If you’ve been a military man for 30 years, and the president tells you he needs you, it’s hard to say no. I went to the White House on the evening of Nov. 9. After the Gore/Perot debate, we talked. It was a candid look at national security. I was very taken with both his interest in the issues and his candor about the problems. I thought it was a request for backstairs advice. In fact it was a looking-me-over process.
I expressed all of my reservations. A series of telephone conversations with the president ensued over several days. A team of four came down. I raised the Zoe Baird problem. I raised the issue over gays in the military and the decision I had made to keep a gay employed [at the NSA] and the furor that had caused. I raised the intense animosity that I had engendered from [columnist William] Safire. And, finally, the men’s clubs I joined, not because I liked their men-only rules but as a matter of principle I did not intend to resign.
You’re right. The president knew I was coming to Washington, and asked if I could meet with members of the national-security team. Long meetings with a variety of people, and a long session with the president, each of us going through our own list of issues. I went off for a long walk, then called and said, “This isn’t going to work.” I was having dinner with an old friend, [and] the manager [of the restaurant] said, “Admiral, you’ve got a call,” and it was Chris [Secretary of State Warren Christopher] saying as a favor would I let him come to the hotel to talk to me. I went and there was Dave Gergen, Chris arrives not far behind. The next day the president said I am persuaded you are the right one, and I need you.
[Last week] I tried to tell the story of how I had changed my mind. Suddenly [on “Nightline”] Ted Koppel’s skillful use of conspiracy between [Sen. Bob] Dole and Safire captured a whole different tone.
I could have, but you know that the instant thing would be “What’s the motivation?” Why did I leave myself isolated from family and friends who would say, “Do you really want to do this?” We had the Pentagon press clips coming daily. They put all the negative things up front.
Perhaps I saw in the way Senator Dole dealt with this issue that the temptation of ‘96 politics was going to be simply too great and that there would be constant outside intercession. [And] as I watched the feeding frenzy over whitewater I concluded that politics had become such a daily sport.
There was a different thing. The whisper was “He’s anti-Semitic.” I didn’t know they were Jewish. I knew Safire was. I have had wonderful working relationships with most Israeli intelligence organizations. It is the depth of [Safire’s] alliance to that right-wing side of Likud that I think blocks his ability to see–if you’re not with them you’re against them.
They impact more on opinion around the country than the working press does.
You’re right. You know, I’ve gone back to read this thing and said, “My God, I went on for a long time.” It was more, I guess, a cry from the heart. A reporter badgered my younger son and he finally said, “Look, lady. Can’t you understand he really didn’t want the job.”
