European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 24, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 24 a the stars and stripes thursday May 24,1990oaks named As next Safe commander Washington a amps a it. Gen. Robert Oaks chief of the air training come at Randolph fab Texas has been nominated for a fourth Star and reassignment As commander of the . Air forces in Europe defense Secretary Dick Cheney announced wednesday. Oaks 54, has been the Only person mentioned in recent weeks to replace Gen. Michael Dugan who is moving to news briefs the Pentagon to become the new air Force chief of staff next month. In addition to his Safe title Oaks will serve As commander of Allied air forces Central Europe and the european Comdr a air Force component chief. Oaks who has 30 years of Active service is a highly decorated Veteran who flew 188 combat missions in f-100 fighter aircraft during the Vietnam War. He has logged More than 3,300 total flying hours. Oaks is no stranger to Ramstein a West Germany which would be his new Headquarters if his nomination is approved. He served on the Safe staff at Ramstein from 1979 to 1981. Later he served a tour there As commander of the 86th tac fighter Wing and the Kaiserslautern military Community. Prior to taking Over the air training come in 1988, he served a tour As commander of Allied air forces Southern Europe a nato command headquartered in Naples Italy. Oaks who was bom in los Angeles is married and has six children. His decorations include the distinguished service medal the legion of Merit the distinguished flying Cross the air medal with eight Oak Leaf clusters and the Vietnam service medal with three service  says embargo to curtail most transport Moscow apr soviet Energy sanctions against secessionist Lithuania will Force authorities to curtail All but emergency transportation by this weekend throwing 28,000 More people out of work officials said wednesday. A the Kremlin a aim is to cause riots in Lithuania and make the Republic surrender a lithuanian president vytautas Landsbergis told a news conference in Vilnius the republics capital. A but Lithuania will not capitulate. Our strategic task is to prepare the Public so that we could survive As though we were in a surrounded fortress a he said in remarks carried by the lithuanian news Agency  votes 50% slash in Al Salvador military Aid Washington not a in a Rebuff to the Bush administration the House voted on tuesday to Cut military Aid to Al Salvador by 50 percent. The vote after More than four hours of impassioned debate represents the most significant action by either House of Congress to restrict such Aid and reflects congressional dismay at the failure of Al Salvador to prosecute the people who killed six Jesuit priests in san Salvador on nov. 16.nato from Page 1 combining 22 others and reducing the length size frequency and terrain of 22 additional exercises he said. Two new exercises were added including one involving Allied come Europe which is wholly computer assisted the spokesman said. A number of factors made the changes possible including the wider use of computer simulation military officials said. The changes Are estimated to save about $21 million annually from reduced Man Euver damage in West Germany alone the spokesman said. An additional $2.5 million will be saved each year As a result of cancelling or 1 reducing the scope of various exercises he said. The schedule will feature wider use of command Field exercises which Are a major departure from Large scale exercises that deployed tank mechanized infantry and artillery formations. The new exercises focus on training commanders and staff incorporate computer simulations and use fewer soldiers and vehicles in the Field. For example reformer �?T90 involved about 58,000 Allied soldiers a about half the size of the 1988 reformer. The next reformer scheduled for the fall of 1991, Calls for about 37,000 troops. Another exercise bold cause held every four years in Norway involved 85,000 troops in 1986. About 40,000 troops will participate this year. The aim of the training study was to determine How to maintain the operational readiness of military forces at All Levels at a minimum Cost and with the least negative effect on the environment and citizens. The study also considered other factors including the Impact of new developments in arms control that could Lead to potential changes in training cutbacks on military budgets the potential damage of exercises on the environment and Public pressure to reduce the Impact of training on civilian communities. Although Galvin changed some of the methods and scope of the exercises he nevertheless Felt that Field training exercises remain essential for keeping troops Battle ready the shape spokesman said. A we have decided to not put so Many troops in the Field and simulate it and have the senior Levels trained better a the shape spokesman said. . Bases weren t threatened by artillery she a Cheney says by the stars and stripes Brussels Belgium a the w-79 nuclear artillery shells that reportedly were defective and could have exploded accidentally never endangered . Bases defense Secretary Dick Cheney said wednesday. Cheney in Brussels for a nato meeting said he disagreed with the Washington posts characterization that the artillery shells were defective. A a it a important Here not to Over dramatize the nature of the problem a Cheney said following a two Day gathering of defense ministers. Asked whether there had been a risk that nuclear artillery shells could have exploded on an american base in Europe Cheney said a that danger. Simply Wasny to  the United states imposes strict safety standards on its nuclear Arsenal he said. A in 1988, it was determined that the w-79 artillery Shell did not meet those very High standards a he said. A the necessary Steps were taken to ensure that the w-79 does meet our very High safety standards  the defense department continually monitors the shells Cheney said. A when we find a situation where we re not comfortable that we be met the safety Standard then we take Steps to make certain we have met the safety Standard and that a exactly what we did in this Case a he said. Cheney refused to say How Many nuclear shells failed safety standards. A the number of nuclear weapons that we actually have deployed is classified information a he said. He also could not say precisely when West German authorities were notified of the problem because the events took place before he became Secretary of defense. A it is my understanding appropriate officials of the German government were notified that we had identified the problem and that we had solved the problem. The problem has been solved today a he said. A we never discuss the Alert status of nuclear  col. Sam Floca a spokesman for the . Army in Europe had nothing to add to Cheney a statements. A it would be in appropriate to go beyond what the Secretary of defense has stated a Floca  from Page 1 of staff secretly imposed special restrictions last year on the handling and deployment of a Short Range missile carried by . Strategic aircraft. The move was designed to avoid accidental explosions that could disperse cancer causing radioactive plutonium the sources said. In a third Case the department of Energy agreed to an Independent scientific inquiry on whether nuclear warheads now being deployed aboard Trident submarines could accidentally be detonated in an Accident in port the sources said. The problems with the three weapons have raised serious questions on Capitol Hill and in the Bush administration about . Nuclear weapons safety. Some experts forecast that additional problems May be uncovered by special scientific inquiries at the nuclear weapons laboratories ordered recently by Secretary of Energy James d. Watkins. The department of Energy is responsible for the design and production of All nuclear warheads. The department of defense determines warhead requirements and develops the weapons on which the warheads Are deployed. Officials said the most dangerous and politically sensitive incident was the Surprise discovery in Early 1988 that w-79 artillery shells deployed in Europe could accidentally explode if they were struck forcefully at a sensitive spot perhaps by a stray Bullet or Impact from a nearby Battlefield explosion. Computer calculations and underground tests before the Start of production in 1981 had indicated no safety problems with the Shell which was developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Energy Gorbachev attacks Yeltsin Campaign Moscow apr soviet Leader Mikhail s. Gorbachev attacked Maverick communist Boris Yeltsin a Campaign platform for the russian presidency on wednesday accusing him of calling for a the breakup of the soviet  Gorbachev launched the Quick Sharp attack on Yeltsin at the russian Congress which he has attended As a silent observer Over the past week. His speech wednesday exposed the deep concern that led him to sit through hours of tedious procedural debates. Yeltsin a plan for wresting control of the russian Republic from the Kremlin and allowing it to set its own policies amounts to a an attempt to Cut Russia off from socialism a Gorbachev said. A that will contradict the line of perestroika which we proposed to give a second wind to socialism on the Road to democratization a he said. Russia is the largest of the 15 soviet republics with just Over half the country a population and two thirds of its territory. Department supervision. But a new safety analysis at Livermore in 1988 raised concerns that were confirmed by secret underground nuclear tests in december 1988 and february 1989, officials said. The tests indicated that the w-79 did not meet a secret government safety Standard requiring that with any warhead design there be less than a one in a Mil lion Chance of an accidental nuclear explosion with a yield As powerful As a blast from about four pounds of int enough to destroy a Small room. The officials did not say How big an accidental explosion a w-79 Shell might have caused. The warhead is designed to explode in Battle with up to a 10-Kiloton nuclear yield about two thirds the Force of the Hiroshima bomb. A highly placed foreign official said a Small group in the West German government was told in a general Way that a there was a Chance of technical failure leading to an explosion of the shells and that a some adjustments to their design were needed to prevent any Accident. Officials said the information was kept otherwise secret to avoid panicking citizens or calling into question the viability of the . Nuclear Force in Europe which includes dozens of nuclear tipped missiles More than 1,000 nuclear bombs and hundreds of older nuclear tipped artillery shells. Some of the warheads have been returned to the panted warhead production Plant in Amarillo Texas so the a a saying mechanisms can be disabled and additional steel plating installed inside the skin of the shells at particularly sensitive spots. Still the Pentagon was sufficiently concerned about the w-79 to decide Early this year that its design would not be copied in a slightly smaller artillery Shell the w-82. The decision forced at least a two year suspension of w-82 production which had been scheduled to begin last february. Sources said the delay was partly at the urging of Congress which voted secretly last year to Block w-82 spending until the Bush administration certified that it was Safe