Rowny Steps Down as Senior Arms Control Adviser to Bush

Edward L. Rowny resigned Thursday as a senior arms control adviser to President Bush.

Sources said Rowny resigned over what he felt was undue haste in completing a treaty with the Soviet Union to limit strategic nuclear missiles.

“You have served as one of the principal architects of the American policy of peace through strength,” Bush said in a letter to the 73-year-old retired Army lieutenant general.

Rowny, who will leave his post on June 30, said in a statement that he looked forward “to contributing to his (Bush’s) efforts for peace through strength.”

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Rowny had authorized him to say there was no disagreement or reason to leave other than to take two positions outside government.

But the sources said Rowny disagreed with Secretary of State James A. Baker III over Baker’s pushing to complete the treaty at what Rowny felt was too fast a pace. “He wanted to slow down START (the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty talks) before we give up too much,” a source close to Rowny said. “He is saying: ‘What’s the rush?’ ”