny personnel problem because
of strong indications that the only job she will
accept is national security affairs adviser.
Any attempt to put her in the National Se-
curity Council post now held by Robert C.
McFarlane would prompt strong opposition
from Secretary of State George P. Shultz and
White House chief of staff James A. Baker III,
who last year thwarted efforts by conserva-
tives to have her take over the pivotal policy-
making position.
Senior administration officials said yester-
day that a decision on Kirkpatrick's status
was unlikely before December and that Rea-
gan probably would seek first to convince her
to take some other job.
But, they added, Reagan's regard for Kirk-
patrick is so high and the pressure from Re-
publican conservatives to retain her services
so strong that the idea of giving her the se-
curity adviser's post has not been ruled out.
The officials were vague about how this
could be done without creating an uncomfort-
able working relationship between her and
Shultz and Baker.
Some sources suggested the possibility of a
compromise under which Shultz would agree
to her installation at the NSC if administra-
tion moderates led by Shultz were compen-
sated with control over a new White House
post with responsibility for arms control.
Determined to leave the United Nations,
Kirkpatrick has made clear that she would
like a major policy-making post, and
sources familiar with her thinking
said the NSC job is the only one she
is likely to accept. A senior White
House official. discussing Kirkpa-
trick's status yesterday, said: "We
hope to hold on to her. She's a giant
intellect."
Admiration among Republican
conservatives for her feisty views
moved toward adulation after her
nationally televised performance at
the Republican National Convention
last August, when she cut her last
ties to the Democratic Party by
blaming the Democrats for "the dis-
mal period of retreat and decline" in
America's world position.
The conservatives regard Kirk-
patrick as crucial in the administra-
tion's internal balance of power and
as an ally of such combative figures
as Defense Secretary Caspar W,
Weinberger, Central Intelligence
Agency irector Wham J. Casey
and former national security affairs
adviser William P. Clark, now sec-
retary of the interior, against the
more moderate wing of Shultz and
Baker.
Despite this lavish praise, Kirk-
patrick's celebrated feistiness and
intellectual convictions have raised
questions about whether she could
work effectively in harness with
Shultz and Baker, who both appar-
ently will continue in office.
That is why Kirkpatrick has told
friends on several occasions: if you
were to ask me where I'll be next
February or March, I'd say it's
most. likely .that I'll be in the south
of France on leave from George-
town University [where she is a
professor of government] writing a
book about the United Nations."
The sources said her interest in
becoming national security affairs
adviser stemmed not from vanity or
ambition but the conviction that
after four years in the fugh-visihilitv
U.N. job, it is the only position, ex-
cept for the unattainable position of
secretary of state, where she could
effectively continue to press her
views.
According to the sources, she
believes that if she took a lesser job,
it would be perceived as a demotion
with serious negative consequences
for her influence.
Despite strong backing from ad-
ministration conservatives, Kirk-
patrick failed to win the national
security affairs post a year ago
when Clark vacated it. At that time,
she was defeated by the strong op-
position of Shultz and Baker; and
she is still bitter about what she
considers unfair rumors about her
ambition during that battle.
Regarding the possibility of tak-
ing another job, Kirkpatrick, who
has maintained public silence about
her plans, yesterday said in a tele-
phone interview:
"Sometime in late December af-
ter the U.N. General Assembly is
concluded, I expect to sit down with
the president and make my report
to him. I will tell him that I'm pre-
pared to stay on at the U.N. into
next year until my successor has
been picked and there has been an
orderly succession.
"But I will also make clear that
I'm not unhappy about the prospect
of returning to private life. As to
staying in government, I would do
so only if the president persuaded
me that there was an opportunity to
make a significant contribution to
his administration in the foreign
affairs field."
There have been suggestions
that she might be named ambassa-
dor to France or Israel or be given a
specially created post as adviser to
the president.
This week. there also wert_rul
mors that she might replacelgsey
at die CIA.
However, the sources familiar
with Kirkpatrick's views said she
regarded most of these proposals as
attempts to push her out of the pol-
icy-making mainstream. Sources
said some administration officials
had made a concerted effort to con-
vince Kirkpatrick that she would be
an ideal replacement for Evan G.
Galbraith at the U.S. Embassy in
Paris.
The sources also said Kirkpatrick '
regarded /he rumors about the C.IA
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450001-0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450001-0
as a "disinformation tactic" start
staffby her
as a way to drive a wedge be-
tween her and Casey. who intends
to stay oikat the CIA_
As for the idea of becoming a
special presidential counselor, the
sources recalled that Reagan of-
fered her that opportunity last year
after she failed to get the NSC job
and that she refused it.
They predicted that if the offer
I were renewed, she would decline
again.
Thus, the sources saia, while
there is no sure way of predicting
what will happen when Kirkpatrick
sits down to talk with Reagan, they
believe that if the NSC post is un-
attainable, she will return to private
life, seeking to maintain influence
through articles and lectures and
waiting to see what happens a year
or two down the road when some of
those who oppose her most vehe-
mently may no longer be in the ad-
ministration.
2,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450001-0