Carlucci Plans Major Changes in Security Staff

Incoming national security adviser Frank Carlucci has concluded that President Reagan’s National Security Council staff is far below the standards he expects, and he plans wholesale staff changes after taking over next month, Administration sources said.

Members of the present council staff, meanwhile, said the advisory group has been largely paralyzed by uncertainty and the widespread impounding of files in connection with the investigations of covert operations by former council staff people.

“We’re busy updating resumes,” one staffer said.

Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter resigned last month as director of the staff and Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North was fired as their roles in the Iran- contra scandal came to light.

‘Shocking Mediocrity’

One source said Carlucci has been “shocked at the level of mediocrity” he has found during a crash review of the staff in preparation for his takeover Jan. 1.

The source said most of the professional staff will be replaced in coming months, beginning with acting national security adviser Alton Keel and acting deputy Peter W. Rodman.

One official said many of the 50 or so professionals and specialists on the staff appear to have been hired more for their political beliefs than for their expertise in specific foreign policy areas.

Others with knowledge of the staff and Carlucci’s review of it attributed the supposed decline of professionalism to the relative inexperience of Reagan’s four previous national security advisers, Richard V. Allen, William P. Clark Jr., Robert C. McFarlane and Poindexter.

None of the four came from the top ranks of the foreign policy community, although McFarlane had worked on the council staff during the Nixon and Ford administrations.