The Battalion
WORLD & NATION 9
Monday, March 27,1989
Officials deny Bush surrendered
Counsel says bipartisan accord encroached presidential power
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two top
Bush administration officials sought
to smooth over an apparent dis
agreement in the White House by
denying Sunday they had surren
dered any authority to Congress by
reaching an agreement last week on
aid to Nicaraguan guerrillas.
Secretary of State James A. Baker
III and White House national secu
rity adviser Brent Scowcroft said
they did not agree with published re
marks attributed to the White House
counsel, C. Boyden Gray, that the
deal encroached on the power of the
president to conduct foreign policy.
“If you look at the accord care
fully, you will see that the leadership
of the Congress acknowledges the
president’s primary responsibility
for implementing foreign policy,”
Baker said.
“This is a voluntary agreement,”
Baker said. ‘“You do not have the
question arise here with respect to
constitutional powers and preroga
tives because the Congress is not im
posing its will, in effect, through leg
islation.”
President Bush, appearing at the
White House with congressional
Battalion File Photo
James A. Baker III
leaders from both parties to an
nounce the deal last Friday, hailed it
as a return to a bipartisan foreign
policy.
The previous administration re
peatedly failed to reach accord with
Congress on Central America.
Congress voted to end military aid
to the Contras in 1988, and the cur
rent appropriation of $27.1 million
in humanitarian aid ends next Fri
day. Contra forces are now en
camped across the border in Hondu
ras.
Under the new agreement, nego
tiated secretly by Baker and congres
sional leaders, Congress would vote
after its Easter recess to send the
Contras $4.5 million a month in
non-military aid through February
1990.
The administration, having se
cured a commitment from Congress
to maintain the Contras, would
pledge in writing to pursue diplo
matic means to end fighting in Cen
tral America.
Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista gov
ernment has committed itself to hold
free elections in February 1990,
according to an earlier accord
among Central American presi
dents.
The Nicaraguan Foreign Minister
Alejandro Bendano, interviewed by
satellite on the ABC-TV program
“This Week with David Brinkley,”
said that the U.S. policy still was “out
of step with what the Central Ameri
can presidents have agreed upon”
because it would not disband the
Contras.
Baker, also appearing on ABC,
said that the accord among Central
'American presidents called for an
agreement by May 15 on demobiliz
ing the Contras, but not their imme
diate dissolution.
If the Sandinistas do not hold
elections as promised, said Baker,
the United States might use “sticks”
that would “involve tightening eco
nomic sanctions, further diplomatic
sanctions and . . . there is nothing in
this agreement that would foreclose
the president’s future request for
military assistance, should things de
teriorate substantially.”
The White House counsel, Gray,
was quoted in Sunday editions of the
New York Times as saying that he
had not had been given a chance to
review Baker’s deal with Congress.
“My office has expressed reserva
tions” about certain details of the
agreement, the Times quoted Gray
as saying.
Scowcroft, the White House na
tional security adviser, said the issue
had been reviewed by administra
tion attorneys, but “apparently not”
by Gray.
Anti-nuclear protesters
infiltrate desert test site
MERCURY, Nev. (AP) — Ten
anti-nuclear protesters were ar
rested Saturday at the Nevada
Test Site after they telephoned a
Las Vegas radio station to an
nounce they had infiltrated the
highly sensitive desert area.
Energy Department spokes
man Jim Boyer said he received a
call from KDWN radio to inform
him that the protesters were in
side an old chapel at the site
where the nation’s nuclear weap
ons are tested. He then called se
curity guards, who arrested them.
Boyer said the protesters were
“just standing around” in the old
building, which is now used as a
storage area.
Mercury is Ti tip^ base camp
about 65 miles northwest of Las
Vegas and within the borders of
the test site. It is about 27 miles
from the nearest active testing
area, Boyer said.
The 1,350-square-mile test site
is surrounded only by a simple
barbed wire fence, although sen
sitive areas where tests are con
ducted are heavily guarded.
The 10 arrests Saturday bring
to 254 the number of citations is
sued since March 19 in the 8th
annual Lenten Desert Experi
ence. The week-long anti-nuclear
protest, sponsored by the Las Ve
gas-based Nevada Desert Experi
ence, came to an end Sunday.
Boyer said the 10 people, nine
men and one woman, would be
charged with trespassing and
taken to the Nye County Jail in
Beatty.
Agencies hope to strengthen
protection of information
WASHINGTON (AP) —The Na
tional Security Agency and a re
search arm of the Commerce De
partment have reached an
agreement aimed at strengthening
protectidn of sensitive information
handled by thousands of federal
government computers.
The memorandum of under
standing was signed late last week by
the NSA’s director, Vice Adm. W.O.
Studeman, and Raymond G. Ram
mer, acting director of the National
Institute of Standards and Technol
ogy-
Under prodding'from Congress,
the two agencies have started work
ing closely together to review com
puter security plans submitted by of
fices throughout the government for
safeguarding systems containing
sensitive but unclassified data.
The effort has been spurred by
mounting concern over so-called
computer viruses, including a virus
“attack” last November that crippled
more than 6,000 computers con
nected to the Defense Department’s
Internet electronic network.
NIST, based in suburban Gai
thersburg, Md., serves as a national
reference and measurement labo
ratory for the physical and engi
neering sciences. It performs a wide
range of research intended to bene
fit U.S. industry.
The highly secretive NS A, head
quartered at Fort Meade, Md., is the
nation’s biggest intelligence agency,
with a work force topping 60,000 —
more than all other U.S. spy agen
cies combined — and a budget said
to be over of $ 10 billion a year.
Lawmakers approve
bill requiring check
for gun purchasers
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Leg
islators who passed the nation’s
first law requiring instant back
ground checks on people wanting
to buy certain guns say they hope
to end Virginia’s reputation as a
supplier of firearms to drug deal
ers.
The deadline for signing the
bill is midnight Monday; Gov.
Gerald L. Baliles has said he sup
ports the measure and is ex
pected to sign it. It would take ef
fect Nov. 1.
Debate on the bill saw weapons
drawn in the halls of the General
Assembly.
The sponsor of the measure
took a Soviet-desjgned AK-47 as
sault rifle to a Senate committee
hearing, saying he wanted to
show that dangerous guns can be
sold to anyone who has the
money. Sen. M.FT “Sonny” Stal
lings said the gun was similar to
one that was used to wound him
when he served in Vietnam.
The measure awaiting Baliles’
signature is designed to keep as
sault rifles and handguns with
barrels 5 inches long or less out of
the hands of convicted and
wanted felons. It sets up instant
background checks on resident
purchasers; non-residents may
have to wait up to a week while
the checks are made before they
can take home a gun.
The system will be similar to
that used by merchants checking
the validity of a credit card. Gun
dealers, after checking a purchas
er’s identification, will call a toll-
free number operated by the
State Police. In minutes, an offi
cer at a State Police computer ter
minal will determine if the pur
chaser has a criminal record.
At present in Virginia, there
are no identification require
ments or other state restrictions
on gun purchases. Gun owners
who want to carry a concealed
weapon need a permit, but for
others, no license is required and
no registration files are main
tained.
Washington Mayor Marion
Barry referred to the state’s repu
tation as a gun exporter a week
ago when he put some of the
blame for his city’s high murder
rate on Virginia guns.
The impetus for the measure
came in December when a stu
dent at a school in Stallings’
hometown of Virginia Beach was
charged with killing a teacher and
wounding another with an assault
gun.
The final measure, which
passed the Senate 33-6 and the
House of Delegates 81-15 in Feb
ruary, was a carefully crafted
compromise to satisfy gun deal
ers, gun control advocates and
firearms owners.
“What we basically have is a
win-win situation from the stand
point of everyone concerned,”
said Raymond W. Cahen of the
Virginia State Rifle and Revolver
Association.
Gun owners lobbied for the in
stant-check provision because
they did not want gun buyers to
have to wait for days before tak
ing home their purchases. They
also won a provision preventing
information in criminal back
ground checks from being used
as registration files.
Gun dealers lobbied to make
sure they would not be swamped
with paperwork. The law places
most of the record-keeping bur
den on State Police.
Advocates of gun control
wanted an outright ban on sales
of military-type rifles and small
handguns but accepted back
ground checks as a first step.
State Delegate C. Richard
Cranwell, who wrote most of the
compromise language, said his
aim was to fix Virginia’s reputa
tion as an exporter of guns to
East Coast drug dealers.
“I want to make sure those
people buy their firearms some
where else,” he said.
Charles Cunningham, state
liaison with the National Rifle As
sociation in Washington, said Vir
ginia is the first state to have an
instant background checks law.
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Mobil
SK CHARITY FUN RUN
Aggies Run Your
Heart Out!
Beginning at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 1,
hundreds of runners will take off for a
run that’ll be loads of fun and will
save lives. In conjunction with the
Student Engineering Council,
Mobil will make a contribution to
the Bryan-College Station-American
Heart Association for each runner in the
race. And, there’ll be prizes for the winners
too! The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd males and
females to the finish line will each win an
award. And, a special Masters category
wili award the fastest male and female who’s
40 years of age or more.
The first 750 people to register will receive a
Fun Run T-shirt and other special prizes. So be
the first to register between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
at one of the following locations:
Blocker — March 27-28
MSC — March 28-29
Zachry — March 27-29
MOBIL 5K CHARITY FUN RUN
SIGNATURE:
(PLEASE PRINT)
LAST NAME:
ADDRESS:.
T-SHIRT SIZE: (CIRCLE ONE)
STUDENT: DEGREE/MAJOR
FACULTY: DEPARTMENT
WAIVER OF LIABILITY
(Must be signed for entry to be accepted)
In consideration of acceptance of this entry, I the undersigned waive and release any and all claims for myself, my agents and heirs against
all sponsors and officials of the Mobil Charity Fun Run for any injury or illness which may directly or indirectly result from my participation in
this event. I understand the event begins promptly at 5:00 p.m.- rain or shine.
(Signature of Parent or Guardian if entrant is under 18 years of age)