Word: generality
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...lifetime. He is the new Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, the chief buyer for what amounts to the largest business enterprise in the world. Every day the 170,000 Pentagon employees who report to him sign some 56,000 contracts with private firms ranging from industrial giants like General Dynamics, Boeing and General Electric to tiny subcontractors. As the Pentagon's procurement czar, Costello will buy goods and services worth $170 billion this year. He must also oversee the costs of 2,600 weapons systems, as well as a bewildering variety of research and development projects. "Make no mistake...
...sheer size of the job is enough, but Costello, a former General Motors executive, also faces the task of restoring efficiency and respectability to an operation riddled with waste, tarred by scandal and engulfed by criticism from Congress and the press. The stakes are enormous: unless Costello spends the Pentagon's money wisely, the Soviet Union will overtake the U.S. in the military technology race. Admiral Kinnaird McKee, director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion, has warned that Soviet submarine technology "is rapidly catching up with that in the West...
...earlier era, a black athlete, no matter how gifted, could not realistically hope to become a star pro quarterback. Coaches believed that blacks genetically did not have enough intellect to call plays. Also: white players would not accept the leadership of a black field general. And of course: blacks won't measure up in clutch situations -- a view revived by the Greek in his statement that the Redskins' Williams might "choke" under pressure. As black Basketball Player Isiah Thomas pointed out last year during a storm of opprobrium about his views on Larry Bird, sportswriters are always dubbing black stars...
...press freedom the only area where the regime of General Manuel Antonio Noriega was coming under pressure. The Panamanian strongman angrily rejected a plan to get him to hand over power to a civilian government. Drafted with U.S. backing by Jose Blandon, a trusted Noriega ally, the proposal called for the general to retire by spring and for free elections to be held in 1989. Noriega responded by having Blandon fired as Panama's consul general in New York City...
...general's reaction dismayed White House officials. Blandon drew up his plan last fall after mass protests swept Panama, prompted by charges that implicated Noriega in murder, drug smuggling and election fraud. According to Gabriel Lewis, Panama's former U.S. Ambassador, Noriega had asked Blandon for a blueprint that would let him retire without facing U.S. reprisals. Lewis arranged an October meeting between Blandon and Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, who stressed Washington's desire for democracy in Panama...