Perry, Pentagon Deputy, Is Named Defense Secretary : Cabinet: Clinton nominates an expert on technology and procurement--but with untested political skills.

WASHINGTON —  President Clinton on Monday nominated Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Perry, a respected administrator with largely untested political skills, to take over the Pentagon’s top position.

Clinton praised the 66-year-old expert in defense technology and procurement as “a real pro,” saying that “he has the right skills and management experience for the job. He has the right vision for the job.”

And Perry, who served as a high-level Pentagon official in the Jimmy Carter Administration and has broad experience in business and academia, comes with strong support from the military, from Congress and from defense industries.

As a result, his nomination is expected to win easy confirmation in the Senate, apparently ending an embarrassingly public struggle to find a replacement for the present defense chief, Les Aspin. The nine-week melodrama saw retired Adm. Bobby Ray Inman accept, then reject the nomination, and two other candidates, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and former Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.) tell the White House that they were not interested.

But it remains to be seen whether Perry, a loyal, soft-spoken member of the Administration team, can meet the White House’s other urgent need at Defense--for a forceful leader who can blunt criticism of the national security team and build public support for difficult policy decisions.

In an afternoon press conference, Clinton sought to underscore the scope of Perry’s experience, citing his work on the Stealth program, procurement reform and the defense budget, as well as his contribution to the recent agreement with the Ukrainian government to eliminate its nuclear weapons.

Perry has been on the “cutting edge of defense issues,” he said.

Though the President put a positive face on the announcement, the search for a defense secretary had become a particularly thorny issue since Aspin’s departure was first contemplated last Thanksgiving.

Amid widespread criticism of its handling of foreign policy, lingering disquiet within the armed services about the President’s draft record and continuing controversy over the policy on gays in the military, the Administration hoped to find a candidate with enough star quality to buffer it against future attacks--particularly from conservatives.

The White House thought Inman could provide those qualities and some aides believed that Nunn or Rudman could.

Now, with Perry, the White House believes it has found a steady managerial hand and it hopes that he will develop into a public presence, aides said.

Clinton tried Monday to dismiss suggestions that this selection--like so many earlier ones--had been difficult.

“I had an interview with one person,” Clinton said. “I asked him if he would take the job, and he did. I don’t think that qualifies as difficult.”

Perry, who has been, in effect, the department’s operations manager under Aspin, acknowledged that the national security problems facing the country in the aftermath of the Cold War are “complex and difficult.” And he said he had nearly turned down the job offer on Saturday because of his family’s hesitation about the loss of privacy and potential criticism that could come with such a position.

Perry met with Clinton Friday morning to talk about the job, then spent Friday evening discussing the promotion with his wife, Lee, and five children. On Saturday morning, when he was to meet White House Chief of Staff Thomas (Mack) McLarty, the family was still undecided.

“I told them, if I had to accept the job at that time, my answer would have to be no,” he told reporters at the press conference.

But Perry said that he met with Vice President Al Gore at Gore’s home in Washington and Gore urged him to take more time. By Sunday afternoon, he called Gore back and told him: “If you still want me for your secretary of defense, I’m eager to serve.”

Harold Brown, Perry’s boss as secretary of defense under Carter, said that Perry talked to him over the weekend and confided his concern about the criticism that might be aimed at him in the post.

“Nobody likes to get shot at, especially if he’s a low-key person,” Brown said. “He saw me get shot at--he saw Les Aspin get shot at.”

Those who know Perry said that the decision to move up was also difficult because in his current job as the Pentagon’s No. 2 official he has been able to pursue his key interests--in defense technology and procurement, for example--without having to spend a lot of time as the defense agency’s public spokesman, a role he does not particularly relish.

The secretary of defense post is difficult in the best of times. Perry would inherit it at a particularly trying moment. Amid strict budgetary constraints, he would oversee an anguishing downsizing of the 1.6-million-member armed services, manage new policies toward women and homosexual members, reform procurement and reshape security policies at a time when the nature of future defense needs is unclear and the nation is deeply divided on how broadly its security umbrella should be spread.

The complexity of those tasks apparently tripped up Aspin, despite his long years as one of the most powerful congressional overseers of the Pentagon.

Nor did Perry devote much time to broader defense policy-making issues either during his time at the Pentagon during the Carter years or in his current tour.

Nevertheless, Perry’s nomination was praised by lawmakers ranging from Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), ranking minority member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), one of the senior members of the House Armed Services Committee.

Dick Cheney, secretary of defense under former President George Bush, said that Perry has an “excellent reputation” and is “very knowledgeable about defense matters,” adding that it would be “vital for him to stand up to the President and the White House on defense matters.”

Most of those who praised Perry Monday focused on his skills in management and procurement, while others pointed to his experience as a defense strategist.

Perry’s nomination to be deputy defense secretary was approved unanimously by the Senate last March and lawmakers do not foresee any obstacles this time around.