Regan and McFarlane

Rambo’s trigger-happy rampage through Vietnam in the movie, “First Blood: Part II,” pales in comparison to the way Chief of Staff Donald Regan is cleaning out the White House.

The most recent exit of Robert McFarlane as national security adviser, and one of the Administration’s few steady voices on international arms diplomacy, is a high price to pay just so Regan can further consolidate his stifling iron grip on the Oval Office.

Regan is commanding the White House as if it were under siege. I wish someone would tell the former Marine officer that he’s in the White House, not the Halls of Montezuma, and on the banks of the Potomac, not the Shores of Tripoli.

His beachhead mentality would be better if it were reserved for more traditional Marine activities; like those undertaken in the first term of the Administration.

Regan has turned the White House inner circle into an inner pair; Reagan and Regan, Ron and Don.

This centralization of power and restriction of access to the President is a dangerous imbalance in the normal functioning of the executive office. It limits the input and scope of thought used in making policy decisions. It also serves to hamper or filter out valid opinions and viewpoints, whose only fault is being in contrast to those held by Regan.

And considering recent illustrations of the narrowness of Donald Regan’s thinking, this is something we should all be concerned about.

KEVIN A. SITES

Los Angeles