Defense: It Only Looks Like He's Not Doing Anything

PRESIDENT CLINTON'S decision last week to postpone building a $25 billion antimissile system to protect the U.S. from small-scale nuclear attack, thus leaving the system's fate in the hands of his successor, was widely expected, given that the interceptor missile has failed two of three tests so far and that the rest of the development program is bogging down. The surprising thing is that the announcement didn't leak.

Thanks to the machinations of White House press secretary JOE LOCKHART and National Security Adviser SANDY BERGER, most reporters didn't even know the decision was coming until just hours before Clinton revealed it at a hastily scheduled speech at Georgetown University Friday.

The plotting began Tuesday afternoon, when Clinton returned from a grueling five-day trip to Africa. It was widely reported that the President played golf later that day, but it went unnoticed that Defense Secretary WILLIAM COHEN had quietly slipped into the White House earlier and was waiting to speak to him. The two talked for an hour in the Oval Office and arrived at a tentative conclusion before Clinton headed for the links. He had further discussions Wednesday on Air Force One with Berger and chief of staff JOHN PODESTA as they returned from a one-day visit to Colombia, and the final decision was made Thursday.

Clinton felt he needed to give a speech to lay out the security and diplomatic context of the decision, which has immediately become a hot issue in the presidential campaign. But where? The White House rejected using a Washington think tank, fearing leaks. On the other hand, Georgetown's foreign-service school is headed by ROBERT GALUCCI, a former diplomatic troubleshooter for Clinton. Says Lockhart: "For them to get a crowd is easy. All they have to do is hit one button to send an e-mail to their faculty and students: DO YOU WANT TO COME?" Galucci said he was game but didn't get the "go" signal until 6 p.m. Thursday. Amazingly, the speech stayed under wraps all night until the White House sent out the word a little after 7 a.m. Says an official with a smile: "Every once in a while, we get to talk first, and you guys get to listen first."

--By Jay Branegan/Washington