Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 10, 1993 TAG: 9302100180
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
POWELL WANTS TO QUIT
Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has told Defense Secretary Les Aspin that he wants to leave office two or three months before the end of his term, in part because he does not want to defend budget cuts that he believes are too big, several close associates said Tuesday.Powell told former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney some months ago that he wanted to leave before his term expires on Sept. 30, explaining then that he wanted to give his successor more influence this summer in shaping the Pentagon's long-term budget, associates said. He also had told Cheney he would not serve a third two-year term as chairman, even if President Bush were re-elected.
But friends and associates said Powell's desire to retire early was reinforced by a series of extraordinary public disagreements between the Joint Chiefs and President Clinton over homosexuals in the military and reductions in military spending and troop levels. Clinton wants to cut military spending by $60 billion more than Bush had recommended by 1997 and troop strength by 200,000 more than Powell favors.
While Powell will have to testify on the next Pentagon budget in April and May even if Clinton ultimately grants his request to retire early, the general's associates and friends said he was more concerned about having to testify during the summer about long-term spending plans.
Powell's friends and associates said there was no personal rancor between Powell and Clinton or between the general and Aspin.
Aspin is considering Powell's request, but has not decided how long to recommend to Clinton that the general should stay, associates said. Powell serves at the president's discretion and has made it clear he will serve as long as Aspin and Clinton want.
Only three of the 11 chairmen of the Joint Chiefs preceding Powell have left office before their terms expired since the office was created in 1949.
Col. F. William Smullen, Powell's spokesman, insisted on Tuesday that the general intends to serve out his term.
A senior aide to Aspin said, "Any conversations between the secretary and General Powell are private." But he did not deny that Powell had requested to leave his job early.
Powell's friends and associates would not say on Tuesday whether he wanted to leave office before July 15, when Aspin is to produce for Clinton an executive order lifting the ban on homosexuals in the military, which the general has strongly opposed.