Source: Voice of America VOA News Report
News

DATE=03/21/97
      TYPE=CLOSE-UP
    NUMBER=4-09661
     TITLE=WHY LAKE WITHDREW
    BYLINE=ANDREW J. BAROCH
 TELEPHONE=619-0929
  DATELINE=WASHINGTON
    EDITOR=NANCY SMART

CONTENT=

[INSERTS ON SOUND ON DEMAND]

INTRO:   ANALYSTS SAYS FORMER U-S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER 
         ANTHONY LAKE WOULD HAVE WON SENATE CONFIRMATION AS HEAD 
         OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY IF HE HAD  NOT  
         WITHDRAWN HIS NOMINATION. VOA'S ANDREW BAROCH REPORTS 
         THAT MR. LAKE WAS ANGERED BY THE PARTISAN NATURE OF THE 
         CONFIRMATION HEARINGS -- BUT HE MAY HAVE HAD OTHER 
         REASONS FOR BOWING OUT.

TEXT:    CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS ON THE SENATE INTELLIGENCE 
         COMMITTEE USED ANTHONY LAKE AS A KIND OF "WHIPPING BOY" 
         TO AVENGE GRIEVANCES THAT DATE BACK TO THE COLD WAR, 
         ACCORDING TO SOME ANALYSTS. AT ONE POINT, THEY ASKED MR.
         LAKE TO EXPLAIN COMMENTS HE'D MADE IN TV INTERVIEW ABOUT
         A MATTER OF ANTI-COMMUNIST ORTHDOXY. IT WAS ABOUT ALGER 
         HISS, A FORMER TOP U-S OFFICIAL IN THE 1940'S AND AN 
         ACCUSED SOVIET SPY. IN THE INTERVIEW, MR. LAKE APPEARED 
         TO QUESTION THE VERDICT OF MOST HISTORIANS THAT HISS WAS
         GUILTY. 

         RICHARD COHEN, A LONGTIME POLITICAL OBSERVER AND 
         COLUMNIST FOR "THE WASHINGTON POST" NEWSPAPER, SAYS THE 
         REPUBLICANS WERE -- AS HE PUTS IT -- "SETTLING OLD 

         SCORES."

TAPE     CUT ONE -- COHEN
         "WHEN HE WAS ASKED WHETHER HE THOUGHT ALGER HISS WAS 
         GUILTY, IT'S A DIRECT THROWBACK TO THE COLD WAR DAYS, 
         THE COLDEST DAYS OF THE COLD WAR. IT'S SORT OF LIKE ONCE
         AGAIN BRINGING HIM BACK TO THOSE DAYS. I THINK IT PLAYED
         A BIG ROLE."

TEXT:    MR. COHEN SAYS MR. LAKE'S RESIGNATION FROM THE NIXON 
         WHITE HOUSE IN 1970 -- IN PROTEST AGAINST THE U-S 
         INVASION OF CAMBODIA -- ALSO HURT HIS NOMINATION.

TAPE     CUT TWO -- COHEN
         "THEY DON'T LIKE TONY LAKE AND EVERYTHING HE EVER STOOD 
         FOR, GOING BACK TO HIS LATE DISSENT ON THE VIETNAM WAR, 
         AND WHO HE REPRESENTS -- A KIND OF INTELLECTUAL, EAST 
         COAST, ACADEMIC, FOREIGN POLICY WONK."

TEXT:    PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON SUBMITTED MR. LAKE'S NAME FOR 
         CONFIRMATION IN DECEMBER. A VOTE BY THE INTELLIGENCE 
         COMMITTEE WASN'T SCHEDULED UNTIL APRIL. AND THE 
         COMMITTEE -- WHOSE APPROVAL IS CRUCIAL BEFORE A FULL 
         SENATE VOTE -- PLANNED EVEN MORE DILATORY TACTICS. 
         SENATOR RICHARD SHELBY, WHO HAD REQUESTED MR. LAKE'S 
         PERSONAL DOSSIER FROM THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF 
         INVESTIGATION, SAID HE FOUND NOTHING DAMAGING IN THE 
         FILES -- BUT STILL NEEDED TIME TO SHARE IT WITH OTHERS 
         ON THE PANEL.

         THAT WAS ENOUGH FOR ANTHONY LAKE. HE WROTE THE PRESIDENT
         THAT HE WAS SICK OF THE DELAYS AND TIRED -- IN HIS WORDS
         -- "OF BEING A DANCING BEAR IN A POLITICAL CIRCUS."

         BUT SOME ANALYSTS SAY THERE WERE OTHER ELEMENTS THAT 
         HAMPERED HIS NOMINATION -- AMONG THEM, THE GROWING 
         NUMBER OF REPORTS THAT FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTORS WITH 
         QUESTIONABLE BACKGROUNDS GAINED ACCESS TO THE CLINTON 
         WHITE HOUSE.

         MR. LAKE TOLD THE COMMITTEE THAT, AS NATIONAL SECURITY 
         ADVISER, HE DID  NOT  KNOW OF FBI WARNINGS TO SOME ON 
         HIS OWN STAFF THAT CHINESE AGENTS HAD TARGETED SOME U-S 
         POLITICIANS FOR POLITICAL DONATIONS. MR. LAKE SAID HE 
         WAS ALSO UNAWARE OF HIS STAFF'S FAILED EFFORTS TO THWART
         A MEETING BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND A CONTRIBUTOR 
         ACCUSED OF EMBEZZLEMENT IN LEBANON. 

         CRITICS ASKED HOW ANTHONY LAKE WOULD MANAGE THE MORE 
         THAN 16-THOUSAND EMPLOYEES AT THE CIA IF HE HAD TROUBLE 
         RUNNING A STAFF OF ABOUT 150 AT THE NSC. 

         ALLAN LICHTMAN IS A PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT AMERICAN 
         UNIVERSITY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:

TAPE     CUT THREE -- LICHTMAN
         "I THINK IT WAS A VERY BAD CONFLUENCE OF EVENTS FOR TONY
         LAKE. HIS HEARINGS WERE HELD UP AND EXTENDED AND 
         VIRTUALLY COINCIDED WITH A DAILY DRUMBEAT OF NEW AND 
         SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS REGARDING FUNDRAISING AND THE 
         INTERMIXING -- PERHAPS -- OF FUNDRAISING AND THE 
         INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY. THE FACT THAT ALL OF THESE CAME 
         TOGETHER CERTAINLY WAS A VERY POWERFUL NEGATIVE FOR THIS
         NOMINEE AND THESE HEARINGS, AND, INDEED, DID RAISE 
         SERIOUS QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EXTENT TO WHICH HE REALLY 
         WAS A STRONG AND WELL-INFORMED MANAGER OF THE NATIONAL 
         SECURITY COUNCIL. THOSE QUESTIONS MAY WELL NOT HAVE KEPT
         HIM FROM BEING CONFIRMED. PERHAPS IF HE HAD PERSEVERED 
         IN THE PROCESS, HE MAY WELL HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED. BUT IT 
         WAS AN UNFORTUNATE COMBINATION OF EVENTS THAT SIMPLY 
         THREW A LOT OF FUEL ONTO THE FIRE THAT THE REPUBLICANS 
         HAD BEEN LIGHTING FOR SOME TIME."

TEXT:    BUT OTHER ANALYSTS SAY THE FUNDRAISING ISSUE WASN'T THE 
         MAJOR THREAT TO HIS NOMINATION. AGAIN, RICHARD COHEN OF 
         "THE WASHINGTON POST":

TAPE     CUT FOUR -- COHEN
         "IT DID GET TOUGHER FOR HIM BECAUSE OF THE SCANDAL -- OR
         WHATEVER WORDS YOU WANT TO USE -- REGARDING POLTICAL 
         CONTRIBUTIONS AND WHO HAD ACCESS TO THE WHITE HOUSE AT 
         WHAT TIME. BUT THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS HE KNEW FROM 
         THE GET-GO THAT HIS NOMINATION WAS GOING TO BE TOUGH, 
         AND EIGHT DAYS AGO -- OR WHATEVER IT WAS -- HE DISCUSSED
         WITH HIS FRIENDS PULLING OUT -- EVEN BEFORE THE QUESTION
         OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS CAME UP. SO IT WASN'T THAT THAT DID
         IT."

TEXT:    MR. COHEN SAYS MR. LAKE -- AS HE SEES IT -- "JUST GOT 
         FED UP, AND HE DIDN'T WANT TO LISTEN TO THESE GUYS ANY 
         LONGER." RICHARD COHEN SAYS THE FAILURE OF THE LAKE 
         NOMINATION DOES  NOT  -- IN HIS OPINION --MEAN THE 
         SENATE CONFIRMATION PROCESS HAS GONE AWRY.

TAPE     CUT FIVE -- COHEN
         "I'M NOT ONE OF THE THOSE WHO THINK THE WORLD IS COMING 
         TO AN END AND THAT IT SHOWS THAT YOU CAN'T GET ANYBODY 
         NOMINATED -- BECAUSE IT DOESN'T SHOW THAT AT ALL. MOST 
         PEOPLE DO GET NOMINATED AND RATHER QUICKLY AND RATHER 
         REASONABLY."

TEXT:    MR. LAKE'S WITHDRAWAL FROM CONSIDERATION IS SEEN BY SOME
         ANALYSTS AS A MAJOR BLOW TO MORALE AT THE CENTRAL 
         INTELLIGENCE AGENCY. THE CIA HAS HAD FIVE DIRECTORS IN 
         THE LAST SIX YEARS. IT BADLY NEEDS STABILITY AND 
         IMPROVED MANAGEMENT.

         THE SENATE HAS SCHEDULED A VOTE IN APRIL ON PRESIDENT 
         CLINTON'S NEW CHOICE -- 44-YEAR OLD GEORGE TENET, NOW 
         THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE. HIS 
         CONFIRMATION APPEARS LIKELY: UNLIKE ANTHONY LAKE, MR. 
         TENET HAS DEVOTED HIS CAREER TO INTELLIGENCE. AND 
         ANALYSTS SAY IT WON'T HURT THAT HE ONCE SERVED AS THE 
         STAFF DIRECTOR OF THE SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE. 
         (SIGNED)

NEB / AJB /  NES
         

21-Mar-97 4:24 PM EST (2124 UTC)
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