Curb on Navy Women Halted by Weinberger

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, angered because he was not consulted in advance, has ordered the Navy to rescind a decision to freeze the number of women on active duty for the next five years.

Weinberger’s order was announced Tuesday by Pentagon spokesman Robert Sims, one day after the Navy disclosed that Adm. Carlisle A. H. Trost, the chief of naval operations, had decided that a ceiling had to be put on the number of female enlisted personnel.

“The policy isn’t changed,” Sims said. “The policy is the same as it was, and any thought of changing it has been rescinded by the secretary.”

Prefers Original Goal

He said the Navy would be free to make a case for changing its current goals for female strength. But he said Weinberger was pleased with the Navy’s original goal of increasing female enlisted strength by roughly 10% over the next five years.

“If the Navy has reasons for changing (a) policy (that Weinberger) is perfectly comfortable with, I’m sure they can present it to him and he’ll have an open mind on the subject,” Sims said.

“But the fact is, he is pleased with the policy we had before. He was not consulted about any changes. He became aware of them and has asked that those proposed changes be rescinded.”

Men Needed for Fleet

The Navy announced on Monday that Trost had decided his service had to limit the number of enlisted female sailors because of the congressional ban on assignment of women to combat ships. The Navy is growing toward a 600-ship fleet and needs men for those vessels, the service said.

Under Trost’s decision, the number of enlisted women on active duty would have been limited to the current figure of 46,796 through fiscal 1991, instead of being allowed to grow to 51,300.