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

DATE: SATURDAY, July 31, 1993                   TAG: 9307310159
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

PANEL BACKS AIR FORCE CANDIDATE

A Senate panel has approved President Clinton's nomination of the first woman to serve as secretary of a branch of the U.S. armed services.

By voice vote Friday, the Senate Armed Services Committee cleared Clinton's choice of Sheila Widnall to be Air Force secretary and sent the nomination to the full Senate.

The 55-year-old Widnall, an aeronautical engineer and associate provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has described her nomination as the opportunity of a lifetime.

In testimony before the committee Thursday, Widnall denied allegations that her husband's yacht club discriminates against Jews and other minorities.

The nominee said the allegations, coming shortly after her selection for the job she always wanted, were upsetting.

by CNB