Parting Shots

DICK THORNBURGH, THE top-ranking American official in the U.N. Secretariat, wrapped up a year of service with a blast at the "deadwood, featherbedding, fraud and abuse" that permeate the world body. The departing Under Secretary- General for Management pulled no punches, charging that some vital agencies have become "patronage dumping grounds" and that the budgeting process is "almost surreal." Further angering Secretary-General Boutros Boutros- Ghali by going public with his mince-no-words report and then repeating his charges before a U.S. congressional committee, Thornburgh, a former Attorney General, warns that antireform forces are defeating efforts to make the U.N. more efficient. Computerization could save $20 million in translations alone.

Thornburgh called for an independent inspector general to stanch millions of dollars of waste generated annually by the U.N. Even then it won't be easy to cut through 48 years of padding.