Reagan Likely to Issue Directive on Terrorism

President Reagan, acting on the recommendation of a task force headed by Vice President Bush, soon will issue an executive order declaring terrorism “a potential threat to national security” and pledging to resist it “by all legal means available,” senior Administration officials said.

While the directive calls for greater international sharing of intelligence information and increased military contingency planning, it sidesteps the divisive issue within the Administration on when it is appropriate to use military force against state-supported terrorism.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz, an outspoken advocate of a firmer anti-terrorist policy, said last week that the United States “cannot wait for absolute certainty and clarity” before using force against terrorists or countries that support them. Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger has repeatedly urged caution in using military force on the basis of circumstantial evidence, and last week he criticized those who seek “instant gratification from some kind of bombing attack without being too worried about the details.”

Two-Inch-Thick Report

Reagan’s directive will endorse a task force report that is two inches thick and contains 50 recommendations, the officials said Friday. Many of the recommendations simply lend formal endorsement to current Administration policy, such as not making concessions to terrorists and pledging to pursue and prosecute those involved in terrorist acts.

The report is intended to provide Reagan with a document that will stand as a comprehensive anti-terrorist policy and refute critics who charge that the Administration is indecisive or “lacks a policy” to combat terrorism, said an official familiar with its contents. But it does not resolve the basic issue of defining the circumstances under which the United States should use military force against nations, such as Libya, that the President has identified as supporting terrorism.

The report designates the State Department as the lead agency for dealing with international terrorism and the Defense Department as the action arm for operations in the international arena. But the national security affairs office in the White House, headed by John M. Poindexter, is given responsibility for implementing the recommendations.

The task force was appointed by Reagan last June 20 while American passengers on TWA Flight 847 were being held hostage in Beirut and the day after a terrorist attack on a restaurant in El Salvador killed 15 people, including four U.S. Marines. The 15-person panel presented its report to Reagan on Dec. 20, and an unclassified version is scheduled to be made public in mid-February.