Panel Backs Navy’s Practice Bombing in Puerto Rico

A presidential panel on Monday recommended that the Navy be allowed to resume practice bombing on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques--over the objections of the local population and the Puerto Rican government--but that it prepare to abandon the island within five years.

The recommendation drew immediate protest in Puerto Rico, where sentiment against the Navy has been growing since a civilian security guard was killed in a bombing accident in April. Protesters have been camping out on the bombing range since then, but the Navy is eager to resume using it.

Reflecting the political sensitivity of the controversy, Hillary Rodham Clinton called for a permanent end to using Vieques as a bombing range. The first lady, who is courting Latino political support in her exploratory campaign for a U.S. Senate seat from New York, urged the Navy to find an alternative.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, who was traveling in the Middle East, issued a written statement calling the panel’s report balanced. But he also asked the panel members to hold additional talks with the Puerto Ricans and the Navy before he makes a final recommendation to President Clinton.

The president, in Newark, N.J., for a Democratic fund-raising event, said he hadn’t had a chance to review the report, but he endorsed Cohen’s plan to seek further discussions.

The report also recommended the return of some Navy land on Vieques to Puerto Rico, including an ammunition-storage area and 110 acres to be used for a runway extension at the Vieques commercial airport. The Navy owns about two-thirds of the island.

Live-fire training, including air-to-ground bombing, naval gunfire and artillery, ceased after the April 19 fatality. Military leaders say the halt to training is hampering the combat readiness of naval forces who deploy from the East Coast.

Adding to the seriousness of the dispute is a behind-the-scenes concern in the Pentagon that if the Puerto Ricans succeed in ousting the Navy from Vieques, they will indirectly energize similar efforts by activists opposed to the military’s training presence elsewhere in America and around the world.