Gen. Walters Agrees to Take U.N. Job

Vernon Walters, assured that he will have a voice on national security matters, agreed to accept the post of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations even though he may have less clout than Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, the current ambassador, it was announced today.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said the Walters nomination, in the works since Feb. 8, was sent to the Senate on Monday. If confirmed, he will replace Kirkpatrick, who is returning to teaching.

Blaming misinterpretation for a tiff that had raised doubts about the nomination, Speakes heaped praise on Walters, a retired general, and said his powers and duties would be “exactly the same as all those who preceded him.”

“The President will continue to seek Gen. Walters’ counsel as U.N. ambassador, as a member of his Cabinet and as a personal adviser on national security matters,” Speakes said.

Despite the public assurances of equal treatment, Walters, who met Monday with Secretary of State George P. Shultz to discuss the scope of his proposed powers and duties, is not expected to play as influential a role as Kirkpatrick, Administration officials said.

A veteran diplomatic trouble-shooter and intelligence expert, Walters appeared to be a logical choice--conservative and tough when necessary--to succeed Kirkpatrick.

However, officials said Walters learned Friday and Saturday in meetings with Reagan and national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane that he would not be guaranteed regular involvement in the high-level formulation of foreign policy.

“Though he didn’t like the change in the role, he seemed to accept it,” said one official, who also indicated the decision is not subject to negotiation. “The President just doesn’t feel he should be a regular attendee at NSC meetings and national security planning meetings, and that’s that.”

Walters was also said to have been angered by what was interpreted by some to be a move by Shultz to ensure that the U.N. ambassador’s post would be subordinate to his own. Shultz has occasionally been at odds with the outspoken Kirkpatrick in the last several years.

Although Walters will not be designated a member of the National Security Council, Speakes said Kirkpatrick, despite her high profile and position of prominence in the Administration, never had NSC membership.

Like Kirkpatrick, Walters will attend sessions of the NSC “on an ad hoc basis and at the invitation of the President,” depending on the relevance of the subject matter to his work at the United Nations, Speakes said.