European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 20, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse Poge 12 the stars and stripes saturday september 20, 1980 in behind Israel i0009&/ 1 r impel in Israel 2ooo&i \ i 3000% Flora Lewis pare Csc give state its right to operate United jewish Appau George will although he is Only in his fourth month As Secretary of stale Edmund mus Kic has already Learned what predecessors found to their distress. The National Secu Rity Council has burst its and needs to be drastically pared if the state depart ment is to operate properly. Personalities have been a major Factor in the imbalance and the resulting conflicts Hal give american foreign policy a look of vacillation Zigzag and Plain incoherence. But the institution of the Csc itself has gotten out of hand becoming a policy rival to Cabinet offices without being Able to per form their function. It leaves foreign governments the con Gress and the american people with a Heads or tails Choice when they try to figure out . Policy on Many issues and it has a lot to do with other countries complaints that the . Has become a less than Relia ble partner in International relations. In London Bonn and Paris government Heads make do with Small staffs of advisers on foreign affairs and gel the service hey need from their foreign ministries. Only the . Has a two track system and the tracks often Are not parallel. Originally the Csc was simply a com Mittee to put together arguments from Var ious departments on foreign and Security Freedom is key word in Walter s Case the Case of Walter Polovchak the Littlest defector dramatizes the difficulties logical and political that occur when people do not take seriously the Radical evil of totalitarian slates. Americans who oppose Walter s plea for political Asylum arc disregarding the premise of the United states or the Manifest nature of the soviet Union or both. Eight months ago Walter 12, and his family emigrated from the Sovil Union to Chicago. The father is unhappy and wants to return with his wife and Walter and another son 6. His daughter 17, has her own visa and has no intention of leaving America. She and Walter arc staying with relatives in Chicago pending disposition of Walter s Case. People opposed to the Illinois court s intervention say the Case is usually that adjective is used to imply that there arc no Legal standards to control judgment or that the Constitution commits disposition of such matters to another Branch of government. Whatever constitutional problem if any lurks Here most of those who com Plain that Waller s Case is political seem to mean something else. They seem to mean Only that if Walter were resisting return to say Denmark rather than to a closed totalitarian society the court probably would not have Given Walter a hearing. To which the answer is of course. Justice cannot be done Here without taking cognizance of the two regimes under one of which Walter will live. Many who oppose granting Asylum say Valter is not mature enough to choose Freedom above family. And they stress american respect for parental authority. But the fundamental question pertains to claims that Are being made to rights that arc not contingent upon maturity should Waller s parents have inc right to choose for him a future in which the possibility of Freedom is foreclosed a nation that asserts that fundamental rights Are inalienable should not spurn the pleas of a boy whose parents Ore asserting the right to alienate his fundamental rights permanently. No serious person believes parents should exercise absolute sovereignty Over their Chil Dren. American Law impinges upon parental authority reluctantly and not always wisely but impinge it must. Until the Middle of the 19th Century children were simply the properly of their parents. Restrictions on child labor were resisted in the name of parental sovereignty. Today while insisting on the primary role of parents in rearing children american Law requires parents to provide children with specified Levels of schooling in sets varying limits on parcel Al discretion in de Nying various sorts of medical treatment in cases of abuse or neglect it can deprive parents of custody of their children. In is Odd to argue As Walter s opponents must that As Long As his parents Are in America the Law can compel them to treat or refrain from treating him in various ways yet the Law is deaf dumb and Par Al Zed if they choose to confine him against his pleas forever in a society the horrors of which have been amply documented. It is irrational to argue that american Law can take Walter from his parents if they abuse him Here but cannot prevent them from turning him Over to an abusive state that tries to stifle the spirits of All its captive subjects and physically threatens those who will not be stifled. It is bizarre to argue that american Law should protect Waller from working in an american factory but should not interfere with his being sent against his will to a society in which the gulag awaits the recalcitrant. Walter s lawyer who has experience dealing the problems of soviet dissidents says Walter already qualifies As a dissident and probably would be denied a right to higher education in the soviet Union. Wal Ler s "1 am so scared for my brother. If he is forced to go Back with my parents he will be punished there. He will be followed for the rest of his life for speak ing out against the soviet Union this one of Walter s teachers says Walter has changed from a robot to a kid learning to laugh cry and have a Good Walter says the children in school Here smile a lot and they Don t at Walter was raised by his grandmother and his father has never taken his children on a vacation or even to a movie and has never attended a school event. He says that is for the state to perhaps that s one reason Why the father wants to live under communism. It certainly is one reason Why Walter should not be compelled to. In Washington foil work1n&hardt& a Wewa slip Ops,., Issue in an organized Way to facilitate presidential decisions. It started collecting us own staff of experts under Mcgeorge Bundy in the Kennedy administration and Walt Rostow in the Johnson administration but the big expansion in Power and people came when Henry Kissinger revved it up Tot Nixon. As both have said in their memoirs they came to the White House with a profound distrust of the bureaucracy and Rafac flirty the state department. That was t new. There has always been a tug of War be tween professional officials and profession politicians and Many presidents have found a need for personal trouble shooters in Deal ing with other governments As Well As if Domestic conflicts. Woodrow Wilson used colonel House and Franklin d. Roosevelt used Harry Hopkins for just that purpose. But cutting out the career people and dealing behind their backs instead of imposing the needed political constraints of the experts reached a new level in the last three administrations. It has gotten to the Point where the Csc has become a kind of super elite bureaucracy and the govern mental machinery is grinding on itself in Stead of weaving policy. The troubles weren t so openly visible be fore because of personalities. Kissinger at the White House simply excluded lha mild and modest Bill Rogers when he was Secre tary of slate and despite initial promises Kissinger did not really plug the stale department Back into the policy feed line when he became Secretary. He just moved his operation from the White House base ment to foggy Bottom and kept on As be fore. But although he was also a lawyer and a Man of methodical Reserve Cyrus Vance was not the acquiescent end Man thai Rog ers accepted being and Zbigniew Brzczinski May have the ambitions and yen for glory of Kissinger but lacks the flair and skill in courtship to make people Swallow submission in silence. The appointment of Edmund Muskie was a first step in reversing the trend. Complaints about a political Secretary of state reflect a misperception. The depart ment has been the senior Cabinet Post since the beginning of inc Republic and ils chief needs to be politically sensitive if he s to do his Job of advising the president and bring ing the country to understand its problem sin the world. He should have As has sometimes been inc Case an under Secretary who is a Strong administrator capable of using the ample executive Powers to keep the bureaucracy in line. The elective government docs have to favor and direct the Outlook of career offi cers but there is no real reason Why it has to be done from the White House and by ignoring them they can be brought to serve if Given the Chance and Many Are willing and Able. This can Only work however when there is no Chance of the National Security adviser mistaking himself for the senior policy executive. That Job should go to a technician a Brent scowcroft Type who understands the limits of the role and is prepared to confine himself to the backroom without a personal press Secretary or an itch to travel. Further the lines of responsibility must be clearer to support the actors in their assigned roles. Diplomacy and negotiation Are male s function which it can t perform being constantly Short circuited by a Back Channel to the White House. Foreign governments should be Able to see without doubt that ambassadors abroad the Secre tary of slate at Home arc i hair Condulle to . Decision making. Changes of both people and function it urgent As soon As elections Are Over. The won t solve America s problems in a do Durly world but at Casl Icse changes a Fol a prove the tools for facing problems wits some kind of consistency Ana clarity the message is for both Carter and Reagan. I of a
