Furthermore, Europeans traditionally take off the month of August forleave. They
wanted me in Brussels the last several days of July so I could assume command on
the first day of August. General Steinhoff was planning his 304ay leave beginning
1 August. The problem was exacerbated because the Army had reassigned my
successor to another job and they didn't want my deputy, a Korean, to be in com-
mand. However, Steinhoff wanted a deputy on board so he could take off for his
vacation and his requirement had priority over the Korean one. After only several
days of on-the-job training, I became the acting chairman of the NATO Military
Committee.
Q ..
What did that job involve?
A ..
The job of deputy of the NATO Military Committee involved several tasks. First,
as deputy I would be the alter ego of the chairman. As in any organization, I
would be his principal assistant and act in his absence. The NATO Military
Committee is the highest military body in Europe and is made up of military chiefs
of NATO countries who meet two or three times a year. To maintain a permanent
organ&ion the military chiefs each appointed a permanent representative to meet
in constant session in Brussels. The U.S., for example, had a four-star general as
its permanent representative. The UK and several other countries were represented
by three-star generals. The smaller countries had officers of lesser rank;
Luxembourg for example, was represented by a lieutenant colonel.
The second task of the deputy was to be the custodian of "eyes only" and secret
nuclear plans of the United States. Nuclear plans supporting NATO were kept
strictly in the U.S. channels. The NATO committee had a small body of four or
five officers, headed by a U.S. general, who acted as my staff on nuclear matters.
Q ..
Did you have a smooth break-in period?
A
Not really. The day after General Steinhoff left for his leave, on August 2d, a
major crisis occurred. Dom Mintoff, the prime minister of Malta, decided that
Malta would defect from NATO. For the month of August, until Steinhoff came
back, I had my hands full with this crisis. It required that I make several trips to
the island of Malta. It also entailed my calling the permanent Military Committee
together for a number of meetings. This had never happened before in the month
of August. Several members of the committee sent their deputies. But others came
back from leave to attend the meetings. As I recall, there were six meetings of the
permanent committee in the month of August whereas previously there had never
been a meeting during the month of August. It was an exciting and demanding
time.
Previous Page
