U.S. Reassures Officers on Post-Noriega Status : Wouldn’t Seek Changes in Military if Strongman Left, Administration Says

In a new attempt to undercut support for Panamanian strongman Manuel A. Noriega among his nation’s military, the Reagan Administration announced Monday that it would not seek any changes in the Panama Defense Forces if Noriega left.

State Department spokesman Charles Redman disclosed that during talks last weekend seeking to persuade Noriega to go into exile, the United States “offered to use its influence to guarantee the integrity of the Panamanian Defense Forces as a professional military institution.”

Redman said the United States is not seeking the removal of any other Panamanian military officers besides Noriega.

The U.S. statements appeared aimed at reassuring Panamanian military leaders who continue to back Noriega that their jobs do not depend on keeping him in power and that these leaders will not be subjected to legal action in the United States in the way that Noriega has been.

In another development, the Pentagon confirmed that it has dispatched an additional force of 312 military police and security officers to Panama City to guard U.S. military facilities and dependents there. Pentagon spokeswoman Nancy LaLuntas said the deployment, in light of continuing civil unrest in the nation, is a “prudent measure to further safeguard the canal, U.S. personnel, property and interests. . . . “

The new force was sent less than a week after the Pentagon added 108 new Marine and Air Force security guards to its forces in Panama.

Grand Jury Indictments

Last month, federal grand juries in Miami and Tampa, Fla., charged Noriega with drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering. U.S. officials have confirmed that the Justice Department at first considered naming Panama’s entire military leadership as a “criminal enterprise” involved in drug trafficking.

That charge was reportedly deleted from the indictment after the State Department argued that it would help to unite the Panamanian officers corps around Noriega.

When asked Monday about the general problem of drug trafficking among the Panamanian military, Redman replied, “Without going into detail, I think it’s clear that the removal of Noriega will have a very large impact on the situation.”

The State Department spokesman declined to say whether the United States has guaranteed that no legal action will be taken against other members of the Panamanian Defense Forces.

Last week, two State Department officials, William G. Walker and Michael G. Kozak, met with Noriega in Panama City in an unsuccessful effort to persuade him to leave the country. The United States offered to fly Noriega on a U.S. Air Force jet from Panama to exile in Spain. At the request of the Administration, the Spanish government has offered Noriega political asylum, with assurances that he would not be extradited to the United States.

Noriega refused to give up power. When asked Monday whether the United States has any plans to negotiate further with the strongman, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater replied: “No. . . . I think we have a pretty good reading of the general’s attitude, and it didn’t seem to include further conversations, at least at this point.”

The State Department complained that over the last weekend, after his meetings with the two U.S. officials, Noriega spread the word that the Administration was seeking the removal of other Panamanian officers. Redman said this assertion by Noriega was untrue and amounted to “disinformation.”

The thrust of official U.S. statements Monday was aimed at convincing Noriega that he should give up power for the good of the nation and the Defense Forces.

‘Situation Is Deteriorating’

“We see Noriega’s continued presence in Panama as untenable,” Redman declared. “He appears to be placing his own interests above those of Panama and (of) the Defense Forces as an institution. . . . The situation is deteriorating. It has been--it continues to be. Noriega continues to lose control.

“Inevitably, he’s going to have to leave. So we would hope at this stage that Noriega could obviate the need for further deterioration and further chaos and just simply undertake a prompt departure that would save himself an amount of trouble. It would save the Panamanian people and the Panamanian Defense Forces as an institution.”

Although U.S. officials said during the weekend that they might take further action against Panama to increase pressure on Noriega, they declined to say Monday what those actions might be.