ADM. DANIEL J. MURPHY, 79; PLANNED ANTI-DRUG EFFORT, AIDE TO V.P. BUSH

Retired Adm. Daniel J. Murphy, chief of staff to Vice President
George Bush from 1981 to 1985 and an architect of the Ronald Reagan
administration's effort to halt drug traffic from Central America,
has died. He was 79.

Murphy, a former commander of the Navy's Sixth Fleet in the
Mediterranean who also was Bush's chief deputy when he was director
of the CIA, died Friday in Rockville, Md., of a stomach aneurysm.

The career Navy officer was the first to become a four-star admiral
without graduating from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. Sometimes
described by detractors as "a political admiral, not a combat
admiral," Murphy worked for both Republican and Democrat secretaries
of defense--Melvin R. Laird, Elliot L. Richardson and Harold
Brown--as well as Bush, and when he was named to head the vice
president's staff soon after the 1980 election, he described himself
as "purely apolitical" and said Bush's staff would have to "look for
political wisdom someplace else."

In 1984, Murphy served Reagan as well as Bush as director of the
White House Drug Policy Task Force. It launched an all-out
interdiction effort against boats and planes ferrying illicit drugs
into the United States. He later was criticized for meeting with
Panamanian strongman Manuel A. Noriega.

Murphy left the Bush camp in 1985, as Bush began gearing for his
presidential run, and became an international business consultant.

He was without official portfolio in 1987 when he made two
controversial visits to Noriega, later fingered for a drug
conspiracy. Murphy was accompanied on one trip by South Korean
lobbyist Tongsun Park, a central figure in a congressional bribery
scandal in the late 1970s. Murphy said they were representing
businesses interested in stabilizing the Panamanian economy.

In 1992, Murphy testified in Noriega's trial on narcotics and
money-laundering charges linked to the shipment of marijuana and
cocaine into the United States--asserting that Noriega and Panama had
"cooperated in all of our requests to board Panamanian vessels on the
high seas" during the U.S. effort to block drug shipments.

Murphy did not testify about his meetings with Noriega or his
believed offer to allow Noriega to avoid indictment by withdrawing
from leadership of the Panamanian military and guaranteeing free
elections.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Murphy attended St. John's University in New
York and graduated from the University of Maryland. As a naval
aviator, he rose quickly in the ranks, and saw combat in the Vietnam
War as commander of the aircraft carrier Bennington and the oiler
Guadalupe in the Tonkin Gulf.

His Washington stature developed after 1971 when he became
administrative assistant to Laird, a job that led to his promotion as
commander of the Sixth Fleet in 1973. On his watch, the Navy was
placed on its highest alert because of the Yom Kippur War between
Arabs and Israelis, followed by a crisis in Cyprus. Murphy quickly
impressed Donald H. Rumsfeld, then ambassador to the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization.

It was Rumsfeld who suggested that Bush hire Murphy for the CIA
deputy post in 1975. Again, Murphy earned praise for his management
and organizational skills, producing the first consolidated
intelligence budget the country had ever had.

After working for Democratic Defense chief Brown during the Jimmy
Carter administration, Murphy rejoined Bush in 1981, again
demonstrating complete loyalty and protecting Bush from any slights
by the Reagan staff.

Murphy is survived by his wife of 57 years, Elaine; two sons, retired
Vice Adm. Daniel Murphy Jr. and Thomas Murphy; two daughters, Shaun
Murphy and Pamela Murphy; eight grandchildren; and two
great-grandchildren.

Services are planned in Fort Myer, Va., on Oct. 10, with burial to
follow at Arlington National Cemetery. Memorial donations may be sent
to http:""www.libertyunites.org.