THE US Air Force general who is the "leading candidate" for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to withdraw his name because of unfavourable publicity from an adulterous affair he ended nine years ago.
Gen Joseph Ralston is the choice of the Defence Secretary, Mr William Cohen, to take over the post when it becomes vacant in September.
But there has been an outcry over the way his adultery with a CIA staff member is being over looked while the first woman B 52 bomber pilot, Lt Kelly Flinn, recently had to resign rather than face court martial for adultery and related offences.
In addition, other generals and admirals recently have been demoted or made to resign because of their past affairs. Mr Cohen, who did not know of Gen Ralston's affair when he chose him for the top post, defended him last week when the affair was revealed.
Mr Cohen said it was time to end "the frenzy" of allegations of sexual misconduct that was "destroying people unnecessarily throughout the military". He said he wanted to draw the line with Gen Ralston, "someone who has devoted 32 years to the service of this country and has been an out standing individual in every capacity in which he has served." Mr Cohen also has tried to defuse the storm over adultery in the military and the sexual abuse of women recruits at training centres by announcing a legal review of the adultery rules.
He has also decided to set up two panels to review the integration of men and women in training and to study the rules of social contact among troops.
President Clinton, who was said to have informally approved of Mr Cohen's choice of Gen Ralston, is now keeping a low profile on the controversy. He is himself struggling with the recent spate of adverse publicity from the Supreme Court decision to allow the civil case against him by Ms Paula Jones for sexual impropriety to go ahead.
The White House has said that the President was putting no pressure on Mr Cohen to continue supporting or to end Gen Ralston's candidacy and that the President admired the Defence Secretary's handling of the controversy.
But Mr Cohen has been strongly criticised by members of Congress and by women's organisations for what are seen as double standards.
Congresswoman Nita Lowey, a Democrat, said: "The same good old boy network that has given Gen Ralston a pat on the back gave Kelly Flinn the back of its hand." Ms Karen Johnson, a vice president of the National Organisation for Women and a retired Air Force colonel, said: "Again the military continues to show that there's a double standard with men and women." Rep Steve Buyer of Indiana said: "I believe that there's been such a cloud created in this climate as we're looking into the issues of sexual misconduct that it would be very difficult for him to be confirmed before the US Senate." Mr Cohen has said he was prepared to overlook Gen Ralston's adultery because it occurred during his separation from his wife involved a woman outside the military and did not threaten the morale and discipline of the armed forces.
The military code of discipline regards adultery as a serious offence if it prejudices good order and discipline or would bring discredit on the armed forces. It is up to commanding officers to decide if this is the case before proceeding with courts martial.
Gen Ralston's selection would have to be approved by the Senate Armed Forces Committee but Pentagon officials seemed resigned at the weekend to the tact that there would not be enough political support for him and said they expected him to withdraw his name when he returns from a trip to Asia.
The top brass in the Pentagon is said to be "in a panic" about the stream of allegations about adulterous affairs affecting senior officers being received on a telephone hotline set up when the sex scandals at a training base broke.
Some observers have said facetiously that if all adulterous affairs were taken into account there would be scarcely any pilots to fly aircraft or generals to command.