Unusual denial of ‘split’ report

Press, 15 April 1978, Page 9

Unusual denial of ‘split’ report

NZPA-Reuter Washington! The American State De-' partment has issued an un-! usually long denial of news] reports that there are] serious divisions among| President Jimmy Carter’s]! senior advisers over rela-i (tions with the Soviet Union. Two articles in the “New] [York Tines” on Thursday said the main disagreement was between the Secretary of State (Mr Cyrus Vance) and the National Security] Adviser (Mr Zbigniew Brzezinski).

The reports appeared as Mr Vance flew to Africa on the first leg of a trip that will include talks in Moscow, and the same day it was disclosed that Mr Carter will meet Cabinet members and White House aides this week-end to discuss the Administration’s problems. Criticism of President Carter has been growing, according to recent opinion polls, and there have also been persistent reports about differences between Mr Brzezinski and Mr Vance. Asked about the “New York Times” articles, a State Department spokesman. Tom Reston, said: “There is no basis for the implication that there are serious divisions within the Administration on our relations with the Soviet Union. “Secretary Vance goes to Moscow with a unified

Administration position ap- : proved by the President ' after a full exchange of i views among his advisers. In] : that exchange, it is healthy] jand proper that a full range lof recommendations should, jbe advanced and discussed.” | In the articles, a con-] ! servative columnist, William; I Satire, a former speech] writer for Richard Nixon,; portrayed Mr Brzezinski as] leader of a “hard-line” fac-i tion and referred to Mr (Vance as “softee.” A front-page article by the! “Times’s” diplomatic corres-]

; pondent, Bernard G wertzi man, who is accompanying! ; Mr Vance, said that Mr' ’ Brzezinski and his staff felt tithe Secretary of State was - concentrating too much on) 5 trying to reach an arms] ; agreement with the Russians) 5 and not pressing the Soviet] Union enough about its mili-] . tary involvement in the Horn of Africa and other ac-| j tions. 3 Mr Reston, reading from a] t prepared statement, said the! . two articles “gave a dis-; torted impression of the) /; Administration’s policy to-: 11 wards the Soviet Union.” ]; The spokesman said that] there were some factual in-! ;| accuracies in the article and - emphasised that there was ; not a deteriorating personal] relationship between Mr] jlVance and Mr Brzezinski. )