1.   Although known better as a diplomat and peacemaker, Peres has previously been defense chief.

2.   European defense chiefs promised to tackle the shortfalls over the next three years.

3.   Gay leaders said they will fight any move to appoint Sam Nunn, a retired Democratic senator from Georgia, as defense chief.

4.   Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will report on his meeting with defense chiefs from Britain and France yesterday in London.

5.   He met with his Turkish, Kuwaiti, and Saudi counterparts, then went to London Monday for a meeting with British and French defense chiefs.

6.   His press secretary and defense chief spent the rest of the day issuing urgent denials of almost everything Yeltsin had said.

7.   In the last month, Pentagon defense acquisition chief Pete Aldridge asked Boeing and Lockheed Martin to include ideas on how they would incorporate each other into their work.

8.   Like Yegorov, the defense chief has taken to a hospital bed, officially listed as suffering from exhaustion.

9.   Previous reform efforts were derailed because, in the name of open consultation, defense chiefs and politicians were drawn into the review process too early.

10.   The defense chief repeated NATO demands that Milosevic withdraw all his forces.