The Nation - News from April 5, 1987

Outgoing Navy Secretary John F. Lehman Jr. said Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter’s candidate for chief of naval operations was chosen by President Reagan last year even though Lehman and Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger wanted another man. Lehman, who leaves office this week, said in a television interview that he disagreed with Poindexter, then Reagan’s national security adviser, on the choice of Adm. Carlisle A. H. Trost but denied that he resigned because he lost that battle. Lehman said he and Weinberger supported Adm. Frank B. Kelso, the 6th Fleet commander who directed U.S. operations in the Gulf of Sidra and the U.S. bombing of Libya.