Eight New Staff Members Named to NSC

President Reagan announced the appointment of eight new National Security Council staff members Wednesday, a move described as adding “fresh blood” to an embattled agency sapped by the Iran arms sale controversy.

The new staff members include Fritz W. Ermarth, the CIA’s ranking Soviet affairs expert, and Robert B. Oakley, who recently headed the State Department’s anti-terrorism office.

Overhauls Apparatus

Agency chief Frank C. Carlucci has been overhauling Reagan’s national security apparatus since his predecessor, Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, resigned after the disclosure of the arms sales and the diversion of profits to the contras.

A Poindexter aide, Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, was fired for his role in the affair, and several ranking officials have resigned.

In announcing the new staff members, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater observed that Carlucci “has undertaken an aggressive program of management changes in the NSC.

‘More Fresh Blood’

“He’s bringing in a lot of very talented, experienced and excellent people,” Fitzwater said. “It represents more fresh blood being brought into that organization.”

The new members, and the positions they were appointed to, are:

--Grant S. Green Jr., named executive secretary of the agency, who worked with Carlucci at Sears World Trade and formerly was military assistant to the secretary of defense.

--Herman Jay Cohen, senior director of African affairs, who has been a State Department specialist on Africa and former ambassador to Senegal and Gambia.

Senior Representative

--Robert W. Dean, senior director of international programs and technology affairs, who has been the senior representative for strategic technology policy at the State Department.

--Ermarth, senior director for Soviet and European affairs, who has been the national intelligence officer for the Soviet Union at the CIA.

--Barry Kelly, senior director for intelligence and multilateral affairs, who has worked in private industry following his retirement from the CIA.

Resident Fellow

--Oakley, senior director of Middle East, South Asia and North Africa affairs, who most recently has been a resident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

--Jose S. Sorzano, senior director of Latin American affairs, who has been an associate professor of government at Georgetown University since 1969.

--Paul S. Stevens, legal adviser, who has been in private law practice in Washington since 1978.