Documents / Official release
This is a Secretary of Defense public affairs message transcribing the Department of Defense news briefing that Assistant Secretary Kenneth H. Bacon gave at the Pentagon on November 22, 1994. Most of the briefing covers Secretary Perry's Thanksgiving trip to Haiti, NATO air strikes in Bosnia, Cuban migrants at Guantanamo Bay and the Black Hawk shootdown cases. Asked about lawsuits over the Nellis Air Force Base complex, also known as Area 51, Bacon said some projects there are classified and will remain so.
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A: THE MAIN GOAL WAS TO SHOW THAT UNPROFOR AND THE NATO ALLIES WORKING TOGETHER WERE PREPARED TO STRIKE IN A GIVEN SITUATION. ONE, WE SHOWED THAT WE WERE WILLING TO STRIKE. SECONDLY, THE GOALS OF THE STRIKE WERE TO DISABLE THE RUNWAYS, WHICH WE DID. THEY WERE TO SUPPRESS THE ANTI-AIRCRAFT FIRE, WHICH WE DID. AND THEY WERE TO SUPPRESS THE SAM STRIKES, OR THE SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILE SITES, WHICH WE ALSO DID. THOSE ARE THE THREE TACTICAL GOALS THAT WERE SET OUT IN THE STRIKE, AND ALL THOSE WERE ACHIEVED. THEY WERE NARROW GOALS. THOSE GOALS WERE ACHIEVED. Q: SECRETARY PERRY WAS QUOTED THIS MORNING BY REPORTERS WHO ARE TRAVELING WITH HIM AS HE RETURNS FROM THIS TRIP, INDICATING THAT IF THERE WERE ANOTHER STRIKE AGAINST AN AIRFIELD, THAT THIS TIME THE PLANES WOULD BE DESTROYED. IS THAT THE CORRECT POSITION OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE? A: THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ALWAYS STATES HIS POSITIONS CORRECTLY. (LAUGHTER) Q: WHAT IS THE PENTAGON'S REACTION TO COMMENTS BY SENATOR HELMS THAT IF THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, PRESIDENT CLINTON, TRAVELS TO HIS STATE, THAT HE SHOULD HAVE BODYGUARDS WITH HIM? A: WHICH STATE IS THAT? Q: NORTH CAROLINA. A: THE PRESIDENT HAS TRAVELED WIDELY IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS AND MONTHS AMONG THE TROOPS, AND HE'S BEEN RECEIVED WITH WARMTH AND COURTESY AND ENTHUSIASM. I THINK WE ALL REMEMBER THE PICTURES OF THE PRESIDENT ADDRESSING MEMBERS OF THE 24TH DIVISION IN KUWAIT SEVERAL WEEKS AGO, SURROUNDED BY TROOPS AND THE WARM RESPONSE HE GOT THERE. I THINK THOSE PICTURES SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES AND THEY'RE AN ACCURATE PORTRAYAL OF HOW THE TROOPS FEEL ABOUT HIM. Q: HOW DO YOU REACT TO SENATOR HELMS' ACCUSATION THAT PRESIDENT CLINTON ISN'T FIT TO BE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF? UNCLAS SECTION 02 OF 03 A: GENERAL SHALIKASHVILI HAS RESPONDED TO THAT. SENATOR DOLE HAS RESPONDED TO THAT. SECRETARY PERRY HAS RESPONDED TO THAT. I HAVE NOTHING MORE TO ADD. Q: THE SPECIFIC QUOTE BY HELMS IS THAT THE PRESIDENT IS SO DISLIKED IN NORTH CAROLINA BY THE MILITARY THAT HE "BETTER WATCH OUT IF HE COMES DOWN HERE. HE'D BETTER HAVE HIS BODY GUARDS." DOES THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES NEED A BODY GUARD IF HE VISITS U.S. TROOPS IN NORTH CAROLINA? A: THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AS A MATTER OF COURSE ALWAYS TRAVELS WITH BODY GUARDS. I CITED TO YOU EARLIER PICTURES THAT YOU'VE SEEN, THAT YOUR NETWORK RAN, OF HIM BEING EMBRACED WARMLY BY TROOPS. WE'VE SEEN THAT IN KUWAIT, WE'VE SEEN IT IN NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, WE'VE SEEN IT IN ALASKA. HE WAS RECENTLY IN HONOLULU AND DINED WITH THE COMMANDER, ADMIRAL MACKE OUT THERE, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE PACIFIC REGION. EVERYWHERE HE GOES HE SEEMS TO GET A WARM RECEPTION. I THINK THE RECORD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF. Q: IS IT YOUR UNDERSTANDING OR IS IT YOUR SCHEDULE THAT SECRETARY PERRY'S DECISION ON DEUTCH'S PROGRAM MEMORANDUM WILL BE
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Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 6 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.