Arms Control Chief Says Tower Showed ‘Lack of Discretion’ During Geneva Trip

John Tower’s “lack of discretion” in personal matters while a senior U.S. arms control negotiator in Geneva should be considered by the Senate in deciding whether to confirm him as defense secretary, according to the head of the State Department’s Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) during Tower’s tenure.

Kenneth L. Adelman said Wednesday in a published column and in an interview that Tower’s actions--which he declined to specify--proved “troublesome” for the State Department during the Geneva arms control talks. He said they “raise questions about his overall judgment and probity.”

As ACDA director from 1983 through 1987, Adelman was charged with coordinating U.S. arms control negotiations worldwide and was in a position to review internal State Department correspondence regarding the Geneva delegation. From January, 1985, to April, 1986, Tower headed the portion of the delegation that discussed mutual cuts in long-range nuclear missiles with the Soviets.

Adelman is the highest ranking former or current U.S. official to raise doubts about Tower’s fitness to serve as defense secretary.

‘No Private Life’

Adelman said that Tower’s private behavior did not directly affect his conduct of official business at the Geneva talks, but said it should be a factor in the Senate’s deliberations because “a defense secretary has no private life. In the military chain of command just below the President, he must be of sound and clear mind by day and by night.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairman of the Senate panel weighing Tower’s confirmation, said Wednesday the full Senate may have to go into a rare closed session to consider some of the charges against Tower.

Nunn, responding to a reporter’s question in Rome, Ga., said he hopes the Senate can debate the Tower nomination in open session, “but it depends on the type of questions posed on the Senate floor. . . . If an accurate answer to these questions includes personal information, I would recommend that a limited closed session be held to answer these questions and only these questions.”

The full Senate seldom meets in private, reserving such sessions chiefly for discussing classified intelligence matters and internal business.

Consultant Payments

Nunn has said he is troubled by aspects of Tower’s personal life and his business dealings as a consultant for major arms makers after leaving the Geneva post. Tower, who served 24 years in the Senate, was paid more than $760,000 over 2 1/2 years by six major defense contractors to serve as a Washington lobbyist and consultant.

Tower’s confirmation is on hold as the Senate Armed Services Committee awaits the results of an FBI inquiry into new allegations about Tower’s personal and financial affairs. The Senate returns to Washington next Tuesday after a 10-day recess.

Tower’s behavior in Geneva has been the subject of widespread but unconfirmed rumors. Informed sources said Tuesday that the FBI file on Tower contains allegations that Tower slept with women on the arms control delegation staff and that his behavior was disruptive to delegation business.

Tower’s ex-wife, Lilla Burt Cummings, demanded to know in 1987 divorce papers whether Tower had carried on an affair in Geneva with his housekeeper, a Filipino woman employed by ACDA. The divorce was settled before Tower could answer the allegation, but a Tower aide called the charge “ludicrous.”

The FBI file also includes complaints to Washington from Geneva arms control staffers about Tower’s behavior with other women while his wife was out of town, sources said.

Hampered Morale

Staffers complained that Tower’s personal problems with his wife sometimes forced them to cancel or reschedule business and social events and that Tower’s actions hampered morale.

A senior member of the delegation, who asked not to be named, flatly denied that Tower carried on extramarital affairs while in Geneva and described the charges as old rumors that have never been proved.

“Lilla was there almost all the time” that Tower was in Geneva, the official said. “And when she wasn’t there, his daughters were. I don’t even know when he would have had time to do all this. I don’t know where any of this is coming from.”

Adelman and other senior U.S. diplomats said that Tower’s personal conduct had no effect on his business dealings with the Soviets.

“I was mighty impressed by Mr. Tower’s performance as strategic arms negotiator in 1985 and 1986,” Adelman wrote in a column that appeared in the Washington Times on Wednesday. “He mastered technical information far better than expected, built a first-rate team, and dealt with the Russians as a true professional.

‘Lack of Discretion’

“Yet his lack of discretion proved troublesome then, as before and since. Not that this directly affected his on-the-job performance--it never did--but it did raise questions about his overall judgment and probity,” Adelman wrote.

Others in Geneva echoed Adelman’s praise of Tower’s negotiating skills. Max M. Kampelman, who was head of the U.S. delegation, said he never witnessed any misconduct by Tower and commended him for his grasp of the minutiae of strategic arms reduction proposals.

Warren Zimmerman, who served as a senior career officer in the Geneva delegation while Tower was there, said: “I saw nothing untoward in his behavior. In all respects he behaved with great credit to the United States.”