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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 27, 1990                   TAG: 9004270570
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

ARMS-CONTROL OFFICIAL QUITS ADMINISTRATION

Edward L. Rowny, one of the hardest of the hard-liners toward the Soviet Union, resigned Thursday as special arms control adviser to President Bush, warning that "we had better be careful" in reaching nuclear agreements with Moscow.

He said that no "policy disputes" prompted his resignation, which Bush accepted "with deep regret."

The former Army lieutenant general announced that at age 73 he would now teach at George Washington University here and join the University of Maryland's board of visitors.

While Rowny and close friends denied that policy rifts lay behind his departure, which is effective June 30, senior officials said the veteran hard-liner was being increasingly "frozen out" of policy decisions.

His views on dealings with Moscow "were not the mainstream views of this administration," especially those of Secretary of State James A. Baker III, the major player on the arms control field, one of the sources contended.

Summarizing his attitude toward the two arms treaties that the administration urgently wants to complete this year, Rowny said there was "no risk" in the impending treaty to cut conventional military forces in Europe.

But, he said, "we'd better be careful" in reaching agreements on strategic nuclear arms.

The administration hopes, against some recent setbacks in negotiations, that Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will be able to agree on at least the framework of a START [strategic arms reduction talks] treaty at their May 30 summit.

by CNB