DATE: Thursday, July 17, 1997               TAG: 9707170480

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   58 lines

ARMY GENERAL PICKED TO LEAD JOINT CHIEFS

President Clinton on Wednesday picked Gen. Henry Shelton to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, aides said, in a choice that reflects his desire to emphasize peacekeeping operations, improve ties between the services - and to move cautiously on touchy military issues.

Shelton, 55, who now runs the elite Special Operations Command, won Clinton's blessing after an afternoon meeting at the White House with Defense Secretary William S. Cohen. A formal announcement of the selection may come as early as this morning, officials said.

A 34-year veteran, Shelton is a dark-horse candidate who claimed the top military post only after Cohen's first choice, Air Force Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, withdrew amid an outcry over a 13-year-old adulterous affair. The controversy forced the administration to search for a morally spotless candidate, and Shelton, by all available accounts, fills that bill.

Shelton, a native of Tarboro, N.C., and graduate of North Carolina State University, has a range of other assets that commend him for what Clinton wants his top military adviser to do - and to avoid doing.

As commanding officer of the Special Operations Command, Shelton has run a 46,000-troop force that is in the forefront of what the Clinton administration wants to do with the armed forces. Its Green Berets, Army Rangers and Navy SEALS are trained to conduct special commando-style missions, but they also teach developing nations' military organizations how to defend themselves.

With its $2.3 billion budget, Special Operations also has a component that helps build infrastructure and services in developing nations, including everything from schools and medical clinics to utilities.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., second-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Shelton ``a superb choice'' for chairman.

Warner said Shelton's experience as the head of Special Operations forces would be invaluable in the current security environment.

Shelton has run two operations that involved several military services: the Special Operations Command and the Army-Navy operation that took control of Haiti during October 1994.

While he has experience with the kind of peacekeeping and nation-building operations that are increasingly a prominent military task, Shelton also has a war background. He served two tours of duty in Vietnam, was deputy commander of the 101st Airborne Division during the Persian Gulf War, and, as special-operations commander ``has bossed around thousands of the toughest soldiers in the world,'' said John Hillen III, a military analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations who now serves under Shelton in the Army Reserves.

Shelton would be the third Army general in a row to serve as chairman. Like the two before him - Gens. Colin Powell and John Shalikashvili - Shelton is not a product of West Point, the Army's military academy. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Los Angeles Times and

The Associated Press. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Gen. Henry Shelton

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