GOP’s Cohen Sworn In as Defense Chief

WASHINGTON — Former Republican Sen. William S. Cohen took office as secretary of Defense on Friday, promising a bipartisan spirit in President Clinton’s Cabinet. He quickly warned that U.S. military forces must not “engage too much in humanitarian operations.”

Cohen, a moderate Republican who has occasionally been critical of Clinton’s military policies, told the president after he was sworn in, “Your decision to reach across party lines for this appointment respects the desires of the American people for an approach to public policy that is free of political rancor.”

Likewise, Clinton said the Senate’s 99-0 vote to confirm Cohen “sent a strong signal of its intention to work . . . in a bipartisan spirit to preserve and enhance our national security.”

In an interview with Armed Forces Radio and Television that was released later in the day, Cohen underscored a cautious approach to sending U.S. forces in harm’s way.

While in the Senate, Cohen had criticized Clinton’s defense policies, castigating his approach to Bosnia as an “on-again, off-again,” with no clarity of mission.

Asked about American troops’ prominent role in several recent peacekeeping efforts, Cohen replied, “We ought to be very careful in terms of how we deploy them and where we deploy them.”

If U.S. forces “engage too much in humanitarian operations . . . and there is no end to how many we can deploy our forces to, it has the long-term impact of undermining our readiness; it will have an impact upon morale, all of which would be to the detriment of the United States,” Cohen said.

Even before the former senator from Maine completed taking his oath of office at the White House, workers were busy putting a brass plaque bearing his name on the door of his second-floor Pentagon office.

After a meeting with predecessor William J. Perry, Cohen lunched with the No. 2 man in the building, John White, and met with David Cooke, the so-called “Mayor of the Pentagon,” who is in charge of the building’s administration and management.

Cohen then plunged into a series of meetings with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. John M. Shalikashvili and Pentagon Chief Financial Officer John Hamre.

Cohen, the only Republican to serve in either of Clinton’s two Cabinets, took the oath of office from Vice President Al Gore in an Oval Office ceremony.

Looking on were Clinton, Perry and Cohen’s wife, Janet Langhart.