CP's & Friends:
FYI
> Date: Tue, 25 Jan 94 03:08:42 GMT
> Posted: Tue Jan 25 03:08:40 GMT 1994
> Subject: Perry Nomination Brief
>
>
> Subject: Remarks by President Bill Clinton and Deputy Secretary
> of Defense William J. Perry upon the announcement of Dr. Perry's
> Nomination as Secretary of Defense --
> Conducted at the White House on Monday, January 24, 1994, at
> 3:00 p.m.
>
>
> President Clinton: Thank you very much, and good afternoon.
> I want to welcome all of you here, especially the distinguished
> members of Congress who are here, and the members of Secretary
> Perry's family who he will introduced later.
>
> One year ago I selected Dr. Bill Perry to serve as my Deputy
> Secretary of Defense. Today, based on his lifetime of
> accomplishment and his solid leadership at the Pentagon, I'm
> proud to announce my intention to nominate him as the next
> Secretary of Defense. He has the right skills and management
> experience for the job. He has the right vision for the job. He
> has served with real distinction as both Under Secretary and
> Deputy Secretary of Defense. For years, and throughout his
> service this past year, he has been at the cutting edge on
> defense issues.
>
> Years ago he had a vision of the power of stealth technology
> -- technology that helped the United States win the Persian Gulf
> War, and helped save American lives. He's been a leader in
> reforming the Pentagon's procurement process and improving
> financial accountability. I expect he'll have more to say about
> that today and in the weeks and months ahead.
>
> He's been instrumental in developing a defense budget for
> the coming fiscal year that protects the readiness of our forces
> and promotes our aggressive efforts at defense conversion, and
> the development of dual-use technologies, and the creation and
> the preservation of American jobs. He played an important role
> in the recent breakthrough to eliminate Ukraine's nuclear
> weapons.
>
> He brings a broad and valuable background to this job. He
> has proven experienced in the private sector. He's the chairman,
> director, and founder of several successful defense-related
> corporations. He's served in the United States Army. His
> academic career as a professor of mathematics and engineering has
> also contributed to our nation's security.
>
> In every aspect of his work, Bill Perry has earned high
> respect from members of both parties. In the Congress and the
> military, among those who study military strategy, and in the
> business community. He's demonstrated leadership, integrity, and
> a mastery of his field. Time and again we heard about him and
> what I have come to know personally -- Bill Perry is a real pro.
> You can depend on him. That's why Secretary Aspin and many
> others recommended that I select Dr. Perry for this post.
>
> Let me note, with appreciation that Secretary Aspin has
> agreed to stay, as he said he would, until his successor is
> confirmed.
>
> Now we have a lot of work ahead of us. We need to continue
> reshaping our forces for this new era so that they remain the
> best trained, the best equipped, the best prepared, and the most
> strongly motivated in the world. We must implement the
> recommendations through the Bottom-Up Review. We must continue
> to deal with the new threats of weapons proliferation and
> terrorism. We must continue our aggressive work at defense
> conversion to save and create American jobs, and to maintain our
> industrial base that is so critical for our national defense.
> And we must reform the procurement process.
>
> Bill Perry comes extraordinarily well prepared to meet these
> challenges. I hope, and I trust that Congress will quickly
> confirm him, and I look forward to working closely with him as an
> integral part of the national security team. I think he will do
> a remarkable job.
>
> Dr. Perry? (Applause)
>
> Dr. Perry: Thank you very much. Thank you, President
> Clinton, for the confidence you've shown in me by this
> nomination. If I am confirmed, it will be a real privilege to
> serve as your Secretary of Defense.
>
> I would like to take just a moment to introduce my family
> that is here. My wife Lee, my daughter Robin, and son David.
> (Applause) I have three other children not here today, and eight
> grandchildren not here. We have a large and happy family.
>
> Over the past year, I have welcomed the attention of
> President Clinton to the challenge of reshaping our forces for
> this new era. We have worked to follow-up the vision that Les
> Aspin had in establishing the Bottom-Up Review. I appreciate,
> also, Mr. President, your commitment to maintaining the readiness
> and the morale of our fighting forces.
>
> I also look forward to serve because this is a time of great
> change, great challenge, and great opportunity. The national
> security problems facing the United States today are complex and
> difficult. We are making a transition from the security posture
> evolved to deal with the Cold War, to a very different security
> posture. I look forward to carrying out your commitment. To
> make those changes in a way that addresses the need of our
> military and civilian personnel, our defense facilities, and the
> communities that depend on them.
>
> This new security posture must deal both with the problems
> in the post-Soviet world, while we simultaneously seize the
> opportunities. We read about the problems every day -- in
> Mogadishu, Sarajevo, Pyongyang, but we must not lose sight of the
> opportunities in this new post-Soviet world.
>
> For example, this year we have what I would call a window of
> opportunity to make a major reform to the defense acquisition
> system so that we combine modern equipment for our military
> forces at affordable prices. The President has already made a
> commitment to readiness, but the acquisition and new equipment
> deals with the forces five years hence, or ten years hence, so we
> must look to that problem as well.
>
> I have the full commitment of the President to proceed on a
> vigorous program of acquisition reform, and I believe that we can
> work effectively with the Congress to establish real reform in
> the system, and it's long overdue.
>
> Last week, Mr. President, at the NATO Summit meeting, we
> provided leadership for the new Partnership for Peace in NATO.
> This partnership opens the door to a security partnership with
> our former enemies in the now extinct Warsaw Pact, but it does
> not draw a line dividing Europe at the very time we are trying to
> bring Europe together.
>
> We also provided the leadership for the historic agreement
> on nuclear weapons reached at the Moscow Summit. When fully
> implemented, this agreement will see the country with the third
> largest number of nuclear weapons in the world voluntarily become
> a non-nuclear state with all of its nuclear weapons dismantled.
> This summit agreement takes a major step back from the nuclear
> abyss, and takes a major step forward for peace and stability in
> the world.
>
> The British novelist Graham Greene once wrote, "There always
> comes a moment in time when a door opens and lets the future in."
> The ending of the Cold War opens such a door. The summit
> agreements will help us guide the future as it comes in.
>
> Mr. President, I have great respect for the way you have
> been guiding our national security, and I am enthusiastic about
> the opportunity to help you guide it. I understand very well the
> demands of this job and the strains that it puts on one's family.
> My family and I have discussed this at considerable length this
> weekend, and they fully support my decision.
>
> Mr. President, I am looking forward to working with you, the
> Vice President, General Shalikashvili, Tony Lake, Warren
> Christopher, and the rest of our national security team, and I
> look forward to serving the American people.
>
> I thank you.
>
> (Applause)
>
> Q: Did you have to be persuaded to take this job? And
> what do you think will be the toughest part of it?
> Dr. Perry: No, I did not have to be persuaded to take the
> job. I met with the President to discuss this job Friday
> morning, and I left that meeting fully prepared to take on the
> job. I had a meeting with my family that evening, because it's
> not just me that's getting into this job. I put them under
> considerable strain when I do it, too. We had a follow-up
> meeting on Saturday morning with the White House where I told
> them that if I had to accept the job at that time, my answer
> would have to be no. I met, then, with the Vice President, and
> he told me I could take my time, take some time on the decision,
> meet with my family further. I took advantage of that. On
> Sunday afternoon I called the Vice President back and said if you
> still want me for your Secretary of Defense, I'm eager to serve.
>
> Q: Why did you have second thoughts?
> Q: Why didn't you say yes immediately? What did you have
> to think about?
> Dr. Perry: I tried to explain that. It was because I did
> not want to drive my family into a decision, into my decision
> without their support, so I wanted to wait until I had their full
> support for it.
>
> Q: Mr. President, why was this job so hard to fill?
> President Clinton: It wasn't easy to fill. It wasn't hard
> to fill, I mean. We had an abundance of talented people to
> consider, but I asked Secretary Perry and he said yes. It wasn't
> difficult at all. I can't say any more than you already know
> about what happened in the previous example, but we didn't go on
> a big search here. We had a very short list, and I quickly
> narrowed it to one. I had an interview with one person, I asked
> him if he'd take the job, and he did. I don't think that
> qualifies it as difficult.
>
> Now I have had some difficult positions to fill. This
> one wasn't.
>
> Q: What do you think he brings to the job that your
> current Defense Secretary did not?
> President Clinton: I don't think the two things are
> related. Secretary Aspin made his statement last month. We had
> our press conference on that. We answered your questions. It's
> got nothing to do with what we've said here today.
>
> Q: Are you going to go along with Secretary Aspin's views
> on military women in planes and ships?
> Dr. Perry: Yes.
>
> Q: That's good. (Laughter)
> Dr. Perry: Secretary Aspin created many important legacies
> this year. I mentioned the Bottom-Up Review, his work on all of
> the social aspects in the military. In particular, his
> advancement of women in combat is one which I enthusiastically
> support.
>
> Q: Is there anything at all in your background that's come
> out over the past weekend that could conceivably cause you or the
> Administration any problems during the Senate confirmation
> process? In that regard, I'm specifically also referring to the
> so-called "nanny problem"?
> Dr. Perry: Nothing has come out that I believe would cause
> me any problems in the confirmation process.
>
> Q: Dr. Perry, do you think that in terms of conservative
> government in Moscow that there's a possibility there may be a
> new Cold War starting?
> Dr. Perry: I would observe that we cannot control the
> events in other countries, including Russia. But we can
> influence them. I believe the President has adopted a program to
> assist, not just the Russians, but many of the former nations in
> the former Soviet Union, to help stabilize their economy. This
> is the most constructive thing we can do to minimize the chance
> of that unfortunate disaster occurring.
>
> Q: Was your answer categorical about the nanny questions,
> Dr. Perry?
> Q: (inaudible)...the budgetary crisis that the Pentagon
> faces and the possible difficulty you may have in actually
> carrying out the blueprint the President has laid out?
> Dr. Perry: In order to carry out the Bottom-Up Review with
> the funds that are posed for it, we will have to manage the
> Pentagon very well. We will have to have real acquisition
> reform. We will have to have careful planning and management of
> our programs. We have to do all of this while we're maintaining
> a very high level of readiness and a level of morale and cohesion
> in the military forces. It is a difficult management job. I
> believe it's doable, and that's what I'm undertaking to do.
>
> President Clinton: Thank you very much.
>
> (END)
>
