Ex-Fighter Jock Picked To Head Joint Chiefs Of Staff Defense Secretary Cohen’s Selection Seen By Some As Public Relations Move

Air Force Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, a calm and consensus-seeking former fighter pilot, has been chosen by Defense Secretary William S. Cohen to succeed Army Gen. John M. Shalikashvili as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, defense officials said Friday.

Ralston, vice chairman of the joint chiefs for the last two years, has won wide support in the uniformed and civilian ranks of the Pentagon with his collegial oversight of a just-completed internal review. But his selection may disappoint some reform advocates, who had hoped for the appointment of iconoclastic Marine Gen. John Sheehan, who likely would bring about more sweeping changes in U.S. forces for the new century.

“Sheehan was the candidate of change and uncertainty,” said one top officer.

Ralston’s selection is expected to be announced next week after a White House meeting between President Clinton and Cohen.

The choice of Ralston is also another sign of the cautious approach that Cohen, the Cabinet’s only Republican, so far has taken in running the largest federal department. Since his confirmation on Jan. 24, Cohen rarely has stepped out front as a spokesman for administration foreign policy aims, and he has made few decisions - including in the major review - that risked serious breach with the Pentagon’s uniformed leadership.

Ralston was the choice not only of Cohen but of Shalikashvili, Deputy Defense Secretary John White and the service chiefs. He has good relations with Congress, which is important for the administration’s goal of completing his confirmation by Sept. 30, when Shalikashvili will end his second two-year term as chairman.

Ralston is considered to have a sophisticated grasp of the complex technical issues involved in running today’s armed forces, as well as sensitive political antennae. But several officers predicted that he would resist if the Pentagon’s masters in Congress brought pressure to ease the military’s rules on adultery and sexual relations between the ranks, a hot-button issue at the moment.

Some officers suggested that Ralston might be a more public figure than Shalikashvili, who has been far less visible as chairman than, for example, retired Gen. Colin L. Powell.

Before his stint as vice chairman, Ralston, 53, was head of the Air Combat Command, which is based in Langley, Va., and oversees all Air Force combat aircraft. He is also a Vietnam veteran who flew 147 missions over that country and Laos.

Sheehan, 56, had won praise for his contribution in helping oversee the invasion of Haiti. He would have been the first Marine chairman - the kind of precedent that often appeals to Clinton in personnel choices.

But while Sheehan was considered Cohen’s early odds-on favorite, he had upset some in the Pentagon by publicly criticizing the department’s huge bureaucracy and its centralization around Washington, and even in calling on NATO to slim down. He irritated some in the Air Force by questioning the primacy of air power and on occasions broke ranks with the Marine commandant, Gen. Charles Krulak.

As a candidate for joint chiefs chairman, “he had shown all his cards right away,” one senior officer said.

In contrast, Ralston showed his deference to what each of the services held dear. That attitude may have arisen in part from his work as vice chairman in leading the effort to make the military services work together more closely in joint operations.