Webster Chosen as CIA Director : President Picks FBI Chief to Head Agency Under Fire for Iran Role

WASHINGTON — President Reagan on Tuesday selected FBI Director William H. Webster as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, which is coming under increasing fire for its role in the unfolding Iran- contra scandal.

Webster’s nomination, which requires Senate confirmation, followed by one day Reagan’s decision to withdraw the name of Deputy CIA Director Robert M. Gates to head the agency. Senate opposition to Gates had mounted with charges that the CIA had slanted its intelligence reports to support the sale of arms to Iran.

The White House had hoped to announce a replacement when Gates’ nomination was withdrawn, but former Sen. John Tower (R-Tex.), its first choice, rejected approaches to him about taking the job. Tower chaired the commission that issued a sharply critical report last week on the Administration’s conduct of the Iran-contra affair.

Would Head Spy Agencies

Webster, 62, was not contacted about the nomination until Tuesday morning, officials said. If confirmed by the Senate, he will also be the director of central intelligence, with responsibility for overseeing all the government’s diverse spy agencies.

Reagan said that Webster “will bring remarkable depth and breadth of experience, as well as an outstanding record of achievement,” to the CIA job.

Under Webster’s leadership, Reagan said, “the FBI dramatically increased its counterintelligence and counterterrorism capabilities. I expect Bill to bring the same kind of leadership and achievement to his new position as director of central intelligence, a position so crucial to the security of our nation.”

Reaction to Webster’s selection Tuesday night was universally favorable, with both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate praising him.

“I welcome the appointment of Judge Webster, a highly regarded official who will bring much-needed credibility to the CIA,” said Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), who had been a leading critic of the Gates nomination.

In a joint statement, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman David L. Boren (D-Okla.) and Vice Chairman William S. Cohen (R-Me.) described Webster as a “good choice” because of his reputation for integrity, legal knowledge and experience in counterterrorism. They said the Intelligence Committee will consider his nomination “as expeditiously as possible, given our obligation to be careful and thorough.”

Speculation on a successor for Webster at the FBI centered immediately on a San Francisco federal judge, D. Lowell Jensen, a longtime associate of Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III. Jensen, a registered Democrat and veteran prosecutor, was named to the bench last year after having served as deputy attorney general under Meese.

Others mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh, a high-ranking Justice Department official in the Gerald R. Ford Administration, and Associate Atty. Gen. Stephen S. Trott.

Webster, a Republican, is a former federal appellate and District Court judge and U.S. attorney in St. Louis who was chosen to head the FBI in 1978 by former President Jimmy Carter. His 10-year term as FBI director would end next February.

Gained Wide Praise

Drawing on his judicial experience, Webster, who is still addressed as “Judge,” gained wide praise in Washington for having helped restore the FBI’s reputation for integrity. That reputation had been badly damaged by revelations of illegal break-ins that agents conducted against domestic extremist groups and harassment and intimidation of public figures regarded as enemies by longtime FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Before his nomination Tuesday, Webster had been praised lavishly by Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee during his testimony on behalf of the FBI’s 1988 budget request. Webster repeated his concern for “the rule of law,” an emphasis that has drawn praise from American Civil Liberties Union officials and was cited by Reagan in announcing his choice of Webster.

Under questioning by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), a leading advocate of the use of “minimal force” if necessary to bring back terrorist fugitives abroad for trial, Webster sounded a cautionary note. He said that the views of U.S. allies must be considered before the United States tries to “kidnap” terrorists and warned that measures “must be legitimate and must be seen to be legitimate.”

Breaks Tradition

The first indication that Webster was being considered for the CIA post came as he left the hearing. Breaking with traditional practice, he declined to answer reporters’ questions as a phalanx of aides pushed aside those attempting to question him.

Webster was mentioned as a possible successor to the CIA job after former Director William J. Casey had surgery for a brain tumor in December. Just as Webster helped restore integrity to the FBI, his associates said, recent criticism of the CIA’s role in the Iran-contra affair would provide him with an opportunity to fulfill a similar role at the intelligence agency.

In Washington, Webster has forged relations with a spectrum of political leaders and prominent representatives of the news media, often using his tennis skills to cement contacts.

In public, he is often self-effacing and quick to laugh. Inside the paramilitary FBI, however, Webster has gained a reputation as a demanding task master who has little tolerance for not being briefed fully on sensitive subjects.