Bush Makes Economics Appointments

WASHINGTON--President-elect George Bush today named Texas oilman Robert Mosbacher secretary of commerce and tapped Carla Hills, the first woman named to a high-level post in the incoming administration, to be special trade representative.

The selection of Hills fulfilled Bush's pledge to name women to senior posts in his administration, and other women have been mentioned as potential candidates for other jobs in the Cabinet.

Hills, 54, is a lawyer who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the Ford administration from 1975-1977. She had previously served as an assistant attorney general.

Bush also named Michael Boskin, a Stanford University professor of economic and a campaign adviser, to head the Council of Economic Advisers.

Addressing reporters in an office building next door to the White House, Bush said the appointments rounded out the top ranks of the economic team that will take office with him in January.

Turning to foreign policy, Bush also said CIA Director William Webster would remain in his post, the latest in a string of holdover appointments from the Reagan administration.

The president-elect completed an assortment of appointments by naming Thomas Pickering, who has served as ambassador to Israel, Nigeria, El Salvador and Jordan, as his ambassador to the United Nations.

The appointees flanked Bush on a stage in the old Executive Office Building, while the president-elect introduced each of them with lavish praise.

Bush is not expected to make additional nominations until after his meeting in New York on Wednesday with President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

In making the moves, Bush left unfilled the top job at the Pentagon. Former Sen. John Tower of Texas has long been rumored to be in line for the job of defense secretary. Incoming White House Chief of Staff John Sununu said Bush might appoint as many as five or so top defense officials at once.