Global Policy Forum

By Al Kamen

Supporters of the nomination of veteran diplomat Richard C. Holbrooke to be ambassador to the United Nations say they detect positive signals from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on whether it will hold hearings on the nomination.

The nomination has been held up for many months while the inspector general investigated allegations of wrongdoing when Holbrooke was a New York City investment banker and serving at the same time as a special envoy to Cyprus and the Balkans. Then there was a big stumbling block over some alleged administration foot-dragging on coughing up internal documents the committee wanted. But that was resolved recently, after a telephone chat between committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and President Clinton when Clinton was in Germany.

So the stage is set for Helms to decide what he wants to do. The buzz seems favorable for Holbrooke's confirmation hearings next month, but Helms has played this very close to the vest. There's talk of an announcement in the next week or so.

Meanwhile, there's good news for some in the administration who might have worried that, if confirmed, Holbrooke's formidable presence at Cabinet meetings might prove annoying. Not to worry. It's unlikely he'll attend, judging from his past writings. The idea of giving U.N. ambassadors "Cabinet rank" is a "bad tradition," Holbrooke wrote back in 1982, that "against reason or good politics has allowed the [ambassador] to become a sort of second secretary of state." In an op-ed piece for one of his local papers when then-Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. and then-U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick were feuding, Holbrooke said such friction was inevitable no matter who occupied the offices. "Cabinet rank" has been "a valuable political goodie presidents have handed out to people whom they do not quite want to appoint Secretary of State," Holbrooke wrote. But the "goodie has once again bitten the giver and no one should be surprised." The "simple solution" was to put the U.N. job "back where it belongs. . . . The president should gently but firmly remove the seductive, ornamental phrase 'Cabinet rank' from the job." Would make the room less crowded too.

A State Dept. 'Hold' on Burleigh

Speaking of the United Nations, Clinton has announced he's going to nominate A. Peter Burleigh, now deputy U.S. representative to the U.N., to be ambassador to the Philippines. If Burleigh, a former ambassador to Sri Lanka, were to be confirmed before Holbrooke, then the No. 3 person, former National Security Council deputy chief Nancy Soderberg, would be acting U.N. ambassador. But word is the State Department will keep Burleigh in place until the Holbrooke matter is resolved.