Confirmation of Arms Negotiator Delayed

Richard R. Burt, President Bush’s nominee to head the U.S. arms control negotiating team, is not expected to receive Senate confirmation before strategic arms reduction talks resume June 19, in part over allegations involving marijuana and security leaks, congressional and State Department officials disclosed Wednesday.

The delay could embarrass the Bush Administration, which faces the prospect of sending a leaderless delegation to the arms talks, and impede progress toward an agreement by the United States and the Soviet Union to reduce their arsenals of intercontinental missiles.

The allegations against Burt, some made by his longtime critic, Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), were rejected this week by the department’s inspector general after investigation here and in West Germany, where Burt served as ambassador until his current appointment, officials said.

But Helms has prevented the nomination from being sent to the Senate floor for a vote, making approval before opening of the arms talks in Geneva “almost impossible,” according to congressional sources.

“Burt has been named head of delegation and START negotiator by the President, and what he needs is confirmation in the personal rank of ambassador,” a State Department official said. “He can be sent out without formal confirmation to do the job, but whether it would be wise to send him out before Congress acts is a political decision that has not been made yet.”

Burt, 42, is usually described as brash, aggressive and ambitious, but also expert on international affairs, particularly arms issues, on which he is regarded as a moderate.

A former reporter for the New York Times, he served under President Ronald Reagan as director of politico-military affairs at the State Department and assistant secretary for European affairs. In 1985, soon after his marriage to Gahl Hodges, Nancy Reagan’s social secretary, he was appointed U.S. ambassador to West Germany.

Helms opposed Burt for all those posts. Initially, he complained that Burt disclosed classified information in some of his newspaper articles. Then, Helms alleged that Burt as a State Department official leaked secrets to a woman reporter with whom he was friendly.

In the current skirmish, Burt was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a vote of 14 to 2. Besides Helms, Sen. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) voted against him.

Helms said at the time that a number of government officials had alleged that Burt mishandled classified material, including making a public comment suggesting a Libyan connection to the West German discotheque bombing incident in 1986.

But State Department Inspector General Sherman M. Funk’s office gave Burt a clean bill of health.

It said that the State Department had received a complaint from Helms “about security clearances” for Burt. Separately, it said, Funk had received “an allegation, submitted by an informant to another law enforcement agency, relating to marijuana found three years ago” in Burt’s ambassadorial residence in Bonn.

“After an extensive review,” it said, the inquiry “found that the three background investigations of Burt in 1981, 1985 and 1989 were conducted in full compliance” with the applicable executive order and department rules.

The marijuana complaint included an allegation of attempted cover-up, the statement said. After investigation, Funk concluded that “there is no evidence whatever that Burt possessed or used marijuana or any other controlled substance while employed by the Department of State.”