European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 14, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday. April 14, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 7 Cheney says cuffs in military Force possible by he Baltimore Sun Washington with Lime running out 10 slash. $6.3 billion from the next defense budget. Secretary of defense Dick Cheney said wednesday that he May reduce the size of . Military forces but will resist proposals to slow Down or Cut annual purchases of proven reliable aircraft and weapons. None of the options Are attractive but obviously Force reductions arc a possibility Cheney said in an interview with the Baltimore Sun and four other newspapers. He indicated thai another part of his budget strategy May be to defer or delay production of relatively Complex new weapons systems where you re dealing with new  he declined to name specific projects but speculation has been Rife within me air Force that production of the expensive radar evading b-2 stealth bomber will be postponed for two years. Cheney who took office barely four weeks ago has been under pressure to reduce by �6.3 billion the 1990 defense budget proposed in january by president Rea Gan. The cuts were ordered by president Bush whose 1309 billion proposed spending level for the Pentagon reflects Only inflationary growth. The new defense chief who has engaged top military brass in daily budget deliberations since april 5, said approval. Cheney Pla reveal details of the he expected by Laic wednesday to finish re viewing All the budget cutting proposals submitted recently by the military services. After hearing appeals from the military next week and sending a re Vised defense budget to the White House for final plans to h new budget at a House armed services committee hear. Ing april 25. During Cheney wednesday s interview the latest in a series of Small gatherings with reporters Cheney declined to discuss pending decisions about the competing my and Midge than land based nuclear missiles. He also refused to comment on a possible Compromise with congressional democrats to include the mid Gilman in next year s budget. Speaking generally about culling the budget he did however appear to move away ski Getty from his pre Vious View that everything was on the tabled while saying he was sympathetic to the idea of de Ferring production of Complex new weapons to learn More in the interim process get some of the bugs worked out and maybe find ways to reduce Cost the Secretary frowned on sharply reducing purchases of existing military hardware. A stretch out Over several years in weapons procure ment can reduce spending in the Short run but Cheney said slowing Down production often drives up the unit cos of the  you Lake a helicopter thai costs si2 million per copy to buy and stretch it out so thai it now costs s19 million a copy to buy because you re running inc production line at an inefficient rate that does t make a lot of sense he said All you re doing is jacking up the ultimate Cost of buying the systems you claim to need the military services reportedly have emphasized cutting procurement of a variety of weapons systems Over restructuring their forces or trimming personnel. For example the Navy has proposed buying fewer a 18 jets and the army has suggested buying fewer Apache helicopters Over the next five years. One Rule of thumb guiding Cheney in his budget decisions has been his desire to avoid creating a hol Low army by saving Money on operations maintenance and training accounts ultimately reducing com Bat readiness. Aids epidemic looms doctors say Boston map an estimated 2,5 million people in North and South. America already arc infected with the aids virus and some parts of the Hemi sphere May be facing a massive epidemic doctors warned thursday. The researchers said the aids epidemic in some latin and Caribbean nations May surpass the outbreak in Africa although the severity will vary from country to country. Their concern expressed in an editorial in thursday s new England journal of Mcd Ici Mii based in part on the apparent spread of the i was from homosexuals to hero.  shift will put far  at. Risk of the deadly disease. The world health organization Esti mates that at least $ million people worldwide Are infected with the virus and 350,000 already1 have acquired immune deficiency syndrome. In March 1987, a who report said so million to 100 million people May  felted by .199l but in december it re. Diced that to 6 million to 7 million because of behavioural changes among High risk groups. Citing the Best available data using mathematical models that incorporate the prolonged incubation period of aids Llic editorial predicted that 500,000 people in the Western hemisphere Are Likely to be diagnosed with acquired immune deficiency syndrome  992. ,. We have great concern that we Are starting to Sec a More heterosexual pattern of spread emerging in these countries said . Quinn. An aids expert at the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases who wrote the editorial with two physicians from the pan Ameri can health organization. -. -. Once it becomes a established heterosexual epidemic in those countries it has a potential for rapidly increasing in sheer numbers like in Africa. If hiv-1 infection continues to penetrate the poor and less advantaged populations of latin America and the carib bean there is the potential for a massive epidemic in the americas that May parallel the situation in Africa where Many cases remain unrecognized and Urc ported the doctors warned in Africa the disease is spread Primar ily by heterosexual Intercourse and affects men and women in almost equal numbers. In the United states victims Are largely male homosexuals and drug. Abusers. And men outnumber women about 0to i ".-"."-,Quinn noted that the epidemic inmost latin and Caribbean countries is far behind Africa a but there-art1 Trou Birse signs it will follow a . Among to Csc Are the . Proportion of women victims in some. Countries. The Nials to female ratio in French Guiana is 1.5 to 1 Honduras 1,7 to i the Bahamas  to 1 and trin. Idad. 4lo 1. Quinn said poverty Levels and a High frequency of prostitution also May con tribute to the transmission of aids As a heterosexual disease. He noted that the disease is already Well established in some countries. In Haiti 10 percent of pregnant women Are infected the same As in some parts of Africa. There ate 379 aids cases per million people in the Bahamas and 3so per million in Bermuda compared with 71 per million in the United states Quinn said the Large numbers of bisexual men in some latin countries appears to be hastening the the disease spread from homosexuals to heterosexuals. Bennett to use seized drug Money Washington not William j. Bennett said wednesday that he would direct As much Assi 50 million a year in assets seized from, to. Fight the drug problem especially in areas that have been hardest Hii the Justice department has customarily used such Money for  programs across the country but in the comprehensive drug Bill passed last year Congress authorized the drug chief to Lake control of the account which gives his office More influence  Moncy is distributed. Under Bennett s plan much of the Money would continue to go . Enforcement. Beyond this special account Bennett chief of the Federal Effort against narcotics has no Money to distribute except for of fico salaries and administrative costs. We re starting out a new venture Here Bennett told a House appropriations subcommittee at a hearing to con Sider his budget plan for the fiscal car ,1990. We Don t have Road signs. We Don t have a map. We re going to forage and Trail Blaze a  Bennett said his office expected to receive $ 136 million from the seizures in the fiscal year. 1990. He said is is million would be used for specific Law enforcement activities and the remaining .$21 million for jurisdictions he would designate As High intensity drug Ira flicking  rep. Edward r. Roybal a California demo.  and chairman of the sub commit ,.tec pressed Ben Bennett null for specifics on How the Money would be spent saying he was concerned that cities be treated  but Bennett responded that he had not made such detailed decisions and advised the panel to wait until sept. 5, the deadline for his releasing a congressionally mandated strategy for drug control nationwide Bruce m. Carries Bennett s budget director said inc drug policy office could not give Money from the account directly to local jurisdictions or private drug re lated programs. Instead the office has the Legal author Ity to Channel he Money to Federal Agen cies that can then be directed to pass it on to specific programs in All. Federal officials estimated that the Justice department in the fiscal year 1990 would collect s474 million Worth of seized assets from drug cases. In addition to the $136 million that could be distributed from Bennett s of fice to Federal agencies the Justice department would retain control of $333 million including �128 million it could spend on slate and local programs according to the officials. Bennett in his first congressional appearance asked for s12 million to run the drug policy office for fiscal year 1990, which begins oct. I. That is an in Creuse of sb.5 million Over the amount budgeted for the current fiscal year. Bennett explained to a generally recep Tive panel that the current allocation was much smaller because it covered Only part of the year and said he needed More Money for More than 64 positions to get the Job  since becoming narcotics director Bennett told the  he had become More guardedly optimistic about what could be done to attack the nation s drug epidemic. But bin Natl acknowledged too that he was disappointed by the reaction from some local jurisdictions to the plan he announced this week to Deal with the drug crisis in the District of Columbia which includes building. New prison space in the area. Abbie Hoffman 60s Radical Hoffman Dies new Hope a. A Abbie Hoffman a Chicago seven Radical who founded inc Yippie move ment of the 1960s and wrote revolution for the hell of it and steal this Book was found dead in his Home wednesday night authorities said. Hoffman 52, who once tossed Dollar Bills onto the floor of the american Slock exch Angcao disrupt business was found around 8 15 p.m., fully dressed under the covers of his bed. The cause of death was not immediately known. A neighbor who found inc body told police Hoffman had been de pressed Over an Auto Accident he had a few months ago. The neigh Bor said there was no suicide note and no signs that would suggest suicide. An autopsy was scheduled. Hoffman a native of Worcester mass Rose to prominence with the Clu Cago seven Agron of radicals that stood trial on charges of conspiring to disrupt the bloody 1968 democratic notional convention in Chicago two years ago Hoffman was arrested forihe42nd time while pro testing Cia recruitment at the University of Massachusetts. Hodman started the loosely organized vip Pic movement or youth Imer National party in 1968 to bring together radicals to protest the government and the Vietnam War