Powell Wins Confirmation to Joint Chiefs

The Senate confirmed Gen. Colin L. Powell early today to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The action, taken on voice vote, came without debate or dissent.

Powell, 52, becomes the first black to hold the nation’s most senior military position.

A Vietnam combat veteran who rose through the ranks from a college ROTC commission, Powell served a brief stint during the 1980s in charge of an Army corps in Europe and worked as a top aide to defense secretaries Caspar W. Weinberger and Frank C. Carlucci.

Powell won unanimous approval from the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, with both Republicans and Democrats hailing him as an outstanding choice.

Powell, who is the youngest officer to head the Joint Chiefs, will replace Adm. William J. Crowe Jr. on Oct. 1.

Over Other Officers

In choosing the 31-year veteran to lead the nation’s 2 million troops, President Bush skipped over several more senior military officers.

At his confirmation hearing Wednesday, Powell told the armed services panel that the United States is nearing the point where its global commitments exceed its ability to meet them.

Powell also told the panel that reductions in U.S. troop strength or other military cutbacks--whether in response to budget pressures or to a less bellicose Soviet Union--should be determined based on superpower negotiations rather than unilateral action.

Powell also said he hopes Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev succeeds with his economic and political reforms. The U.S. role, he said, should be to “let the Soviets know that we are willing to work with them; we are willing to watch carefully and even assist as appropriate in the changes that are taking place, but always from a position of strength.”

But he cautioned that “we shouldn’t drift off into wishful thinking” about a new Kremlin attitude. Unilateral force reductions, he said, “would be premature.”