Nomination of William F. Burns To Be Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency

The President today announced his intention to nominate William F. Burns to be Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. He would succeed Kenneth L. Adelman.

Major General Burns is currently Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, at the Department of State, in Washington, DC. Prior to this, General Burns was Joint Chiefs of Staff Representative to the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, November 1981-June 1984. General Burns was reassigned to Carlisle Barracks as deputy commandant for the United States Army War College, 1984-1985. In February 1985 he returned to the Pentagon as the Joint Chiefs of Staff Representative to the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces negotiating group in Geneva, Switzerland, until December 1986.

General Burns has served in the United States Army in various capacities from 1954 to the present: director, special task force, Corps Support Weapons System, Fort Sill, OK, 1981-1982; deputy assistant commandant, U.S. Army Field Artillery School, Fort Sill, 1980-1981; senior liaison officer to Federal Republic of Germany, U.S. Army Training, and Doctrine Command, Bonn, Germany, 1978-1980; commander, 42d Field Artillery Group, U.S. Army Europe, 1976-1978; director of political-economic studies for the department of national and international security studies at the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA, 1972-1976. Awards and decorations which General Burns has received include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with V Device and three Oak Leaf Clusters, Meritorious Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medals, and the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.

General Burns graduated from LaSalle College (B.A., 1954) and Princeton University (MA., 1969). He was born June 23, 1932, in Scranton, PA. He is married, has four children, and resides in Fort Myer, VA.