Nunn Promises Full Review of Tower by Panel

The Senate Armed Services Committee will not play the “old-boy game” with former Sen. John Tower, President-elect George Bush’s choice for secretary of defense, Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), the committee chairman, said Monday.

“The committee will have a higher set of standards . . . for the entire team,” from Tower through the Pentagon’s top managers, Nunn told reporters.

When asked whether Tower will be handled with kid gloves at his confirmation hearing before the panel he formerly chaired, Nunn said: “We are not going to play the old-boy game this go-around.”

Nunn said that he and Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, the ranking Republican on the committee, will insist on seeing the full FBI report on Tower. The bureau conducted an extensive investigation into Tower’s background, including reports of alleged womanizing, heavy drinking and cozy relationships with the military industry.

Defense analysts and congressional observers have predicted that Tower, who was chairman of the panel during the first half of the Reagan Administration, will receive special treatment and quick confirmation.

Nunn said, however, that he did not want to repeat mistakes of the sort Tower made as chairman, when Melvyn R. Paisley was confirmed as a top Pentagon official. Paisley now figures prominently in the government’s military procurement fraud investigation.