Appointment of Robert B. Sims as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs

The President today announced his intention to appoint Robert B. Sims to be Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He will succeed Leslie A. Janka.

Since June 3, 1983, he has been serving as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of Public Affairs on the National Security Council. A Navy public affairs specialist, Captain Sims was a senior research fellow at the National Defense University before joining the NSC staff in May 1982. He was Deputy Chief of Information for the Navy Department in 1978-1981 and Special Assistant for Public Affairs to the Secretary of the Navy in 1974-1978. Captain Sims has worked as a daily newspaper reporter for the Jackson Sun in Jackson, Tenn., and as a weekly newspaper editor and publisher. His writings include "The Pentagon Reporters," a book to be published this year.

He has a bachelor of arts degree from Union University and masters degrees in journalism and in political science from the University of Wisconsin. He was a Rotary Foundation fellow studying international relations at the University of Sydney, Australia, and is a graduate of the National War College.

He is married, has four children, and resides in McLean, Va. He was born November 26, 1934, in Tennessee.