U.S. paper attacks N.Z. general’s ‘junket’

Press, 8 March 1982, Page 5

U.S. paper attacks N.Z. general’s ‘junket’

NZPA Wellington An American news magazine has criticised “junkets” laid on for visiting military chiefs, and cites the cost of a tour by the retiring New Zealand Army Chief of Staff, Major-General Brian Poananga, as an example. “Uncle Sam's aid to

Americans is shrinking, but money to cater to the wims of military chiefs visiting from abroad is as plentiful as ever,” says the “U.S. News and World Report,” a weekly magazine similar to “Time” and “Newsweek.” “Military spokesman refuse reporters’, requests to discuss the programme on the record. Still, a picture of exquisite pampering and the pains taken to provide it emerge from the private comments of officials and from 1981 accounting records provided by the Pentagon. "All of the tours combine visits to military installations with forays to nearby spas and tourist attractions,” it says. In 1977 the Carter Administration spent $200,000 a year on "these personalised

red carpet efforts.” “There has been no let-up in the regaling of military guests, their spouses and aides under Reagan." By the 1981 financial year, covering the last four months of Jimmy Carter’s Presidency and the first eight months of Ronald Reagan’s, outlays had quadrupled to $827,617, the magazine said. A 12-day visit by General Poananga and ( .his party, including stops at the Pebble Beach Golf Club in California and the prestigious Top of the Mark restaurant in San Francisco, cost American taxpayers $34,461, it says. “Even tiny whims are catered to: a $2.99 fruit basket for a Brazilian. general’s wife; $14.51 for a Japanese admiral's favourite scotch; $3.96 for a Canadian officer’s laundry — no starch in the collars.

■ “Taking care of these details are officers from the Defence Department's foreign liaison /-staff, laden with thousands in cash or traveller’s cheques plus dossiers detailing their guests’ tastes in food, drink and entertainment ...”

The biggest single cost is invariably air travel as the guests zip from base to base and off on leisure time side trips, “U.S. News and World Report” says. "The usual conveyance is an eight-seater Lockheed Jet Star that costs the Air Force $1613 an hour to operate.”

The magazine says many Americans might question the propriety of the spending, but that the tours are virtually unknown to the public and have been for about 30 years. The programme is handled as an intelligence activity, the bulk of its funds hidden in the classified budget of the Defence ' Intelligence Agency, it says. Examples it gives include.—

• A $35 bouquet of roses for the wife of an Egyptian vice-

admiral, plus a night on the town “courtesy of U.S. taxpayer"; • Stops at Disney World and Sea World in Florida; • A $155 bill for a lunch (and flowers) for a general’s wife; • A $476 bill for dinner and a show at Caesar’s Palace in. Las Vegas for a French Air Force general, his wife and three aides; • A $3307 bill for four days at Washington’s Watergate Hotel for a Chilean lieuten-ant-general, his wife and three aides; and, • Ballet tickets costing $245 and $275 for a chartered fishing trip and a guided tour for deputy commander of U.K. Land Forces, Lieuten-ant-General Sir Frank Kitson, and his wife.

On rare occasions American auditors ask foreign governments to reimburse some expenses, the magazine says, “The Army pressed for repayment of $859.56 worth of personal telephone calls made by the party of General Lew Byong Hion. of South Korea ... The bill was paid after five months of pressuring Seoul’s Washington Embassy. The rest of the general’s $41,693 in expenses went unchallenged.”

Military officials believe the “coddling” is justified by the need to exert influence, and that it establishes rapport and offsets similar Soviet efforts, the magazine reports. The visits are also becoming an increasingly important tactic for promoting' sales of American arms, si policy which was downgraded under Mr Carter but has become a priority under Mr Reagan, it says.

The magazine quotes a Democrat representative, Mr Len Aspin, of Wisconsin, as saying: “There is simply an unspoken agreement that the brass from any one country can live high off the hog in any other: ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.’. ”