ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 6, 1996 TAG: 9612060031
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: From Knight-Ridder/Tribune and The Associated Press
President Clinton named the top members of his second-term national security team Thursday, selecting U.N. Representative Madeleine Albright to become the first female secretary of state in U.S. history and tapping Republican Sen. William Cohen of Maine to be secretary of defense.
Clinton also chose Anthony Lake, his national security adviser, to be the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and he promoted Lake's deputy, Sandy Berger, to succeed his former boss.
``All are committed to work together as a team that will rise above partisanship,'' Clinton said.
With trouble simmering in Bosnia, the Middle East, North Korea and central Africa, Clinton declared that his new foreign policy team would ``make sure that America remains the indispensable nation - the world's greatest force for peace.''
His choices underscore the importance he placed on three qualities - smooth teamwork, clear articulation of America's global interests, and an ability to forge a bipartisan relationship with the Republican Congress.
Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a frequent critic of Clinton's foreign policy, saluted his appointees and predicted that Albright, Cohen and Lake would be confirmed. Berger's job does not require Senate confirmation.
Helms called Albright ``a tough and courageous lady.'' She is a native of Czechoslovakia, which her family fled for good in the face of Stalin's communism.
But critics suggested that Clinton's new team presents weaknesses as well as strengths.
``The strength is that a premium is placed on collegiality,'' said Richard Haass, director of foreign-policy studies at the Brookings Institution, a centrist think tank. ``Three of them [Albright, Lake and Berger] have already worked together for years. All things being equal, it is a team likely to be better at the public side of the job than the previous team - talking to Congress, going on TV. Generating domestic support for foreign policy is crucial.
``The weakness of the team is a lack of any clear intellectual direction,'' continued Haass, a top foreign policy adviser to President Bush. ``None of these people is associated with any school of thought. Taken collectively, it's hard to know what this adds up to. It seems to me that Mr. Clinton has not yet decided what he wants to do in foreign policy.''
Tom Moore, deputy director for foreign policy and defense studies at the Heritage Foundation - a conservative think tank influential with GOP lawmakers - worried that Albright will ``subordinate America's foreign policy to the United Nations.''
``There seems to be in her mind this idea that American power is legitimate only if exercised through some multinational arrangement,'' Moore said.
Albright is expected to be a more forceful public advocate of U.S. foreign policy than was her predecessor, Warren Christopher, who is retiring.
Albright, in a nod to Christopher, quipped, ``I can only hope that my heels can fill your shoes.''
Clinton said he was proud to pick the first female secretary of state, and he insisted that Albright won the post on merit alone.
``She got the job because I believe, amid a list of truly outstanding people, she had the best combination of qualities to succeed and serve our country at this moment in history,'' Clinton said.
Albright said that ``we live in an era without power blocs, in which old assumptions must be re-examined, institutions modernized, and relationships transformed. If we are to master events rather than be mastered by them, we must be forward-looking in our thinking and flexible in our tactics.''
Both Albright and Cohen emphasized their determination to forge a strong relationship with the GOP Congress. Cohen spent much of his Senate career working on intelligence and defense issues. And Albright worked as an aide to the late Sen. Edmund Muskie, D-Maine.
Clinton praised Cohen as ``the right man to secure the bipartisan support America's armed forces must have and clearly deserve,'' and the retiring GOP senator echoed that theme in his own brief remarks.
``My entire congressional career has been devoted to pursuing a national security policy that is without partisanship,'' Cohen said. He served 22 years in Congress, including 18 years in the Senate, where he played a leading role on the Armed Services Committee.
The selection of Cohen to replace William Perry fulfills Clinton's public hope that he could put a Republican in the Cabinet - and answers internal polls that show voters demanding cooperation in Washington.
Some Democrats privately expressed concern about a Republican so high in their ranks. Jimmy Carter was the last president to put a member of the opposition in his Cabinet, naming James Schlesinger energy secretary.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Madeleine Albright Secretary of state nominee. 2.by CNBWilliam Cohen Defense nominee. color.