Military Kept on Sidelines, Panel Told : Had Little Summit Input, Head of Joint Chiefs Says

Quietly and almost haltingly, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff complained Tuesday that the U.S. military should have been given a greater role at the Reykjavik summit conference and that senior military officers had no opportunity to advise President Reagan or his aides once negotiations began.

Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., the nation’s top-ranking military officer, portrayed the joint chiefs as a team relegated to the sidelines when Reagan and his senior aides began preparations for the hastily arranged meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Iceland last month.

His testimony before a panel of the House Armed Services Committee prompted the committee chairman, Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), to tell the mild-mannered four-star admiral: “I wish you had been a little more assertive this fall.

‘Have to Squeak More’

“In this town, the squeaky wheel gets attention,” Aspin said, admonishing Crowe: “You have to squeak a little more.”

It was only after Reagan returned from Reykjavik--having discussed with Gorbachev the possibilities of reducing the two superpowers’ nuclear arsenals by 50% in five years and of eliminating all nuclear missiles in 10 years--that the joint chiefs began to study the impact such reductions would have on the military forces.

“We didn’t think the negotiations at Reykjavik would go that far that fast. We plain didn’t,” Crowe testified.

And he conceded that, from the vantage point of “Monday-morning quarterbacking,” the chiefs could have given Reagan better advice.

Indeed, he said, had the joint chiefs anticipated the proposals that were eventually discussed in Iceland, “I would have liked to have advised the President in more depth.”

But, he added: “The Chinese say, ‘Predicting is very difficult, especially with regard to the future.’ ”

Concern on Soviet Forces

The Joint Chiefs of Staff, although favoring eventual elimination of nuclear missiles, are concerned that the United States could be placed at a disadvantage by eliminating them too quickly, because the Soviet Union is believed to have more capable conventional forces.

Under questioning, the admiral said that the joint chiefs had not been given the opportunity to discuss with the U.S. delegation the military impact of eliminating all long-range nuclear missiles in 10 years.

And, he conceded that it was “unusual” that the United States would advance such a proposal in negotiations without consulting the senior military officers.

Although he was represented at the Reykjavik talks by a lieutenant general, John Moellering, Crowe told the panel: “I would like to see the military have more participation in these things.” Gorbachev was accompanied to the talks by the Soviet military’s chief of staff.

When asked whether the chiefs had no opportunity to relay their advice to the Iceland delegation once the talks began, Crowe said: “That is correct.”

Principal Military Adviser

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the principal military adviser to the President. In the past, Crowe and his predecessors have not seen eye-to-eye with Aspin, a former Pentagon aide who became a gadfly to the Defense Department even as he moved into the chairmanship of the normally supportive House Armed Services Committee.

But, on the subject of the Reykjavik summit, Aspin was clearly in Crowe’s corner, dishing up encouragement for a more active military role in the Administration’s arms control efforts.

“I would feel better if you were more involved in the process,” he told Crowe, who replied that he too would like to see the chiefs with a “more influential” voice on arms control.