European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 20, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 a the stars and stripes tuesday november 20,199 columns James j. Kilpatrick  is what Navy needs for Stormy seas the . Navy is taking some hits these Days not from new foes abroad but from old friends at Home. Sam Nunn chairman of the Senate armed services committee has frowned a mighty frown in the Navy a direction. H. Lawrence Garrett Secretary of the Navy is frowning too. As one consequence the next Guy in the Navy who makes a pass at a woman Sailor is Likely to find himself in trouble. Garrett has spread the word on sexual harassment and the word is Luzero  Garrett is the third Secretary of the Navy in the past three years. In May of 1989, he succeeded William l. Ball Iii who served for Only 14 months. Ball had succeeded James h. Webb jr., who served for Only 10 months. Webb came on the winged heels of John Lehman who served for six years and raised hell in every one of them. Since Lehman left and the earthquakes subsided the Navy has needed a measure of Strong silent stability up top. Garrett is just what the doctor ordered. He is 51, a native of Washington d.c., a lawyer by profession. He is the Only Secretary of the Navy in history who went into the Navy As a raw recruit then won a commission and Rose through the ranks to become a commander in the judge advocates corps. He served As a White House Counselor before his Elevation to the Secretary a Post. The current Flap Over sexual harassment has him fuming. First came reports about sexual harassment at the naval Academy in Annapolis. Then a Story leaked to the Florida press in july that Over a period of 19 months eight cases of rape and five cases of indecent assault upon women sailors had been reported at the naval training Center in Orlando. The chief of naval education and training looked into the complaints at Orlando. The Navy a inspector general subsequently concluded that a although Progress has been made in the Way we treat women in the Navy there is much to be  sen. Nunn found the whole picture a very disturbing and ordered a subcommittee to make its own investigation of sexual harassment. The general accounting office will report on problems at Annapolis. Last week Garrett created a study group of his own headed by rear adm Roberta Hazard. Her assignment is to update a 1987 report on the problems that the Navy has with women and the problems that women have with the Navy. These Are not the same problems. The report is to be completed in three months. The Navy never has been wildly enthusiastic about having women in service but 60,000 of them Are now on Board a about 10 percent of total personnel. Their presence is now tolerated widely and welcomed selectively. They cannot serve in combat by Federal Law but they Fly All Over the place and they serve in hundreds of support billets on land and sea. A we have much to be proud of a Garrett says and he Points to recent Success stories. In july capt. Marsha Evans became the first woman to take command of a major naval station treasure Island in san Francisco. It. Cmdr. Darlene Iskra is to become the first woman to command a naval ship the Salvage ship opportune Garrett has other concerns that he freely expresses to anyone who will listen. Under the defense budget just adopted the Navy will lose about 20,000 personnel a when we Cut people we Cut  the Navy will be operating a worldwide Fleet of 560 ships far below the much buy Hood goal of 600 ships and Garrett is determined that every ship that goes to sea will have its full complement. With the end of the cold War with the soviet Union reductions were to be expected in both ships and manpower. But there have been no reductions in the global responsibilities placed upon the Navy. By employing civilian Crews to Man 46 cargo vessels from the ready Reserve the Navy moved 900,000 tons of military shipments to the Middle East in 60 Days. The operation went so Well that in three weeks the ships transported More cargo than went to the korean War in three months. Since mid August in obedience to resolutions of the United nations . Ships have intercepted More than 2,500 vessels bound for Iraq. Fewer than half a dozen Sticky incidents have occurred. Are these acts of War As an authority on the Law of the sea Garrett is cautious about expressing an opinion on boardings. If it were not for the authority of the United nations maybe a but he leaves the sentence unfinished. The Best Navy in the world he says will do what it has to do. Universal press Syndicate Tom Wicker residential War Powers not agreed upon a you can to have 435 commanders in chief a president Bush said the other Day. A a in be read the Constitution. Congress has the right to declare War and i have the right As commander in chief to fulfil my  of course you can to and of course he does. The right of Congress to declare War however is explicitly stated in the Constitution. The Powers of the commander in chief of the armed forces were not specifically set Forth by the founders and Are not universally agreed upon today. The presidents a War Powers derive to a great extent from the actions of Abraham Lincoln in the conduct of the civil War. Woodrow Wilson did not function As an Active commander in chief during world War i Franklin Roosevelt certainly did in world War ii. Harry Truman greatly expanded the presidents War Powers when he ordered use of the atomic bomb sent troops to Europe in peacetime and to fight in Korea and fired Gen. Douglas Macar thur. Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon conducted the Vietnam War without a congressional declaration although Johnson respected constitutional requirements enough to seek the Tonkin Gulf Resolution As a the functional equivalent of a declaration of War a Congress on the other hand was so reluctant to set a precedent restricting the Powers of the commander in chief that the House judiciary committee dropped one of the most serious impeachment charges against Nixon a that he had ordered Ana then covered up the secret bombing of Cambodia. The Powers of the commander in chief it might Well be said Are what a president says they Are limited by what Congress will permit him to do. This makes them Broad indeed since once a president has committed troops to combat its difficult for Congress not to support them and the presidents action. But Congress and the courts always have been unwilling to define or restrict the War Powers that a president might not be Able to respond quickly to an attack or Okay Wise 6uys a take that p0mi" to the immediate threat of one even Given the vague but clearly vast Powers of the commander in chief however no legitimate conflict with the congressional War Power seems actually to arise from the dangerous confrontation with Iraq in the Middle Eastern desert. Few question president Bush a authority to have deployed american troops to protect saudi Arabia an ally and an important Oil producer from threatened invasion. As in the Case of Truman a defense of St moreover the approbation of the . Security Council and the support of other National forces added Sam so act Ped Lesi Tracy the Wisdom of that action and of his subsequent troop additions has been far More fiercely debated than his presidential authority. If War should result moreover from an accidental encounter Between armed forces the most Likely and most chilling prospector from some obvious iraqi provocation say the torture or killing of a hostage or from an attack ordered by Saddam Hussein probably the least Likely possibility its Safe to predict that Bush could and would respond without much fear of a constitutional Challenge. No doubt it would be argued that by his actions he had invited Accident provocation or attack but that would be political rather than Legal criticism. How can it be argued however in the White House or anywhere that Bush has the constitutional authority to make the deliberate decision to attack iraqi forces a even for Good reason such As expelling them from Kuwait such a response to iraqis refusal to withdraw by no Means would be the same As a response to an attack or threat against the United states or its forces. A deliberate . Attack on Iraq clearly would reflect a calculated decision to make War on another nation a and again even a Good reason for doing so would be irrelevant. Such a decision just As clearly is constitutionally reserved for Congress in Plain language that Bush says he has read. Nor can the Security Council by authorizing the use of Force against Iraq order Bush to make War on another country. Only Congress can make such a decision a to declare War. President Eisenhower recognized that in 1954 when he rejected . Intervention in Indochina a there is going to be no involvement of America in a War unless it is a result of the constitutional process that is placed upon Congress to declare it. Now let us have that  a sound decision then a and Wise counsel now. C new York Tim w