Page 6 • Thursday, July 1, 1999
Nation
The Bar.
Senate committee backs
Holbrooke nomination
WASHINGTON (AP) — Richard
Holbrooke’s long-delayed nomina
tion to be U.N. ambassador won
the unanimous backing of the Sen
ate Foreign Relations Committee,
but new obstacles emerged late
yesterday.
More senators
are planning de
laying tactics, fol
lowing the lead of
Sen. Charles
Grassley, who an
nounced last
week he would
block the nomina
tion over an unre
lated civil service
dispute.
HOLBROOKE
While Grassley, R-Iowa, sug
gested in an interview the im
passe could be resolved by
week’s end, other senators added
their own “holds” to the nomi
nation, said a spokesman for
Senate Majority Leader Trent
Lott, R-Miss.
Unlike Grassley, these senators
did so anonymously, which is al
lowed under Senate tradition,
spokesman John Czwartacki said.
He said he did not know who
the senators were or whether their
concerns were identical to Grass-
ley’s, but said their objections to
moving ahead this week with the
nomination appeared “irreconcil
able.” Czwartacki did say the situ
ation could change quickly.
Grassley is protesting a State De
partment decision to transfer a se
nior staff member from a U.N. of
fice in New York to a lesser post in
Washington after she informed
members of Congress about alleged
waste and mismanagement within
the United Nations. He contends
the transfer and demotion violated
a law that he sponsored protecting
whistle-blowers.
The new delays are the latest in
a series of obstacles to Holbrooke’s
yearlong effort to win Senate con
firmation. Now an investment
banker, the veteran diplomat was
the architect of the 1995 Bosnia
peace agreement and more recent
ly served as the administration’s
envoy for Kosovo.
The committee vote was anticli-
mactic. Holbrooke’s nomination
was one of more than two dozen
diplomatic nominations approved
unanimously, by voice vote, with
out debate, and sent to the Senate
floor.
Afterward, the chairman. Sen.
Jesse Helms, R-N.C., joked with
State Department official Barbara
Larkin that the vote was one of the
quickest ever for the panel.
Holbrooke supporters hoped
the Senate would approve the
nomination before its July Fourth
vacation.
But the hold by Grassley, who is
not a committee member, remains
in the way. By Senate tradition, any
senator can block — at least for a
while — any nomination for any
reason.
P&G to limit animal testing
CINCINNATI (AP) — Procter & Gamble Co., the
maker of Crest, Tide, Pampers and Ivory soap, said
yesterday it will immediately stop using animals to test
many of its household products.
P&G made exceptions for its current food and phar
maceutical products and for any new products. In
some cases, animal testing is required by law, and P&G
said such practices will continue.
Animal-rights activists have made the company a tar
get for years, with the boycott of P&G products beginning
in 1989. They have thrown cream pies at P&G’s chair,
been arrested at the Cincinnati headquarters and spoofed
P&G’s Tide detergent-sponsored race car with a similarly
decorated auto with the logo “Died.”
Larry Games, P&G vice president of global prod
uct safety, said the new policy is effective immedi
ately in the more than 140 countries in which P&G
operates.
Science has advanced to the point that non-ani
mal testing methods can be relied on to ensure that
these products are safe for people, Games said. P&G
said, for example, if it were to reformulate a prod
uct, it could do so by relying on previous animal
data.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, one of
the organizations that have tried to get P&G to end an
imal testing, said the announcement is a small step
forward, but more needs to be done.
When it
choices
no one stacks up like FIRSTCARE
Some like vanilla. Some prefer chocolate,
Some rave about tutti-frutti. But everyone
likes to have a choice. ThaTs why FIRSTCARE
offers you more choices than any other
Health Maintenance Organization.
On top of that, the dollars spent with
FIRSTCARE stay right here in Central
Texas.
With FIRSTCARE, you can choose your
Primary Care Physician from Bryan-
College Station and Central Texas' largest
network of doctors. You also have direct
access to your designated OB/GYN for
gender-related problems, and there are
many other referral specialists ready to
serve you.
To top it off, FIRSTCARE has no claim
forms to fill out, no annual deductibles to
meet and minimal out-of-pocket expenses.
If this all looks good to you, call (254) 202-5300
or 1-888-817-2273 for more information.
With so many choices, FIRSTCARE is a
whole new flavor of HMO.
FIRSTCARE
suuinw««i Heaiin Anranes'S"
The HMO of Choice.
A Service of Hillcrest
4547 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 4 • Waco, Texas 76710 • (254) 202-5300 • (888) 817-2273
Holding court
——
^
ANTHONY DISALVO/THE BatiaI)
James Donbavand (right), a senior management information systems major, pulls up for a jump shot
against John Readyhough, a senior community health major, during a basketball game Wednesdays!
the Student Recreation Center
a
Officials locate more gap
in labs’ security measur
Bf
In j
igrial
orosst
md 1)
/ersiij
>as in
ty art
WASHINGTON (AP) — Even af
ter an uproar over espionage and
poor security, investigators found
troublesome security gaps at a ma
jor nuclear weapons laboratory in
California, officials said yesterday.
The shortcomings, discovered in
a review in early May at the
Lawrence Livermore National Labo
ratory, included inadequate moni
toring of access to the unclassified
computer system and deficiencies in
the security force’s response to po
tential terrorists.
The findings by an Energy De
partment security oversight team are
to be presented in a classified brief
ing to the House Commerce Com
mittee on today.
While not giving details, Glenn
Podonsky, who headed the internal
DOE investigation, said the security
weaknesses did not put any top-se
cret information at risk, but showed
some “sensitive” information need
ed to be better protected.
“It’s serious because from our
standpoint it needed to be correct
ed,” Podonsky said. “These are
holes that need to be plugged.”
Meanwhile, the Senate Intelli
gence Committee heard for the first
time Wednesday from Sandy Berger,
the president’s national security ad-
exic
viser, on security and espionage ate a„
cerns at the nuclear weapons:. p reSi; |
Questions about security
clear weapons facilities aro;
March as details from a congre
al investigation began to surfa and |
>yst;!|
ura (
scribing loss of nuclear secrets if
na in the 1980s and into the 19 2c
The controversy intensified
Energy Secretary Bill Richardso } evt
rected the firing of a scientist i
Los Alamos lab in early Marcli
he had been under investigatic
possible espionage since 199(5
scientist. Wen Ho Lee, has i
charged with any crime and h^oly
nied giving nuclear secrets toar' Tarr:ij
Air Force defends B-2 bombc
mpi:
Ir
onoi
Military lauds plane’s performance in Kosovo campd
WASHINGTON (AP) — The B-2 “stealth” bomber
performed well over Yugoslavia, despite recent con
gressional reports of weaknesses and technical flaws. Air
Force officials told a House panel yesterday.
The $2 billion planes flew through bad weather and
hit “everything we aimed at,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Leroy
Barnidge, commander of the B-2 bomber force, said.
“The B-2 exceeded all our expectations for durabili
ty, reliability and overall performance,” he told a House
Armed Services subcommittee.
While some of the B-2s required maintenance after
returning from a bombing run in NATO’s 78-day air war
against Serb forces, others were able to take off on a new
mission after only loading replacement bombs and re
fueling, Barnidge said.
The testimony comes two weeks after a General Ac
counting Office (GAO) report questioned the durability
of the special materials that make the bat-winged B-2
nearly invisible to enemy radar.
Jy i
soy.
“These problems remain the primary cause for
maintenance times and a reduced pace in flights P r O'j
ations,” the report by the investigative branch otf
gress said. theiii
The GAO said that while the Air Force has taken! tRai;
to address the problems, the 10-plane fleet suffers; sai!,
down times for repair of its delicate stealth parts rat*
GAO completed the report, the sixth in fiveyearsot
B-2, before the 11-week Balkan air war ended Jun^
Some lawmakers questioned the Air Force’s def;
to back up the B-2 with extensive support aircraft
radar-jamming planes — protection against theert
that the plane’s designers claimed wouldn’t be net
for stealth missions.
“We think it’s prudent to provide as much buffet
coverage” as possible, Lt. Gen. Marvin R.
deputy chief of staff for Air and Space Operations.!
But under the right circumstances, he said, theB-2tf
“go in alone.”
Initj
f es
A&
ln &l
c oij II(
S h<| !:
me,
Te:,,