Ex-Gadfly Aspin a Leader on Arms Issues

It was a typical press release from Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), written puckishly but full of inescapable facts.

The 1975 announcement disclosed that Duncan, a dog owned by Gen. Alexander M. Haig Jr., then commander of NATO forces, was being shipped around Europe by military plane. An embarrassed Haig reimbursed the government.

Aspin, the newly elected chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is one of Congress’ most knowledgeable critics of defense policies--and on subjects much more substantive than the perquisites of the Pentagon brass.

In his early years in the House, Aspin was forced to do most of his legislating by press release: His colleagues were so irritated by his gadfly attacks that it was difficult for him to get anything done through regular channels.

But, more recently, as the membership of the House has changed dramatically, Aspin has emerged as a leader among Democrats on major military issues. Although he was a leading dove during the Vietnam War, he now is identified with military “reformers,” who question the effectiveness of defense programs rather than the need for them.

Aspin was initially skeptical about nuclear freeze proposals but eventually supported the House’s freeze resolution and led the debate when other proponents stumbled.

His growing reputation as a moderate was solidified when he became a leading supporter of the Scowcroft Commission recommendations for keeping alive the MX missile.

At home in southeastern Wisconsin, Aspin’s crusades against wasteful spending at the Pentagon have hurt him little in a district with no military bases and few defense contractors.

Aspin, one of the brainiest members of Congress, has one of the most impressive resumes: degrees from Yale, Oxford and MIT; an aide to Walter Heller when he was chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers; an aide to former Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara.

His selection to replace Rep. Melvin Price (D-Ill.) as head of the Armed Services Committee is not without a touch of irony: In 1975, Aspin led the coup that made Price chairman of the panel.