Les Aspin

Defense Secretary Les Aspin, faced with congressional calls for his resignation, acknowledged Thursday that he had refused a request to send protective armor to American forces in Somalia and conceded that it had been a grave mistake. While noting that, in hindsight, he would have made "a very different decision," Aspin said after a private meeting with President Clinton that he would not resign over what congressional critics contend has been his "very poor" handling of the Somalia crisis.

Defense Secretary Les Aspin, rejecting the recommendation of his own Navy secretary, has decided to retain Adm. Frank B. Kelso as the nation's top naval officer rather than remove him as punishment for the Navy's Tailhook scandal, Pentagon officials said Monday. Aspin's decision came after three days of soul-searching by the Clinton Administration, which found itself in a politically difficult situation after new Navy Secretary John H.

The Clinton Administration appeared to be searching for a way to avoid removing Adm. Frank B. Kelso as chief of naval operations following a recommendation that he be fired for "lack of leadership" in the wake of the Tailhook scandal. Defense Secretary Les Aspin met briefly with Kelso Saturday afternoon following the public disclosure of new Navy Secretary John H. Dalton's recommendation.

A federal judge who ruled that the Navy's ban on homosexuals was unconstitutional has ordered the secretary of defense and other officials to explain why the policy is still in force or face contempt charges. In a one-page order, U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. instructed Defense Secretary Les Aspin, the secretary of the Navy and the commanding officer of Moffett Field Naval Air Station near San Jose to appear in court today or send an agent to represent them.

Defense Secretary Les Aspin, seeking to rally the spirits of community leaders where military bases have been ordered shut down, promised Monday to speed up the base-closure process so that the installations can be transformed into commercial enterprises. Speaking to local and state officials, including several from Southern California, Aspin pledged to cut red tape at the Pentagon, ease property transfers and accept increased responsibility for environmental cleanup of polluted military land.

Defense Secretary Les Aspin, reflecting the dominant view among the military's top brass, this morning is expected to urge President Clinton to open the military to gay men and women only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret. Clinton Administration officials said that the Aspin recommendation--a restrictive version of a compromise widely known as "don't ask/don't tell"--appeared to be gaining favor in the White House as well.

With a decision near on whether and how to lift the military's ban on gays in the services, Defense Secretary Les Aspin met for an hour Friday with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a continuing effort to forge a compromise that would fend off legislative challenges to a change in the policy. Particularly important to the Administration is the support of Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who in recent weeks has sounded conciliatory in his public comments.

Defense Secretary Les Aspin said Thursday that he has decided against scaling back American armed forces to the point where they could no longer win two major conflicts at once and instead will seek to retain a two-war capability throughout the post-Cold War era. His decision came amid mounting criticism of the "win-hold-win" proposal, both in the military and among some foreign governments.

Defense Secretary Les Aspin warned a presidential panel Thursday not to make too many changes to his base closing list because shutting down the wrong military installations could affect operational readiness. Responding to criticism that the Pentagon list is flawed by errors and service subjectivity, Aspin, flanked by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Colin L. Powell and service branch commanders, assured the commission that the Defense Department's closure selections are the right ones.

Defense Secretary Les Aspin on Sunday scrambled to negotiate a compromise that would persuade Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons and turn them over to a third party for storage and dismantlement. On Sunday, Aspin shuttled between Russian and Ukrainian officials exploring a solution to the intractable problem of Ukraine's nuclear weapons, which by international agreement are to be removed from Ukraine and dismantled.