Treaty Figure May Head Arms Agency
President Reagan has decided to nominate as director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency an Army officer who helped to negotiate the treaty banning ground-based medium-range nuclear missiles, the New York Times reported in today’s editions.
Maj. Gen. William Burns, 55, would succeed Kenneth L. Adelman, the Times reported, citing Administration officials it did not identify. Adelman announced his resignation July 30 and officially left his post Saturday.
White House and State Department officials said Sunday night that they had not heard of the appointment.
“I don’t know anything about it,” said Liz Murphy, a White House spokeswoman. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
Burns was the top military adviser to American negotiators working on the nuclear treaty and is the No. 2 man in the State Department’s office of politico-military affairs, where he has worked for the last year.
Burns will retire from the military to assume the post, the newspaper said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
