A Tale of Washington Political Intrigue
Lies Behind Robert Gallucci's Departure
WASHINGTON, MARCH 7—Reuters) In an apparent new blow to U.S. peace efforts in Bosnia, officials said Thursday that Ambassador Robert Gallucci, named to succeed Richard Holbrooke as Bosnia troubleshooter, had resigned to take up an academic post.The State Department "will announce tomorrow that Ambassador Gallucci will be accepting an offer from Georgetown University to become dean of its School of Foreign Service," a senior adminstration official told Reuterss.
Gallucci, a career civil servant who won high praise for the 1994 landmark nuclear agreement with North Korea, is to take up his new duties at Georgetown on May 1.
The official said implementation of the Bosnia peace deal, which Holbrooke negotiated and set in motion before resigning last month, would be in the hands of Acting Assistant Secretary of State John Kornblum and two Balkan experts.
They are Rudolph Perina, until recently U.S. charge d'affaires in Belgrade and now Kornblum's deputy in the Bureau of European and Canadian affairs, and William Montgomery, now Gallucci's deputy who will have the title of special adviser to the president and secretary of state on Bosnia implementation.
The Georgetown offer "is obviously a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a scholar-diplomat," said the senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He called the new arrangement of officials taking the lead on Bosnia "a strong team" and indeed all have been deeply involved in U.S. policy in the former Yugoslavia for years.
But the departure of Gallucci so soon after Holbrooke gives the impression of uncertainty and flux in leadership on a foreign policy issue that senior U.S. officials have insisted is crucial to the future of American international stewardship, European security and NATO.
There had been signs even before Holbrooke's departure that Gallucci, who is not a Balkans expert, might not retain the crucial Bosnia brief. U.S. officials sometimes gave mixed messages as to who would take over for Holbrooke and Gallucci did not accompany Holbrooke recently to a key summit on the Bosnia peace deal in Rome.
It was widely known that Gallucci and Holbrooke, who has a reputation for not liking to share the spotlight, were at loggerheads during the time they had to work together on Bosnia. Partisans on either side tell different stories. One Gallucci supporter said "Holbrooke resented his appointment from day one" and "tried to undercut him."
A Holbrooke supporter said Holbrooke initially was enthusiastic about Gallucci's appointment to head implementation of the Bosnia peace deal. But Holbrooke became disenchanted during the peace talks at Dayton, Ohio, because Gallucci did not move boldly enough to seize the initiative and it seemed he might not be the one best-suited to go head-to-head with rough and tumble Balkan leaders, the Holbrooke supporter said.
A senior U.S. official said that while the Georgetown job was prestigious and irresistible, "probably a combination of things" prompted Gallucci's decision.
Gallucci declined to comment on his plans.
Before negotiating the accord with North Korea, which resolved what had been one of the adminstration's most critical foreign policy crises, Gallucci was assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs. Before that he headed non-proliferation initiatives in the former Soviet Union and also served in 1991-1992 as deputy chairman of the U.N. special commission overseeing Iraq's disarmament.
Robert Gallucci Biography U.S. State Department
Holbrooke Departs, But is His Successor the Right Man for the Job?
Berserkistan is a world news service of Michael Linder Productions, Inc.
©1995-1996, All Rights Reserved
