Shultz, Sen. Dodd Trade Barbs on Foreign Policy

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State George P. Shultz scolded a Democratic senator today for intruding in U.S. foreign policy by conducting private meetings with Central American heads of state.

Shultz suggested to Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) that the meetings, without U.S. ambassadors present, had undermined a “sense of cohesion” in American foreign policy and criticized legislators who “conduct their own foreign policy.”

Dodd, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Latin America, branded the broadside a “personal attack” intended to “intimidate me and intimidate the countries” into falling into line behind the Administration’s hard-line Nicaragua policy.

Dodd said that foreign leaders should sometimes hear the views of members of Congress “unfettered and unencumbered” by the presence of the ambassador and that he will continue such meetings where appropriate.

Dodd also noted the irony of the Shultz attack at a time when Administration foreign policy has been thrown into disarray by investigations of secret U.S. arms sales to Iran and possible diversion of profits to the Nicaraguan rebels.

The exchange occurred at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Administration’s foreign affairs budget.

Shultz’s volley with Dodd began when the senator asked Shultz for access to cable traffic from Central American embassies he thought might demonstrate opposition to a recent regional peace conference.

“I think we are getting into a real problem in the conduct of the foreign policy of the United States because it is being intruded into in all sorts of ways and frankly, senator, I want to confront you on the subject,” Shultz replied.

Shultz said Dodd, a critic of the Administration’s Central American policies, had traveled to the “very sensitive” region and insisted on seeing heads of state without the American ambassador present.

“It has an impact on their judgment of whether the ambassador’s worth dealing with,” Shultz said. “It has an impact on the dignity of our country.”

It was Dodd’s private meeting with Honduran President Jose Azcona Hoyo earlier this month that apparently raised Shultz’s ire.