European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 26, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Cyrus Vance with the main foreign policy spokesman. The Vance stance by Bernard Gwertzman new York times t has been an arduous often frustrating year for Cyrus r. Vance As Secretary of state. His achievements As president Carter s chief for eign policy adviser have been mostly in bringing order and cooperation to the internal handling of foreign affairs and therefore largely ignored by the Public and the press. His image a matter of concern to his staff but less so to him has become that of a colourless Overly Secre Tive negotiator lacking the flair of Henry a. Kissinger or even of Dean Rusk the last Democrat in the Job. To compound Vance s problems his inability so far to achieve breakthroughs on his trips to Moscow the Middle East Europe or China has been painfully evident to the state department and has produced unflattering Washington columns and quips about the no win Secretary of , however seems a bothered by the deprecatory comments about Vance. Carter in fact went to an Drews air Force base on Vance s return from China to discourage the impression that he was less than satisfied with Vance s work. High state department officials insist that contrary to Vance s Placid Public image inside the bureaucracy he is decisive his intellectual gifts far outweigh those of other advisers and his views Are solicited by Carter regularly. Nevertheless because of Carter s Clear insistence on being the main spokesman for his foreign policy and Vance s own preference for quiet diplomacy there is no question but that Vance will never be More than the administration s chief no. 2 Man. He will not be like Henry Kissinger or John Foster Dulles both of whom outshone the presidents they served. Rather historians most Likely will put him in the same category As Dean Rusk Cordell Hull and Henry l. Stimson. If his record shows major results he May even rank with Dean Acheson Vance s stated Model or George c. , probably one of the most indefatigable modest and unpretentious men to Ever hold the senior Cabinet Post has taken it All rather philosophically. He gets to work every morning at 6 45 and stays to 8 . Or so and he believes events have taken place in a Way that was  in his hideaway office at the state department the other morning Vance talked in a relaxed Way Over Coffee about the need to slog it out in negotiations and not to expect Quick or dramatic results on issues that by their nature Are extremely Tough. Most of these problems Are very Complex. It is almost impossible to find immediate solutions to them. They re so Complex and difficult that they will require continued work Over a considerable period of time before solutions can be reached and there lore to expect that every time you go on a trip or have a conference that you re going to find All the answers to All your problems is simply an unreal sex  Vance seemed quite proud of How prepared he was for the Job. He had a Strong background in foreign affairs and he disclosed that last oct. 24 two weeks before the elections he had written a lengthy policy paper for the courses of action and priorities for the first year of a Carter government if there should be  up the document but refraining from handing it to the visiting reporter Vance cited the eight top Priori ties including the Middle East and strategic arms that the paper listed. We be pretty much moved along the general lines of that analysis during this year modified Here and  he also said that of the More than 30 policy papers known As presidential review memorandums done by the administration most were directed by the state department and reflected its View. Yet despite the preparation for the Job and the pre election policy paper Vance has not been regarded in Washington As an idea  in meeting with his state department aides he does not Lay Down the line ahead of time on what his views Are. Rather in most cases he listens carefully to their presentations and then makes decisions based on their work. He tends to be a pragmatist More than an ideologue and unlike Kissinger and some other predecessors he does not seem to have any overriding framework in which specific issues should be considered. He seems genuinely relaxed for instance about the communist world and Many of his top aides confess that they honestly do not know Vance s personal views on Many issues. Vance s main achievements have been in helping restore a team Effort to the conduct of foreign policy " he does not like to waste time with a lot of discussion like Kissinger monday september 26, 1977 Doil Magazine not Only within the state department but also with the Pentagon the Treasury and the White House. Under Kissinger the state department was quite a Dif Ferent place. Sensitive material was rarely disseminated to More than a handful of officials. Now information about the soviet Union China and the Middle East areas that were highly secret under Kissinger is made available to Many More officials than before. But the information still is kept largely from the press which often is baffled about Vance s goals or policies. Asked about the frequent published criticism about the Lack of information on sensitive negotiations Vance said. I ought to do a better Job than i do on that. But it s really hard to do without violating the Confidence of those you re negotiating with and i be always been one who found that if you re going to make Progress in a negotiation that the other people who Are dealing with you have to have Confidence that they could speak frankly. And you re not going to go out and disclose what they said to  As a new York trial lawyer and As a trouble shooter and negotiator for president Lyndon b. Johnson in the 1960s, Vance said he was Able to avoid divulging much to the press. But he said that was different from being Secretary of state where you cannot simply say nothing whereas you can do that if you re just a straight  As part of an Effort to rectify this problem Vance has accepted some suggestions from his spokesman Hodding Carter 3rd, a former Mississippi publisher. By likes to make Crisp decisions one close associate said. He does not like to waste time with a lot of discussion like Kissinger. But sometimes i wish that he would just put his feet up and Chew the fat More. We d All learn  in discussions with Vance and the insiders in the for eign policy establishment there is constant reference to the almost unprecedented ability of the Carter administration to avoid the kind of inter Agency feuds that have been traditional in Washington. This does not mean that there is a continuous Consen sus in Washington. The Pentagon often disagrees with the state department and sometimes Zbigniew Brzezinski the president s National Security adviser proposes some thing that runs contrary to Vance s approach. But every one agrees that problems Are usually resolved without acrimony often by a phone Call to Brzezinski Secretary of defense Harold Brown or Secretary of the Treasury w. Michael Blumenthal. It s a bit remarkable a Long time official said. In the Kissinger Days if you had a dispute with Dod you went to the seventh floor and drafted an official message just As if you were dealing with a foreign government. Now Vance will pick up the phone and say Harold we be got a problem and More often than not it is settled then and  Vance is also regarded by everyone As the undisputed senior adviser to Carter on foreign affairs. In meetings such As the usual Friday morning breakfast attended by Carter vice president Mondale Vance and Brzezinski the president almost automatically defers to Vance. Aides say that 90 per cent of positions taken by the state department Are upheld by the White House. Vance said he would define his relationship with Carter As the senior foreign policy adviser to the president but one who works in close cooperation on a daily basis with the others involved in the National Security policy pro Cess. I d say the system we operate under is a More Colle Gial system than i have Ever seen in my experience in the  what had Given him the most pleasure in a year that so far had been Barren of major successes he said without hesitation that it was the closeness of the work ing relationship that has developed in the National Security foreign policy area starting with the president and going through All of the others in the foreign policy Appa  it works he said because Carter insisted that there be no rivalries and because a lot of us had been involved in the government before and had by that experience reached the conclusion that if you were going to have a successful foreign policy you re going to have to do it on that basis and you could not tolerate the Back biting and turf protecting that occurred in the  Vance said he sees Carter just about every Day and sometimes for several  he said that every night he sends Carter a Short memorandum in which i Flag for him what i think Are the important events that Are coming up and then Well either Chat about them or hell drop me a note on  the stars and stripes Page 13