Defender of the States

Date: 09/01/1997

EUROPEANS do not know him yet, but William Cohen will have a huge impact on three key decisions they will take in 1997 and beyond.

Designated as America's next secretary of defence, Cohen will be the man they must contend with as they build a new security order for Europe: creating a European defence structure independent of the US, expanding NATO and the EU towards eastern Europe, and keeping peace in the Balkans.

This quiet, artistic man from Bangor, Maine, known above all for his fierce independence, will be a challenge for Europeans.

Cohen is not expected to alter current Pentagon policy, but he is regarded as a conservative when it comes to military matters and is likely to think twice before sending American boys to foreign wars. That might leave the Union with more scope for fulfilling one of its dreams conducting military operations on its own, without American commanders.

At last summer's NATO summit in Berlin, the Europeans won an agreement that after approving a mission, the Americans would delegate to them the authority to use US-owned NATO assets.

The EU has devoted huge efforts towards achieving that goal.

Although only some of its member states belong to NATO, the Union has been pushing hard for a 'European pillar' within the alliance.

It has also been preparing the EU's military arm, the Western European Union (WEU), to be able to take on the tasks involved in independent European peacekeeping and crisis-prevention missions. Cohen will have a direct say every time.

More than in any other world trouble spot, Bosnia is the place where EU-US cooperation matters most.

Both have already agreed to keep troops there, but Cohen's decisions about how long to leave US soldiers in Bosnia will affect European policy and, as long as troops are required to ensure peace, his actions will have a direct impact on the Union's plans to rebuild Bosnia's economy and civilian life.

Cohen will also be called upon to answer some key questions the Europeans have about US attitudes towards expanding NATO.

US officials deny it, but there is growing talk of an American desire for the EU to admit eastern European and Baltic nations into the Union so that NATO is relieved of the obligation to take them in.

European resentment towards that idea is already growing, and Cohen will have to reassure his Union counterparts that this is not the case.

He will also have to work hard in Washington to convince Americans of the need to expand the military alliance and, therefore, of US obligations to protect Europeans. Polls show popular support for the idea, but analysts nevertheless expect the fight to be tough.

That is undoubtedly one of the reasons why US President Bill Clinton took the highly unusual step of selecting a Republican to serve in such a key post in his Democratic administration. Congress will be controlled by Republicans for at least the coming two years and the military generally votes Republican.

“He will be very useful in lobbying the senate on the controversial issue of NATO expansion,” said Bruce Stokes, of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. “He has no enemies.”

NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana is reportedly pleased about Cohen's nomination. The two men met in June, as Cohen announced his retirement as a senator, and Solana was said to be “lamenting the fact that a policy hand who was so knowledgeable about European security issues was quitting the Senate”.

NATO officials say that although Cohen does not have the high profile at alliance headquarters of Senators Sam Nunn or John Warner both frequent visitors he will be welcome.

Although Cohen has kept very quiet about the matter since his nomination, he had clearly considered the possibility that he might be offered the job before Clinton made his move. Cohen went so far as to consult former US President George Bush, who advised him to take the post if it were offered.

“He is a very serious guy a capable, independent thinker,” said Bush, speaking by telephone from his office in Houston, Texas. Bush, who campaigned often for Cohen in the state of Maine, highlighted a quality in Cohen which might be found in many Maine natives, saying: “He is not the most light-hearted person.”

You can see it in Cohen's face his jaw set in determination beneath the concentrated gaze of his blue-green eyes delivers a clear message of purposefulness.

Cohen has a reputation for being fiercely independent, gained during six years in the House of Representatives and 18 in the Senate.

Although he worked in Richard Nixon's White House under Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, when in congress he voted to impeach Nixon.

At the same time, he is not a showman. “He is a quiet, behind-the-scenes kind of person not a grandstander who gives tough speeches and then picks up the pieces,” said Stokes.

While no one doubts Cohen's intelligence, there are concerns about his capacity to rise to the challenges of his new job. As a long-time member of the Senate armed services committee, he knows the dossiers. But some doubt whether Cohen, who has never been an administrator, can run the world's biggest government agency the Pentagon.

“Cohen is one of the smarter guys to come out of the Senate. He is bright, thoughtful, insightful and creative. But he has no experience, and the generals will lead him around by the ring in his nose,” said one Washington analyst.

There are also question marks over whether he can stand up to European defence ministers.

“He has survived political fights in Washington, but whether he will be effective at getting Europeans to do something they do not want to do is another question,” added the analyst.

When he was growing up, Bill Cohen probably never expected to handle such weighty matters.

But as the son of a baker, he surely knew the American saying that the heaviest thing a woman should lift should be her own biscuits. Cohen himself got used to lifting biscuits as a child. He was just four years old when he started accompanying his father on the early-morning trips around Bangor to deliver the bread.

Cohen still occasionally makes the Bangor Rye Bread Company rounds with his father, now aged 87, committing the orders to memory before making the deliveries.

In the city where Cohen worked as a lawyer, served on the city council and was elected mayor, people have fond memories of him.

Cohen, son of a Jewish father and an Irish mother, got top marks during seven years of Hebrew school, but was refused a bar mitzvah as it would have meant getting his mother to convert.

Now he is a Unitarian, which he usually describes as being “someone who in a fit of anger burns a question mark on your lawn”.

The divorced Cohen has two sons: Kevin, 33, a novelist, and Chris, 31, a racing driver in Athens, Georgia.

Still athletic, Cohen keeps up some of his youthful hobbies. A state champion basketball player in school and a star on the tennis court during his college years, he even dreamed of going professional but was not tall or strong enough.

He is also widely known for his novels, non-fiction books and poetry, which he writes in the small hours of the morning during bouts of insomnia. Inspiration comes from the Greek tragedies, classic American works and even the beat poetry of the 1950s. It also comes from days spent on Capitol Hill, as his books' titles reveal. One was called Murder in the Senate, and another One Eyed Kings was based on his experience in tightening US legislation to combat espionage. He also wrote a thriller, The Double Man, with Senator Gary Hart, and another with Senator George Mitchell.

Before accepting Clinton's job offer, Cohen always insisted he was not “nationally ambitious”. In fact, he was once featured on a magazine cover as “a senator who does not want to be president”.

He may yet find his latest job even less attractive.