News of Kohl missile plan has W. Germany uneasy

In a move that has caused unease among top Bonn officials, Chancellor Helmut Kohl has significantly altered West Germany's stance on NATO nuclear rearmament plans, according to authoritative sources.

The sources said Chancellor Kohl privately promised President Reagan in Washington in November that Bonn would deploy new US medium-range nuclear missiles starting late this year, regardless of what other West European countries decided. His predecessor, Social Democratic Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, had made West German deployment conditional on at least one other nonnuclear West European state deploying the US weapons at the same time.

In public, Mr. Kohl has vowed complete continuity with Mr. Schmidt's approach.