European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 19, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday december 19, 1992 . The stars and stripes b Page 5clinton, Aspin huddle Over defense Job Little Rock Ark. Apr rep. Les Aspin the chairman of the House armed services committee is president elect Clinton a first Choice for Secretary of do sense according to transition and congressional officials. A Janton also was prepared to offer rep. Dave Mccurdy of Oklahoma the Cia directorship said transition aides Here and in Washington. Mccurdy chairman of the House intelligence committee previously said he was not interested in heading the intelligence Agency. Aspin was summoned to Little Rock for a final interview Friday. Clinton was prepared to offer the Post to the Wisconsin Democrat barring any last minute misgivings said sources in Little Rock and in Washington. An announcement could come As Early As today the officials said thursday. If Clinton decides not to give the defense Post to Cia even though Mccurdy spokesman Steve Patterson said Mccurdy has made it Clear to the transition team that he prefers to stay in the House. Meanwhile in an interview published Friday Clinton said that among the economic measures he is considering is increasing the retirement age for social Security benefits a to 67 from the current 65 a and limiting the amount of tax free health benefits that companies Quot can provide their workers. In the Wall Street journal interview Clinton also said that his wife Hillary will sit in on Cabinet meetings. A she knows a lot More about a lot of this stuff than i do Quot he said. Aspin 54, a moderate Democrat opposed the Vietnam War As did Clinton. More recently Aspin has generally supported Pentagon programs. He was a Strong supporter of the persian Gulf War and backed financing for the my missile and Aid to the nicaraguan contras. Sources said Clinton wanted a Chance for an extended face to face session with Aspin before making a final decision. Aspin emerged Early in the speculation of whom Clinton might choose to head the Pentagon. Mccurdy 42, is a senior member of Aspinw a committee. A source in Little Rock suggested that he remained a Longshot possibility for defense but that he was thought More Likely to get Cia. In the stars and stripes a 10 years ago dec. 19,1982 a Poland a parliament the Sejm voted to suspend martial Law indefinitely but bolstered civil government with Tough Law and order Powers aimed at crushing dissent. 20 years ago dec. 19,1972 a Secretary of defense Melvin r. Laird announced the lifting of restrictions that limited the . Bombing of North Vietnam to areas below the 20th parallel. 30 years ago dec. 19,1962 a hundreds of tons of Concrete collapsed into a 250-foot-deep rocket test facility at Tullahoma Tenn. The air Force said four workers were missing. 40 years ago dec. 19,1952 a despite warnings from their military commanders the 14 nations of the North Atlantic treaty organization reduced their 1953 construction program for Europe nearly in half. 50 years ago dec. 19,1942 a King George and Queen Elizabeth chatted with . Transportation come troops during a visit to the Raf ferry command terminal on the Western coast of Britain. World War ii 50 years ago today dec. 19 1 a 9 a 4 �2 soviet troops attacking West of Stalingrad capture Kante Mrovka the commander of the German 6th army refuses Field marshal Erich von Man Stem a order to try to break out of the Stalingrad pocket on Guadalcanal in the Pacific japanese soldiers defending mount Austen bog Down  army troops trying to take the Island s dominant geographic feature source 2194 Days of War w h Smitn  inc. World almanac Book of world w u Bison books corp. 1981 a purloined Picasso Fri special agent Jack Hunt in Phoenix talks to reporters thursday about a painting that two men tried to sell to an Fri undercover agent claiming it was Worth $10 million to $12 million. The painting has not been authenticated but it May be Pablo Picasso a la Mither stolen nine years ago from a new York City apartment. The two men were arrested at a Scottsdale ariz., Airport and Hunt said they could be prosecuted even if the painting is a fake because they claimed it was stolen. Aids related vaccine found Washington apr a living genetically changed virus creates the most powerful aids Type vaccine yet found in monkeys but it will take years to test the safety of such a vaccine in humans researchers say. Ronald c. Desrosiers and colleagues at the Harvard medical school reported that Rhesus monkeys injected with a modified Simian aids virus were protected from infection even when they were exposed to 1,000 infectious doses of the whole virus. A none of our vaccines using other products have come anywhere near this level of protective effect a Desrosiers said thursday. He said the virus used had been weak ened in a Way similar to modifications in polio measles and smallpox vaccines. That technique has not before been shown to work in an aids Type illness Desrosiers said. He said there would have to be extensive human trials before such a vaccine is released for general use. The research was published Friday in the journal science. Desrosiers reported that the study at Harvard a new England regional primate research Center at Southborough mass., involved four Rhesus monkeys that had been inoculated with a Strain of the Simian immunodeficiency virus. Siv is a close viral relative of the human immunodeficiency virus which causes aids. No announcements of additional appointments were scheduled Friday. Clinton still had Domestic policy posts to fill before moving on to National Security posts. Transition director Warren Christopher remained in line to be Secretary of state sources said. C Linton said thursday that he still hoped to wrap up the work by Christmas. On thursday he named former san Antonio mayor Henry Cisneros to be Secretary of the department of housing and Urban development and Vietnam Veteran Jesse Brown to Lead the department of veterans affairs. A it he diversity Issue is very important to me and i m still working on it a very very hard Quot Clinton said. Cisneros is hispanic and Brown executive director of the disabled american veterans is Black. So far Clinton has filled six Cabinet slots and 12 other High level posts. He has eight Cabinet posts to fill a agriculture defense education Energy Interior Justice state and transportation a plus . Ambassador which past presidents have sometimes made a Cabinet level Job. Counsel picked for file probe papers report Washington apr an Independent counsel was named in secret this week to investigate whether White House officials violated the Law and covered up their knowledge of a search of Bill Clinton a passport files published reports say. A three judge panel on monday a Eoin cd Joseph e. Digenova a former . Attorney for the District of Columbia to Lead the inquiry the Washington Post and the new York times reported Friday. The panel acting at the request of attorney general William p. Barr made the appointment a Day before the Law that authorizes Independent counsels expired. Justice department officials could not be reached for comment. The investigation will focus in part on whether one or More senior White House aides lied to state department investigators and whether Bush administration officials illegally disseminated information from Clinton a files the Post said. The newspapers said it could not be determined who would be investigated. But investigators for the state department have questioned eight White House staff members including president Bush a chief of staff James a. Baker Iii and Baker aides Margaret Tutwiler and Janet Mullins. The search sept. 30 and oct. 1 of passport files of Clinton then the democratic presidential nominee came during a period when republicans were attacking Clinton a anti Vietnam War activities As a student at Oxford University in England in 1969-70. There also were rumours that Clinton had sought to renounce his . Citizenship to avoid the draft. State department officials said initially that they undertook the search at the request of news organizations that sought information under the Freedom of information act. However the departments inspector general Sherman m. Funk concluded after his own investigation that the searches were improper and had been conducted in Hopes of finding material damaging to Clinton. Funk a nov. 18 report said there was no evidence the White House or others had a orchestrated an attack on the Clinton  but Funk later said he had found a potentially criminal matters that he turned Over to the Justice department. Funk said thursday night that he had no information on the reported appointment of Digenova