Walters Gives U.N. a 6 on a Scale of 10 : Will Try to Improve U.S. Image, Ambassador Nominee Tells Panel

Maj. Gen. Vernon A. Walters, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his nomination as ambassador to the United Nations, Wednesday rated the world organization at 6 on a scale of 10 and said he hopes to improve it if he is confirmed.

In an hourlong session, the 67-year-old multilingual soldier-diplomat said that one of his top priorities would be to work on “improving the perception” of the United States in the United Nations.

Walters said that he rates the world body as “about 6 out of 10” but hopes that his efforts can raise the score to an 8. He identified the U.N.’s major problem, aside from a growing budget, as the continuing hostility of developing nations toward Israel and South Africa, both of which are backed by the United States.

Trading Compliments

No apparent opposition surfaced as committee members traded compliments with Walters, whose confirmation by the full Senate is expected soon. The nearest thing to an unfriendly question was posed by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), who asked if Walters’ service as deputy CIA director and his frequent role in cloak-and-dagger missions might prove a handicap in dealing with Third World representatives.

“I have been dealing for the past four years with people who are enormously hostile to the CIA,” Walters said of his most recent post as ambassador-at-large, which took him to Cuba for secret visits with President Fidel Castro and to Ethiopia to meet with head of state Mengistu Haile Mariam and other Marxist leaders. “It doesn’t seem to have been a particular burden to them.”

Same Terms

When asked by committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) if he would have the same Cabinet-level access to the White House and National Security Council that former Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick had, Walters said that he accepted the post under the same conditions that Kirkpatrick did.

“I don’t believe I’ll be attending all meetings of the council, but I understand the terms of my position to be exactly the same as my predecessor’s,” he said.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz apparently wanted to restrict the U.N. ambassador’s access to the National Security Council. But Walters told the Senate panel: “I am not going to be a messenger boy.”

If Cabinet status for the job were removed, he said, “it would send a message to the U.N. that my voice would be muted and they should not pay as much attention.”