State of the Art

A commission gets rolling

It seemed like old times last week as Henry Kissinger settled behind the desk in his State Department office, surrounded by diplomats, top-secret documents and photographers. The former Secretary of State has returned to Foggy Bottom in a new incarnation: chairman of the twelve-member National Bipartisan Commission on Central America. Of course, his office digs are not quite as opulent as they were when he was running the place. He has been assigned a modest, first-floor suite with an unprepossessing view of a wall, a far cry from the panoramic scene of Washington's monuments he once enjoyed. But Kissinger is not complaining.

The energetic diplomat who made shuttle diplomacy famous during the Nixon and Ford Administrations has maintained a whirlwind pace ever since his controversial appointment by President Reagan last month. He has conferred with congressional leaders and huddled with the top-ranking diplomats of Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela, the so-called Contadora group that is seeking a negotiated settlement in the region. He has also talked with the envoys of all the Central American nations involved in the conflict, including the new ambassador from the U.S.-opposed Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. But, amid all the activity, Kissinger still found time to settle the critical issue of where his car would be parked in the State Department garage. The agreement: right next to Secretary of State George Shultz's.

The Kissinger commission is charged with recommending a long-term U.S. policy on Central America capable of winning widespread national support. No easy matter: even before the panel was sworn in last week, Democrat Henry Cisneros, the mayor of San Antonio and one of two Hispanic commission members, publicly criticized the Administration's Central American policy as "wrong and potentially dangerous." Meanwhile, conservative groups and some Cuban exiles pressured the White House to oust Reagan's other Hispanic appointee, Cuban-born Carlos F. Diaz-Alejandro, a Yale University economics professor, because of his alleged sympathies with Cuban Leader Fidel Castro. But Reagan insisted at a press conference that he hoped the entire commission, some members of which have not yet cleared routine security checks, would be passed "intact."

Kissinger remained circumspect about his own views on Central America. "On issues like this," he told the commission, "there are no partisan considerations, and we will submit the fullest and fairest report of which we are capable." The report is due on Feb. 1. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.