European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 15, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday May 15. 1989 the stars and stripes Page 3 new director running sanity Check on ski by Johnm. Broder i us Angi k s times Washington the Star wars anti missile program has come Down to Earth and nowhere is that More evident than in the Low key character of the Man who now runs it. Air Force it. Gen. Gcorge l. Monahan. Or. A arlier this year. Monahan replaced . Cien. James a. Abrahamson. A Star wars a Cabot and missionary who sold Tstinic say oversold the program As a Talisman against nuclear holocaust. Monahan. By contrast modestly de scribes himself As merely a program manager who says his Job is not to be a promoter for Star wars but to run a sanity Check on inc costly and controversial program. I ought to be  the three Star general said Friday in his first inter View with reporters. I be got to be sure we re  Monahan assumes control of inc Sta wars program formally known As the strategic defense initiative or ski at a Lime when it is undergoing Radical changes. Former president Reagan envisioned Star wars As an impenetrable Astrodome consisting of futuristic weapons that would Vapori a soviet ballistic missiles As they Rose from silos and submarines. Over the years As questions about the Cost and technology of such a system overwhelmed it new ideas emerged for a far Moi e limited program that would place partial defences on the ground and in space in stages. The latest twist is a concept called Brilliant pebbles swarms of Little rockets permanently stationed in space ready to respond to orders to track and destroy enemy missiles in flight. Monahan admitted that he had reservations about the Brilliant pebbles pro Gram saying it is still in the very Early  added the general i wonder about its  he also demonstrated a sense of humor rarely found in the Pentagon basement ski Complex when he said air Force . Gen. George l. Monahan that if the Brilliant pebbles idea fails. Star wars will probably move on to Genius  Monahan expressed doubts about the Constellation of satellites to provide launch warning and communications Between interceptor rockets. The 18 space surveil Lance and tracking satellites would pro vide fat Juicy targets for soviet anti satellite weapons Monahan said. We have a dependency Here that i m not real wild about Monahan said. Abrahamson Ever the promoter Sel Dom let such doubts creep into his speech. In an and of tour memo writ ten As he left ski in March. Abrahamson heartily endorsed Brilliant pebbles and offered a variety of suggestions for Broa Dening the Star wars program and in creasing its  s ideas fell on deaf cars in the Pentagon which is facing a tightly constrained budget and where the Gener als and admirals have never been enthusiastic about what most of them feel is a pie in Lac sky vision draining needed Bil Lions from real world  of defense Dick Cheney in one of his first Public appearances after taking Over the Pentagon said he believes Star wars had been oversold in the Reagan administration. He has pro posed a $1 billion Cut in its budget Lor the fiscal year beginning oct. I and i planning to slash its five year spending by 20 percent to $33 billion from $41 , 58. Said that the direction of inc program Over the next several years will be guided by Cost and technical feasibility studies to be conducted this summer. He declined to predict where the program would go if Brilliant pebbles and other promising new technologies prove unworkable or in  is a highly decorated former fighter Pilot with More than 4,000 hours of flying time and 122 combat missions in Vietnam. After service in Southeast Asia he served in a variety of posts with emphasis on weapons procurement and program  was promoted to lieutenant general in july 1986 and is due to retire next year after 35 years on Active duty. His impending retirement clearly col ors his approach to the Job. He said that while Star wars is More in the spotlight More in the fishbowl than other Mili tary programs his Job As manager is not very different than it was when he worked on other  docs not have a lifetime invested in space weapons Monahan said and heis not pinning Hopes of winning a fourth Star on his performance at ski. To me it does t make that much  red face Fang Esaf family with adopted child by Robert Crabbe Sacramento Calif. Up the Joyful adoption of a filipino child has turned int9 a bureaucratic Nightmare for a . Air Force family living in Japan. Tech. Sol. Charles r. Steel an 11-year air Force Veteran is preparing to leave the service and possibly Lake a civilian Job in Sacramento where he was raised and where his parents live. Steele and his wife. Debra arc winding up his four year tour at Kaduna a on Okinawa. They must leave by july 13, but officers of inc . Consulate on Oki Nawa have denied them an american residence permit for Samantha Nicole Steele 4. The filipino child they adopted two years ago. In a Telephone interview with United press inter National Steele said that he was told by consular officials that All visa applications for filipino Chil Dren arc now on hold because of an adoption fraud investigation and that the process could take As Long As a year. They told me that for some time to come All filipinos arc guilty until proven innocent Steele said. Another air Force family at Kadena with an adopted asian child who asked that their names be withheld said Steele s Case could be Only the first of Many. Adoption of asian and half american children by american military families and civil servants has been a common practice in the far East since world War ii. A source said that families with filipino adopters have formed a network called okinawan adoption support and information society Oasis and that the source knows of about 50 such adoptions by americans in Japan. Samantha Speaks Only English and spends her morn Ings at a preschool for air Force Childr � at Kaduna. She also lakes Ballet lessons with other children on inc base. She thinks she s the ail american girl Steele said. They told me that for some time to come All filipinos Are guilty until proven  Charles r. Steele the hold on visas for filipino adopters apparently stems from widespread publicity Given a recent adoption fraud Case involving filipino children in new Yor City. The Sceles who insist that their adoption of Samantha in the japanese courts on Okinawa is fully Legal arc not willing to give the child up. Steele said he and his wife worked with a filipino lawyer in Okinawa who was Active in adoption arrangement. He says he went to a Manila suburb to Lake Over Samantha from her unmarried Mother and bring her to Okinawa More than two years ago. They were very poor Steele recalls. I know the girl was the real Mother. Samantha cried and cried when we look her. The Mother and the family thanked me for taking her sle Elc said that after moving Samantha into their Home the first task was to have her treated for malnutrition. The Stelcs have two boys age 7 and 2, born to their marriage. Alcele has applied to the air Force for an Extension of his tour but he does t know whether it will be granted. He also is looking Al staying in Japan on a tourism visa or trying to get a temporary Job there. At the moment he is required to be out of his air Force quarters at Kaduna by july 13. In Sacramento Steele s parents Melvin and Phyllis steel have asked their congressman. Rep. Vic Fazio for help. The senior Steele is a retired air Force master sergeant. Ann Karperos an aide in Fazio s office said he has asked the department of slate to investigate. They ought to Deal with each Case individually rather than with Blanket rules says Phyllis sle Elc. Everything my son and his wife did was in Good  efforts to get details of the Case from the . Consulate at the okinawan City of Urasoe were unsuccessful. On wednesday a consular official said the filipino lawyer who arranged the adoption for the St cles is under investigation by the philippine government. The official said a news release on the Issue would be available the next Day but when the consulate was contacted again another consular officer said the plan for a news release had been scrapped and there would be no comment. He referred questions to the . Embassy in Seoul South Korea. There is no comment was the response of Donald Whitney chief of the emigration Section at the Seoul embassy. During the course of an investigation we cannot answer  in Washington Duke Austin an information officer at inc pm migration and Naira Bizalion serv ice said he had no word on any ban singling Oul filipino adopters. If an adopted foreign child is an orphan the Rule is that it can be brought Mlo the United Stales immedi Aily Auslin said. If inc child has one or More parents living the adopting family must live with in Oul Side inc United Stales for two  we can t Stop a Bona fide adoption Austin added. We d be taken into court. If we tried he added that adoption fraud exists and is a serious problem. The United slates does protect closely against marketing of children Austin said