
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, November 9, 1993                   TAG: 9311090119
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

CITING CRITICISM, TOP OFFICIAL AT STATE QUITS

Deputy Secretary of State Clifton R. Wharton, frustrated and angry over criticism that seemed to blame him for President Clinton's foreign policy troubles, resigned Monday, becoming the first top-level official to leave the administration.

"In the past two weeks, it became unmistakably clear that I was being subjected to the classic Washington practice of sustained anonymous leaks to the media," Wharton said in a written statement. "I decided to resign, rather than permit my effectiveness to be further eroded."

Paradoxically, Wharton, 66, had specialized in departmental reorganization and administrative matters during his brief tenure. He was not deeply involved in establishing the administration's controversial policy toward trouble spots like Bosnia, Somalia and Haiti, which produced most of the criticism on Capitol Hill and elsewhere of the foreign policy team of Secretary of State Warren Christopher, White House national security adviser Anthony Lake and Defense Secretary Les Aspin.

Nevertheless, Wharton's departure opens up the department's second-highest job, giving the White House an opportunity to strengthen the foreign policy team.

According to department sources, Christopher has concluded that he needs an experienced career diplomat as his deputy, perhaps someone in the mold of Lawrence Eagleburger, a tough bureaucratic in-fighter who served as deputy secretary of state for most of the Bush administration.

by CNB