Colin Powell to Be Named Head of Joint Chiefs

In a move that would break one of the U.S. armed forces’ last color barriers, President Bush will name Colin Powell, a 52-year-old black Army general, to become the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Administration sources said Wednesday.

If his appointment is confirmed by the Senate, Powell will become Bush’s top adviser on military affairs and the nation’s senior military officer in a position that was greatly expanded in scope by a 1986 defense reorganization bill. Powell would also be a principal adviser to the defense secretary and the National Security Council.

Bush is expected to announce his choice of Powell, who served as former President Ronald Reagan’s sixth national security adviser, this afternoon. Powell would replace Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., the outgoing chairman.

At 52, Powell would be the youngest chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Those who know Powell said that the President would find in him a consensus-seeking adviser sensitive to the vagaries of domestic and diplomatic politics. At the same time, the armed services would have as their leader an officer who started military life in 1958 as an infantryman and eagerly sought escape from a succession of political jobs to return to the command of “mud soldiers.”

Powell is currently commander in chief of Forces Command, which is responsible for the readiness of military units stationed in the United States.

He returned to that military post in April after serving as White House national security adviser from December, 1987, to January, 1989, when Bush named retired Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft to the White House position.

Pentagon sources said that Powell appeared to be Defense Secretary Dick Cheney’s strong preference for the senior military post. Powell met with Cheney at the Pentagon on Tuesday to discuss the job, sources said.

Powell won praise from lawmakers for helping to restore order to the White House National Security Council in the wake of disclosures that an NSC operation sold arms to Iran and diverted the profits to the rebels in Nicaragua.

Former Weinberger Aide

At the time of the Iran-Contra scandal, Powell had been the military aide to then-Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger. In that capacity, Powell administered the transfer of anti-tank missiles from Army stocks to Iran.

But Powell escaped criticism for his role in the affair and later in his capacity as national security adviser, even after many experts recommended that military officers should be barred from holding the sensitive White House position.

The Senate is expected to confirm Powell, whose name has been widely circulated as Crowe’s successor, without controversy. He would become the 12th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since the position was created in 1949.

“Powell’s strength would fit right into the Crowe mold, in that he’s got a strategic sense as well as a good sense of military operation,” one Capitol Hill aide said. “He also can look across military service lines and set broader defense priorities. That’s especially important in the current era of fiscal constraints.”

In choosing Powell for the post, Bush passed over several more senior candidates. The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Robert T. Herres, was believed to be a contender for the position. Air Force Chief of Staff Larry D. Welch also was considered a possible successor to Crowe, although Welch’s prospects appeared to dim in the wake of a dispute with Cheney.

After completing a four-year term, Crowe is to retire on Sept. 30. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff normally serves a two-year term, although his tour of duty is determined by the President.

Son of Immigrants

Powell was born in New York, the son of Jamaican immigrants, and is a graduate of City University of New York.

He commanded the Army’s 5th Corps in Frankfurt, West Germany, a position that is both politically sensitive and militarily important. He won a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for service in Vietnam and commanded an infantry battalion in Korea.

At the White House, Powell’s modest approach was highly praised--and criticized.