
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990                   TAG: 9003232633
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

THIRD WORLD TERMED LIKELY TROUBLE SPOT

The Bush administration's new national security strategy says U.S. forces are more likely to be called to fight in Third World countries than in Central Europe or against the Soviet Union.

A report on the strategy sent to Congress on Tuesday warns of political turbulence ahead and cautions against moving away from the U.S. role as world peacekeeper.

The report said future conflicts are more likely to break out in the Third World, which a senior White House official called "a much more unstable place" than Europe.

Another senior official, who like the first insisted on anonymity, told reporters, "Our mission in the world may be shifting from containment of an enemy to providing a reassurance of stability."

"There's no question we still have the central task of maintaining the balance of power with the Soviet Union, but we see a new era of uncertainties, new possible sources of instability, new concerns even in the European area and certainly in the Third World," the official said.

The strategy will help guide President Bush's efforts to streamline and reshape American military forces in the post-Cold War period.

"In a new era, we foresee that our military power will remain an essential underpinning of the global balance, but less prominently and in different ways," the report said.

"The growing technological sophistication of Third World conflicts will place serious demands on our forces. They must be able to respond quickly and appropriately, as the application of even small amounts of power early in a crisis usually pays significant dividends."

"In a new era, some Third World conflicts may no longer take place against the backdrop of superpower competition. Yet many will . . . continue to threaten U.S. interests," the report said.

It said Central America "remains a disruptive factor in the U.S.-Soviet relationship. We hold the Soviet Union accountable for the behavior of its clients" in Cuba and Nicaragua.

Bush reiterated his hopes for securing three major arms control agreements this year on long-range nuclear weapons, conventional forces in Europe and chemical weapons.

by CNB