Secret mission

The Pentagon has no plans for putting American peacekeepers in
war-torn Sierra Leone. But that doesn't mean the United States isn't
helping. According to a reliable Army source, the United States
dispatched from Germany to Sierra Leone a task force of Army Special
Forces soldiers to help capture notorious rebel leader Foday Sankoh.

The source said the U.S. commandos blended in among 10,700 United
Nations peacekeepers and helped pro-government forces locate Mr. Sankoh.
The key break was developing an informant who said the Revolutionary
United Front leader planned to return to his home to recover some
stashed cash and diamonds. When he arrived, he was shot in the leg and
captured.

The Sierra Leonean government announced that forces loyal to the
government found him. But our source said it was the American soldiers
who did the heavy lifting.

Mr. Sankoh is blamed for orchestrating a wave of violence and
killings in a eight-year civil war. He was turned over to government
troops and flown via British helicopter to a military police jail.
British troops are openly assisting U.N. peacekeepers.

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An administration official said yesterday that "to my knowledge'' no
U.S. Special Forces were sent to the West African nation.

The United States has acknowledged positioning a PT boat, presumably
with Navy Seals onboard, in the vicinity to handle any contingency. "The
boat never did any upriver missions,'' the official said. It left the
area after Mr. Sankoh's capture.

Ninja peacekeepers

The U.S. Army took it on the chin during a recent meeting of military
representatives from the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia.
The session at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, England,
included addresses by British generals who criticized the Army for what
they called its Ninja turtle approach to peacekeeping in
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.

They said American troops dress like ninjas with helmets and body
armor and hide out in heavily fortified cantonments. The Brits, these
generals said, shun body armor and wear light headgear. They extend
their footprint with patrols of two lightly armed soldiers.

"The U.S. took the beating with regret, as it believes force
protection is a responsibility, not a mission,'' said one Pentagon
official. The official noted that the Clinton administration's approach
is Somalia-centric, based on the disastrous peacekeeping operation in
Somalia that led to the deaths of 18 U.S. soldiers in a firefight with
Somalian rebels. "The administration's attitude is 'go everywhere, but
don't get anyone hurt and don't hurt anyone,'" the official said.

Clinton's Air Force II

President Clinton is again mobilizing the Air Force for his upcoming
trip to Russia. Pentagon officials said for the past several weeks, huge
C-5 cargo jets, and other aircraft, were diverted from other operations
(such as sending humanitarian supplies) to ferry helicopters, limousines
and security vehicles across the Atlantic. Word is the Air Force had to
use 40 aircraft for the job. As one military officer put it, only
half-jokingly: "We work harder to deploy the president than we ever have
for a war.''

The traveling White House leaves Monday for the eight-day trip to
Portugal, Germany, Russia and Ukraine. The aircraft are sent because the
president refuses to trust the local's helicopters for travel.

The last presidential junket was to India and cost upward of $27
million.

Costs for the latest trip? We won't know until after the trip, we are
told.

McCain's back

Sen. John McCain did not endear himself to Senate Republicans before
he left town to run for president. Some probably wish he had stayed out
on the trail. He is continuing his war against the GOP, and the pending
2001 defense authorization may fall casualty.

Mr. McCain has vowed to attach his cherished campaign finance reform
bill to the Senate Armed Services' yearly defense bill. Mr. McCain is
quoted as telling senators that reforming the elections process is more
important than the defense bill. Senators counter that his amendment is
not germane to a military bill. Indications yesterday were that Mr.
McCain was eying other major bills on which to piggyback finance reform.

"Senator McCain is reserving his right as a senator to offer it on
one of the next amendable vehicles,'' said Nancy Ives, his spokeswoman.
"Certainly he will examine each vehicle and make the decision at that
time. He has said he could live with as little as 15 minutes a side (of
debate) with a vote.''

Said a congressional aide, "We're not giving him a vote. His national
agenda is not our agenda. We're not going to give him his time.''

The Arizona Republican was the only Armed Services member to vote
against its defense budget. In the process, the maverick wrote a
dissenting opinion to the panel's report. Without naming names, he
attacked Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott for backing a new amphibious
assault ship to carry Marines that is not in the president's budget. And
he chastised committee Chairman John W. Warner, among other interested
parties, for bumping up funding for the Navy's new Virginia-class attack
submarine.

"It is sufficient to say that the military needs less money spent on
pork and more money spent wisely to redress the serious problems caused
by a decade of declining defense budgets,'' the ex-Navy fighter pilot
wrote. "We must reform.''

Campbell successor

The contentious post of deputy assistant defense secretary for East
Asia has been filled. The Pentagon's new top China policymaker is Fred
Smith, who has little China experience. Currently on the Naval Academy
staff, Mr. Smith is replacing Kurt Campbell, who stepped down last
month.

Before his Annapolis tour, Mr. Smith served as principal deputy
assistant secretary of defense for Near East and South Asia. His boss
was Assistant Defense Secretary Franklin D. Kramer, in charge of the
International Security Affairs office.

Administration officials have described debates between the Pentagon
and White House on China policy as "open political warfare.'' The East
Asia position was targeted by the White House last year in a covert
attempt to wrest control of Pentagon policy toward China. The plan was
hatched by Kenneth Lieberthal, the National Security Council's
pro-Beijing staff director for Asia.

The plan was to put David Shambaugh, a professor and former student
of Mr. Lieberthal, in the post in place of Mr. Campbell, who the White
House regarded as too hard-line toward Beijing. Defense Secretary
William S. Cohen stepped in, however, and blocked the move. Mr. Campbell
is now vice president at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies on K Street.

The East Asia office also has a new military assistant: Rear Adm.
Donald Weiss, who recently left as commander of naval forces in Japan.
The two-star admiral is replacing Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Wallace
Gregson.