Army General Said to Head Joint Chiefs List

Army Gen. Henry Shelton, a former field commander in the Persian Gulf War and leader of the secret Special Operations Command, emerged Tuesday as the leading candidate to become chair the Joints Chiefs of Staff, administration officials said.

Shelton is the choice of Defense Secretary William S. Cohen to replace Army Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, who is retiring, and is expected to receive President Clinton’s blessing within days, officials said. Cohen and Clinton have already discussed the nomination, and a White House announcement of the selection is expected before week’s end, according to the officials.

The selection was due earlier in the spring, but was derailed in early June when an public outcry over a 13-year-old adulterous affair forced the withdrawal from consideration of Cohen’s original choice to replace Shalikashvili, Air Force Chief of Staff Joseph W. Ralston. The controversy intensified the scrutiny on the personal probity of other candidates.

Shelton earned public prominence leading the joint U.S. task force that took control of Haiti in October 1994, then effectively ran the impoverished island through a handoff to the United Nations. His polished handling of that mission give him experience with the kind of smaller-scale peacemaking deployments that the United States is increasingly undertaking throughout the world.

And his experience overseeing the Special Forces Command, known best for its Green Beret units, has given him familiarity with a military capability that may be called on in global trouble spots. Additionally, in his Special Operations role he has been involved in anti-drug operations in Latin America and humanitarian missions in Africe.

During the Gulf War, he was assistant commander of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, which led a helicopter assault pursuing Iraqi guard divisions to the Euphrates River.

He is a graduate of North Carolina State University.