Never Sound Retreat

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Weinberger wages a stubborn defensive struggle

Pentagon's point man found himself isolated, encircled and under siege last week. But Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger refused to surrender in his unflinching battle to protect the military budget from facing its share of the cuts made by the rest of the Administration in the drive to reduce the huge federal deficit.

Returning from meetings with other NATO ministers in Western Europe, Weinberger jumped into the budget wars after all other departments and the President had tentatively agreed to slash a painful $34 billion next year from what is now spent on domestic programs. In a series of White House meetings, Weinberger at first argued against any slowdown in the military buildup, then suggested that it was up to others, not him, to find soft spots in the $333.7 billion he wants Congress to authorize for fiscal 1986, which begins next October. Finally, he offered some bookkeeping savings of $6 billion that would leave all weapons development and Pentagon spending plans untouched. Complained a White House aide: "He alienated everybody. He insulted their intelligence."

Weinberger was welcomed back to Washington with a litany of warnings. "I don't believe you can put together a realistic package without including defense," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici. Insisted the newly elected Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole: "Substantial reductions should be forthcoming from the defense budget." From within the Administration, Treasury Secretary Donald Regan led a rearguard action. "It would be very difficult to pass the budget without having defense as part of the package," he said publicly.

The Pentagon boss was unpersuaded.

Brushing off suggestions from top aides that he should begin by proposing some symbolic cuts, Weinberger went to a White House meeting on Monday and sat quietly through a belt-tightening pitch by the President. He assured Reagan that his department would take another look at its budget figures and "come in with suggested cuts." But once Reagan was out of the room, Weinberger tangled with David Stockman, director of the Office of Management and Budget, in what one participant called a heated exchange.

Stockman wanted to get $8 billion out of defense outlays next year on top of the $34 billion from other agencies. Even so, Stockman's plan would permit the Pentagon to proceed with development of 48 more MX missiles, the B-l bomber and the President's Star Wars defense against a nuclear missile attack.

Weinberger countered that it was dangerous to force the Defense Department to cut its budget out of some sense of fairness to the other agencies making sacrifices. The military is unlike all other departments of the Government, he said, because its budget "has to be determined by the threats outside the United States."