Chairman of Joint Chiefs to Visit Soviet Union in June

Adm. William J. Crowe, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said today that he will travel to the Soviet Union in June, the first modern-day visit by such an officer.

U.S. and Soviet officials are still working on the exact date and other details, said Crowe, who made the announcement during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The visit is part of an exchange in which Marshal Sergei F. Akhromeyev, the Soviet Union’s first deputy minister of defense and chief of general staff, traveled to the United States last July. Akhromeyev visited North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

“This is a very positive development,” said Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, ranking Republican on the committee. He noted that the panel has advocated “more exchange between our senior military officers in terms of visits and meetings with the senior Soviet military.”

In the past, high U.S. and Soviet military officials have met in connection with World War II conferences in Berlin and Yalta.

During today’s hearing on a wide range of issues, Crowe also said Defense Secretary Dick Cheney is “facing some gut-wrenching decisions” on the budget.

A congressional-Bush Administration budget agreement reached today calls for restraining overall fiscal 1990 growth in military programs to below the rate of inflation. The Pentagon would be held to about $299 billion in outlays, virtually the same as this year. Military spending authority, which includes commitments that span more than one fiscal year, would be about $305.5 billion.