• tions in Washington. We became very close professionally as well as per-
sonally (and although we are both now retired, we still communicate regu-
larly). John was very competent and highly respected in Washington. It was
a measure of the importance the U.S. government attached to Korea that
John Stein was assigned to Seoul, for he was truly the best in his field.
The ambassador was James Lilley, a China expert whose first love re-
mained that country. In – he had worked directly for George Bush
when the future president was chief liaison officer in Beijing.^3 Ambassador
Lilley, of course, was very interested in Washington politics and especially
the presidential election, which would occur the following year. Most of us
expected that George Bush, the Republican candidate, would appoint him
to an important position in Washington or as ambassador to China if he
was elected in . Like Bush, Lilley had a long career in the U.S. govern-
ment and had served in a variety of policy positions in the State Department
and with the CIA. Tall, self-confident, and forceful, he fit well into Korea’s
masculine style of politics. He was smart, knowledgeable, and had numer-
ous contacts, a very effective ambassador at a crucial moment in Korean-
American relations.
The commander of Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea
was Gen. Louis Menetrey. I had known the general earlier while on the U.S.
Army Command and General Staff College faculty at Fort Leavenworth as
well as when he was commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Field Army at
Uijongbu. He was an excellent field soldier and, now on his third assignment
to South Korea, knew the country well.
Although we got along well personally, General Menetrey was not en-
tirely satisfied with the way my office was organized. My job, in addition to
providing advice and support to the ambassador on military affairs, was to
report directly to Defense Intelligence Agency headquarters in Washing-
ton items of interest on the military situation, particularly to keep the U.S.
government informed about the ROK military. This meant that to some
extent the general and I had overlapping responsibilities. The difference was
that his responsibilities, in addition to being broader, were in the operational
area, whereas mine were oriented more toward intelligence. General
Menetrey was concerned that the attachés would be reporting matters of
interest to the DIA without these being coordinated or cleared through his
headquarters, and soon after my arrival, he sent for me to discuss these
matters.
At this meeting in his office at CFC headquarters, Menetrey was clear and
firm in his wishes. He wanted all significant reporting on military matters