Aide to Aspin Reportedly Tops List for Pentagon Job : Cabinet: William Perry has strong defense credentials. He is seen as highly regarded by Clinton and Congress.

Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Perry, a former Stanford University engineering professor who is highly regarded at the Pentagon, has emerged as the leading candidate to succeed Les Aspin as defense secretary, White House sources said Thursday.

Although President Clinton probably won’t disclose his choice for the nomination until next week, sources said that he appears to be settling on Perry because of his background in defense affairs, his popularity in the Administration and in Congress and the likelihood that he would win quick Senate confirmation.

At least five other possible candidates have been under consideration, but a senior White House official familiar with the selection process singled out Perry and said: “He is almost universally well-regarded, especially within the Administration, and the President knows him and thinks highly of him. He knows of Perry’s reputation on the Hill.”

The nomination of Perry, the official said, also is supported by Aspin--who is highly respected in defense circles despite the fact that he resigned under pressure last month after being widely criticized for not guiding the Pentagon with a steady hand.

Finding a strong candidate who would easily win confirmation as Clinton begins the second year of his presidency has been a top White House priority since Bobby Ray Inman secretly signaled two weeks ago that he would withdraw as the nominee.

Inman first told the White House of his intentions Jan. 6, but the Administration--not wanting the news to detract from a trip Clinton was embarking on two days later to Europe and Russia--kept it a secret until after the President returned. Clinton accepted Inman’s withdrawal Monday night.

His withdrawal baffled top White House officials and sent them scrambling to find another popular choice. While the President traveled overseas, White House Chief of Staff Thomas (Mack) McLarty and Anthony Lake, the national security adviser, began considering possible candidates.

Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairman of the Armed Forces Committee, was sounded out for the post but declined it, sources said. He is believed to be backing Perry, whom he strongly supported for deputy secretary.

From the beginning, White House officials have considered Perry a strong contender. The other possible candidates either lack his solid defense credentials or for other reasons are not considered as well-positioned for the post.

The other candidates include two top Administration officials--Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen and CIA Director R. James Woolsey. But a White House official said both probably are considered to be too valuable in their current posts for either to take over the defense job.

Two chief executives of defense firms--Norman Augustine of the Martin Marietta Corp. and Bernard Schwartz of Loral Corp.--also have been under consideration. But neither has a military background. Still another possible candidate whom the White House considered was former Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N. H.), a Washington lawyer.

Perry, 66, was undersecretary of defense for research and engineering during the Jimmy Carter Administration and was known for his ability to overcome bureaucratic resistance and cut through red tape. He was a key figure in promoting an obscure technology labeled “Stealth,” which developed into the now-celebrated Stealth bomber and Stealth fighter.

Since returning to the Pentagon, he has had a strong hand in running the department and has been in charge of a determined effort to reform the way the Pentagon spends its $45.5-billion procurement budget.

After assuming the deputy defense secretary’s post, he said: “When I leave this job in four years, I’d like to look back and say I’ve left some legacy. Acquisition reform is high on the list of things I’m trying to change.”

Associates describe Perry as having enormous drive and discipline, but say he is soft-spoken and courteous and gets his way as an executive through persuasion, not confrontation. Vitalij Garber, a Perry deputy in the Carter era, was once quoted by Business Week as saying that Perry “has a knack for putting himself psychologically in the place of government and industry people and synthesizing an approach both can accept.”

A mathematical scientist, Perry first served the Defense Department as a technical consultant in Washington during 1966-67. Before becoming undersecretary of defense in 1977, he co-founded ESL Inc., a Silicon Valley defense electronics company.

After leaving the Pentagon, he served as managing director of Hambrecht & Quist Inc., a San Francisco venture-capital firm. He later chaired a consulting firm whose clients included big military contractors.

During 1985-93, he was chairman of Technology Strategies & Alliances of Menlo Park, Calif. From 1989 to 1993, he was professor and co-director of the prestigious Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford, where he worked with former Soviet defense officials on defense conversion.

He served two years in the Army, beginning in 1946.