From: CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil>
Subject: DoD News 09/02/92
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 16:28:22 GMT


From CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil>


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                                                  No.   382-92
                                                  (703) 695-0192 (info)
                                                  (703) 697-3189 (copies)
IMMEDIATE  RELEASE             August 31, 1992    (703) 697-5737 (public/indus-
                                                  try)


               MILITARY  STRENGTH  FIGURES  FOR  JUNE  30, 1992

                 SUMMARIZED  BY  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  DEFENSE

     Total numerical strength of the Armed Forces on June 30, 1992, based on
preliminary reports, was 1,871,597.  This was a decrease of 12,646 from May 31,
1992 and a decrease of 157,526 from the same time in 1991.

     These figures represent full-time military personnel comprising both
regulars and reserves on active duty and officer candidates including cadets at
the three military academies.

     Excluded from these figures are approximately 70,250 full-time military
personnel who are paid from other than active duty military personnel appropri-
ations.  This group is funded from appropriations for reserve components and
Corps of Engineer civil functions.  A comparable figure for Fiscal Year 1991
was approximately 74,250.  

     June 1992 strength figures for each service with month-ago and year-ago
figures for comparisons are:

                      6-30-92          5-31-92          6-30-91
                      Preliminary      Actual
Total DoD             1,871,597        1,884,243        2,029,123

Army                     645,569          651,879          730,537
Navy                     546,274          547,680          573,193
Marine Corps             189,428          189,576          199,448
Air Force                490,326          495,108          525,945
:END









                                                  No.    383-92
                                                  (703) 695-0192 (info)
                                                  (703) 697-3189 (copies)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE            August 31, 1992      (703) 697-5737 (public/indus-
                                                  try)

                     ARMED  FORCES  VOTERS  WEEK  MESSAGES

     Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney and General Colin L. Powell, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have issued the following messages to members of the
Armed Forces in recognition of Armed Forces Voters Week, August 30 -- September
5, 1992:

                     SECRETARY  OF  DEFENSE  DICK  CHENEY

     "Once again, this year, Americans can exercise a right that millions
around the world wish for and sometimes must fight for:  the right to vote.

     "By voting, each of us stakes a claim to the most fundamental role in
democracy -- the right to choose our government.  That power of citizenship and
the freedom it bestows should never by taken for granted.

     "The public officials elected this year will represent you at all levels
of government -- in federal, state, and local offices.  The President, all
members of the House of Representatives, 35 senators, 14 governors, and
thousands of state and local officials will be chosen this year.  The decisions
they make in office will directly affect you and your family.  But the deci-
sions you make, as a voter, are most important of all.  Don't leave it up to
someone else to make the difference in your government.

     "Voting is easier for the military than ever before.  It only takes a few
minutes to complete a federal postcard application, called an FPCA form.  To
get an FPCA form, see your commander or voting assistance officer.  They will
be ready to help.

     "The recent democratic revolutions in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
remind us how precious our own rights and freedoms really are.  Be a part of
the political process.  Democracy counts on your vote."



                                    (more)

 CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  JOINT  CHIEFS  OF  STAFF  GENERAL  COLIN  L.  POWELL,  USA

     "This year Americans around the world over the age of 18 will vote in
primary elections and on November 3rd, they will vote for the leaders of our
country, our states, and our local communities.  I want each soldier, sailor,
marine, airman, and coastguardsman to participate in this important process.
Military voter participation in the last national election reached an all time
high -- it was more than 63% in 1988.  But, troops, we can do better than that;
we can improve on that number.

     "Election outcomes could be decided by absentee votes such as yours.  If
you don't know how to request an absentee ballot for the remaining primary
elections or for the November 3rd general election, contact your Voting
Assistance Officer now.  Obtaining and filling out a request takes only a few
minutes of your time and, believe me, it's easy.

     "Again, I encourage, I want, each of you to participate in this year's
election process.  Voting is not only our privilege but our obligation as
American citizens.  If you don`t vote, others will be making decisions for you
-- decisions which will shape our nation's future.  Democracy counts on your
vote!  Your vote will make a difference."

                                     -END-





DoD News Briefing 
Tuesday, September 1, 1992 - Noon 
Mr. Bob Hall, DASD (Public Affairs) 
General Gordon R. Sullivan, 
   Chief of Staff of the Army 


Mr. Hall:  Good afternoon.  We're happy to have with us this afternoon
General Gordon R. Sullivan, who is the Army Chief of Staff.  He'll
open the briefing and talk a little bit about his conversation with
his people down on the scene this morn- ing, his visit to Florida on
Sunday, and then give you a little bit of an outline about the status
of where we are now and where he thinks we're going over the next few
days, what the concept of operations is.  Then he'll take a few
questions and then I'll come back and we'll deal with other issues.  I
have some announcements I need to make.  

     General Sullivan:  First of all, I appreciate your inter- est in
this.  Let me just talk briefly, and then I'll take your questions.  

      As you know, Florida is not the only crisis that we're working
at the moment.  We are, in fact, moving supplies into Guam and we are
assisting in some modest way here with our efforts within Louisiana.
The primary focus, of course, of our efforts are in Florida.  The rest
of the Department is working many other humanitarian efforts in
Somalia, Bosnia, and Kenya.  

      I've been on the ground in Florida, as you know.  I went down
there on Sunday to do a personal assessment.  We're looking at the
joint operation here -- Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, and the
Coast Guard has been involved from the outset, although not directly
as part of the Department of Defense at this time.  I think what
you're seeing down there is civil/military cooperation at its best.
I'm truly encouraged.  

      I will tell you, though, that you really need to see it on the
ground to get the full scope of it.  Television truly does not give it
to you, as many of you have said on your shows and many of your
networks have pointed out, those of you in the electronic media.  You
truly have to see it and feel it to understand the magnitude of what
we're dealing with here.  

      What we're looking at is an operation which will run in three
phases.  The first is relief.  We're using the three phases in all of
these operations -- Guam, Louisiana, and in Florida. The relief phase
is to move in, get the command and control structure augmented -- that
is the civilian command and control structure.  I'll give you some
detail on that in a minute, if you like.  Take care of the basic needs
-- food, water, sanitation, housing, get the people under cover, which
we are doing, and start bringing the public services on.  Then phase
two is recovery; and last, phase three, reconstitution.  

      Reconstitution is the kind of thing that you will see further on
down the line, rebuilding of the infrastructure, homes and businesses.
Although I would point out that on Sunday I did see one gentleman
rebuilding his motel, so there was some of that going on way back here
in the relief phase.  

      The concept that we're using down on the ground, these symbols
are military symbols for battalions, brigades, and below that, compa-
nies.  The object of the exercise is to put a military structure right
down into the neighborhoods.  On Sunday it became apparent that what
we needed to do was put young leaders out there with their vehicles,
their equipment, working with people in their neighborhoods with a
chain of command that would come right back up to the community and
county leadership.  

      So on the ground we have the leadership from the 10th Mountain
Division and the brigade of the 82nd.  They will stretch from here at
Cutler Ridge down south of Homestead to Florida City.  They will
report back to Lieutenant General Gary Luck who is at Homestead Air
Force Base, the 18th Air- borne Corps commander, and he in turn will
report up to the joint task force headquarters which is at Miami
International Airport.  So we have a structure that is working with
the local officials.  

      The division commander from the 10th Mountain Division, Major
General Steve Arnold, is actually sitting in the Mayor's office of
Homestead, right next to the City Manager.  He attends briefings in
the morning and works with the community as they try to bring them-
selves back on line.  

     I'm reasonably encouraged with where we are.  I talked to all of
my leaders this morning on a conference call at about 6:00 o'clock,
and they're starting to bring things back up, and I think we're going
to see good progress there on the ground.  

      I would point out that the humanitarian depot that you see
there, we actually are operating out of two hangars at Miami Interna-
tional Airport.  We're bringing all of this influx of materiel into
that location, and then we are carry- ing it out to sub-depots down at
Homestead Air Force Base, and we have another one that we're putting
in Florida City.  The object of the exercise is to bring it into Miami
and then distribute it where we need it.  We have put supply people in
there with transportation to do that.  

     So at any rate, fairly encouraged.  This is a vast operation
involving the American people, obviously.  These trucks coming in from
all over the United States, and the people of the local area and the
military services -- Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard.
We feel good about what we're doing, we're very positive about it, we
think we're going to make good progress.  I would tell you, though,
that it is a long-term operation.  Truly a long-term operation.  

      Let me take your questions?  

      Q:  General, as you pointed out, some of the phases are sort of
overlapping.  Would you venture an estimate as to how far along you
are in that first phase?  Is there any way to measure that?  
      A:  Certainly in the case of Louisiana, they've already worked
their way through this and they're down in here.  In Florida, I think
that we know generally where everybody is, and I truly do not think
people are...  In fact I'm sure they're not without food, water, and
the basic needs, and the tent cities are going up.  So we're working
in here.  Some public services, you saw it on the news networks this
morning, the hospitals are back up, Homestead City Hospital is back
up.  The fire department, I don't believe was ever truly down.  911 is
operational.  So the basic public services are coming along.  

      There is a very aggressive debris removal going on now.  In fact
there were fires when we were down there on Sunday, burning up some of
the debris.  I understand that's been stopped, but there was an
aggressive debris removal program, so we're starting to poke down into
here.  

      Q:  I would imagine that by now you have at least some rough
idea, estimates from your people about costs.  I wonder whether you
could finally share the cost figures with us.  A:  I truly do not.  I
      do not have any estimate of the total cost of this to the gov-
ernment.  

      Q:  To the Army?  
      A:  No, I could tell you though, and I will for the record if
you'd like, that the cost of the contracts that we have let.  I have
that.  I know what that is.  We are keeping track of the costs, but I
don't have it, myself.  

      Q:  The military has been involved frequently in relief opera-
tions and recovery both in the United States and around the world.
But reconstruction is not something that the military has been tasked
for.  Do you see any role for the military in actually putting the
government functions, or even personal housing back in place?  
      A:  Down in here?  

      Q:  Yes.  
     A:  No I do not.  We will help put some of the tarps over the
roof and that, but this here is the long-term, and that truly is Army
Corps of Engineers and federal agencies that will assist in that.  I
don't think you'll see much from us there, although I will tell you
that we will work very aggres- sively with the local communities to
help them as much as we can to reopen the schools.  Now their target
date that they're looking at down there, I believe they would like to
look at a date in mid-September.  We're trying to work with them in
that regard.  There's probably some stuff we can do there.  

      Q:  Aren't you bound, restricted somewhat by law in what you can
do?  
      A:  Indeed we are, and I have put a number of lawyers down there
and we are very sensitive to that.  That's why we are letting con-
tracts for debris removal and many of the services, we will let
contracts.  The Corps of Engineers will, and in fact they already
have, let contracts to get civilian corporations in there to do the
work.  

      Q:  What do you say to the people who are out there col- lecting
food, canned goods, diapers, whatever?  Obviously, you're helping
funnel supplies for people, but should folks hold off or should they
keep supplies coming?  
      A:  I certainly wouldn't want them to hold off.  Let me just
tell you, Susanne, we're now running two depots.  We're in Hangar 22
at Miami International.  When the trucks come into the city there will
be signs up, and they should go on to CB Channel 39.  Because of the
traffic load, though, we now need another CB Channel and it's 19.  

      We will then take it there in those hangars at Miami Interna-
tional, and we are moving it forward either by truck or helicopter to
forward staging bases, and then we are focusing it down into the local
neighborhoods.  We're getting all kinds of things.  As a matter of
fact, this weekend, as some of you may know, we're actually getting
live chickens and so forth.  So we need to get it under control so
that we don't lose it for lack of refrigeration or whatever.  We are
moving the equipment in to do that.  

      Q:  General, you all said earlier that you expected a total of
about 20,000 troops, including the 5,700 or so, 6,000 round figures,
National Guard...  In other words, about 14,000 federal troops and
6,000.  How many federal troops are in there now, federal, active duty
troops, and how many do you expect will be in?  
     A:  I think we're approaching, we're going to approach by the end
of today 20,000.  

      Q:  That's not including the National Guard?  
      A:  No, that is including.  I'll get you the exact num- ber.
We'll approach 20,000 by the end of the day.  But as I pointed out
this weekend, and I'll tell everybody, the number is going up.  I'll
just keep going until I think I've got the number I need in there.  

     As I said earlier, the leadership from the 10th Mountain is down
on the ground.  The concept is that those captains and lieutenant
colonels will go out into the community and begin getting their arms
around people in the areas where they are living.  They will then call
forward what they need from Fort Drum and from the rest of the Army.
If they need some kind of capability that they don't have, we will
then bring that in and focus it on the problem.  That will be coordi-
nated with the county, city, and state officials, for instance, Mr.
Alex Musco is the city manager of Homestead, the hardest hit area.  He
and Major General Steve Arnold meet every morning, and I have a
colonel with him all the time, by the way, just to make sure we get
that right.  What we don't want to do is get a lot of troops in the
area that are unnec- essary to get a particular problem fixed.  So I'm
sure the numbers will go up.  

      Q:  The President announced this morning, I think, that Home-
stead Air Force Base is going to be rebuilt.  There was some question
about that, given the cutbacks.  Do you have any idea, any estimate on
how long it will take to do that?  
      A:  I truly do not.  And that, as you know, is down in this
phase.  I'd really refer that question to Bob.  I'll have to defer to
him on that.  

      Q:  General, there were some complaints over the weekend of
people who feared about leaving their houses in order to go get relief
supplies.  A lot of people were armed.  What's your estimate now in
terms of just the situation there, safety wise?  A:  I think the
      safety situation, Susanne, is coming under control.  We'll have
a good presence.  As you know, the National Guard of the state of
Florida has, in fact, been focused on that, on the law enforcement
with the local law enforcement agencies.  There were other police
departments from the state, from throughout the state, in the area
that I saw on Sunday.  So I think that's beginning to stabilize, and
we'll get presence way out into the western part of the area of
operations.  So I'm fairly encouraged there.  

      To help us get the word out, we have, in fact, reestab- lished a
radio station down there, and in fact we have a small Army transmitter
down there, an AM transmitter, and I'm flying in an FM transmitter.
We're broadcasting in Spanish, English, and Creole.  I believe that is
on, I could give you the fre- quency.  It's 1610 AM.  The city manager
will have access to that, it's set up right outside the city hall.
The object of the exercise is to expand upon the loudspeakers.  We
have HUMVEE's with loudspeakers on them, and we are getting leaflets
out so that people know where the food distribution points are and so
forth and so on, to see if we can't reenergize the structure.  That's
1610 on the radio dial, and you can pick up some news.  These little
radios, somebody may have one around.  That's the radio that was
issued.  We had 10,000 of those down there on Sunday and we started
issuing them Sunday night, with batteries, and we flew some more in
yesterday.  They're being issued at the mobile kitchen trailers.  

      Q:  You mentioned you have some lawyers down there to sort out
the interface between military and civilian.  Can you tell us some of
the other specialists that the military is providing?  
      A:  We truly do have a wide range of specialists going from
veterinarians, to public health.  Veterinarians in the military
services are charged with food.  Looking at food, the care of and
feeding.  So they're out looking at all of that throughout the area.
Of course, I have a full range of medical people, all kinds of medical
people.  Public health people, communicable disease people are out
there, and then engineers.  All the way from civilian Corps of Engi-
neer people who are looking at the structures.  Somebody asked me a
question about schools.  What is the structural damage in the school?
They're out assessing that.  Then a wide range of military specialties
that you would expect us to have, communications people are there,
engineers, combat engineers, construction engineers.  There are a lot
of combat troops too, who are providing the framework, providing the
labor.  You see that in the infantry troops, the marines and the
sailors. We got five ships in there yesterday.  One of those ships is
very impor- tant to us.  It's a reefer ship that came down from
Norfolk loaded with food, and you can, in fact, fly off the ship to
shore.  So all kinds of specialists, a full range.  

     Q:  General, the stories that we see this morning is that while
the military is putting up the tent cities people aren't coming into
them.  Do you have any estimate with the loudspeakers and that sort of
thing maybe the word will get out, but what types of numbers of people
you might be dealing with in term of the tent cities, and if that
number will go up as houses are looked at, condemned, or whatever?

      A:  My prediction is it will go up, although I think there is a
certain amount of reluctance to leave your home, and I think we are
sensitive to that.  That's why we're putting the troops out in the
neighborhoods, in recognition of that.  Some people will prefer to
stay at their homes.  As you probably know, the numbers of Porta-Pot-
ties are increasing all the time, and we're distributing those around
since sanitation is on of the big challenges.  We're trying to get the
ewage plants back on line, but even when we get them back on line, we
will not be able to get the water out into some of those communities.
So we'll be putting Porta-Potties out there and positioning them, and
I'm sure that some people will prefer to stay in their homes.  Some of
them to the west of the city are essentially agricultural people and
they're living out in the country, and I'm sure they're going to
prefer to stay in their house.  

      Q:  With the military's role in this one, some are sug- gesting
now that perhaps FEMA should be deep six'd and the military should
take this disaster relief over as its perma- nent role.  Is there any
argument against doing that?  
      A:  I'm truly not prepared to discuss that.  Some may be talk-
ing about that.  What I'm trying to do, and what we're trying to do
right now is get things under control and move on into the  future.  

     Q:  The troops that you have in fact going down there, as you
said, many combat troops as well as a number of other troops.  Number
one, do you have any concerns about the readi- ness of deployable
forces here in the event of an emergency somewhere abroad?  Secondly,
as the military maybe asks more and more to do this kind of mission,
do you have any concerns, again, that they're going to draw down on
the military's readiness to do the kinds of things for which they
primarily train?  
     A:  Melissa, in the case of being ready to go anywhere in the
world, no, I do not have any immediate concerns about that.  In fact
the brigade which we sent out of the 82nd was not the brigade that was
in the chute on the 18-hour sequence to go.  That brigade is still in
the chute to go.  This was the second brigade of the division, it
happens to actually be the 2nd Brigade, but it was the next one in the
que and we just pulled them off and sent them.  They were trained and
ready, and they can accommodate that.  There's 2800 of them down there
with the brigade commander and one of the ADC's.  

      We are prepared to do this kind of activity, primarily because
we have good sailors, soldiers, and airmen, and marines.  We have high
quality people.  They are trained to accomplish their tasks.  All of
us have been serving this nation now since about 1775 in various ways,
and we're going to continue doing so, however the nation needs us.  

      Q:  The decision to upgrade the M1 battle tank, spend $250
million.  This represents a major reversal on the part of the Depart-
ment of Defense.  Earlier, the Pentagon insisted there was no need,
there were plenty of tanks, no great ene- mies.  How does the Army
feel about this decision yesterday -- changing M1 battle tanks into
M1-A2s, the announcement last night.  
      A:  I'm in favor of upgrading the M1 to the M1-A2.  

      Q:  If I can get back to Andrew for a minute.  You said this was
going to be a long term operation.  At what point do you see the
military's role starting to phase out, and how long do you think it
will be before you get to that point?

      A:  I don't know, it's hard for me to predict that.  I hesitate
to predict it.  I talked with all the commanders on the ground this
morning, and they're hesitant to do that.  They truly are, because we
truly are here in this phase right here, and until we get through that
nd start seeing some progress, I think it's way too early for us to
predict that.  

      Q:  You say you will not be involved in the reconstruc- tion
phase.  
      A:  No.  Although some Army people are.  The Corps of Engineers
there.  Generally, I'm from here up.  

     Q:  On this M1-A2, let me get this straight.  You've been in
favor of upgrading these older tanks for some time now, you're saying?

      A:  No, I thought you said, "am I in favor of going to the
M1-A2?"  

      Q:  The decision yesterday to upgrade, to spend $250 million to
upgrade older M1's, to keep the production lines in Michigan and Ohio
going beyond what they were...  
      A:  I would like to see the digitization of the battle- field,
and that includes the upgrading of the tank to put a databus in it so
that we, in fact, can talk to each other using digital communications.
That includes the base piece which is the M1-A2.  

      Q:  Earlier the Pentagon had resisted that repeatedly.

      A:  Yes.  

      Q:  But you're saying the Army always wanted to go ahead with
that.  
      A:  No, I didn't say that.  I said I am in favor of it.  I
didn't get into that.  

      Q:  At the moment, do you have any sort of rough idea of how
many troops it is going to take, do you have an idea that it's going
to take more...  Are you talking about 50,000 troops?  
      A:  No, I think 25,000.  I think about.  

      Thanks a lot.  

      Mr. Hall:  In terms of the number of federal troops, I'm told
that we project about 12,500 by the end of today, and then another
2,800 or so over the next few days.  

      Q:  Those are both reserve and active?  
      A:  No, that's federal.  But as General Sullivan said, don't
hold us to these numbers.  He's going to put in as many people as he
needs to do the job.  

      Q:  But he thinks 25,000?  
      A:  That's what he just said.  He includes the National Guard
when he talks about that.  But the numbers I just gave you of 12,500,
those are only federal troops.  They do not include the National
Guard, which is still under state con- trol.  

      Q:  Do you have any further detail on the President's announce-
ment this morning that Homestead will be rebuilt?

       A:  Just briefly, the Air Force will be able to start soon
working from existing funds, but we're going to need to seek an
dditional appropriation from Congress is our current belief at the
time.  We have no firm number yet on the expected cost.  I anticipate
it will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but we'll let you
know when we have a firm number.  

      Q:  There was earlier speculation that what Mount Pinatubo did
to Clark, Andrew would do to Homestead, especially given the fact that
next year the Air Force is going to have to close another base or two
some place around that part of the country.  This decision to go ahead
and commit the Pentagon and the Air Force to rebuild Homestead without
even knowing how much it's going to cost, without even having a full
scale assessment.  Yesterday, the Air Force was saying it was going to
take months to determine whether it was feasible to rebuild Homestead.
It sounds like politics, Florida's electoral votes to me.  
      A:  First, I wouldn't want to anticipate what the deci- sion
would be in terms of the base closure list.  That's a process, as you
know, where we submit a list to the President, after which the Base
Closure Commission comes up with a list, and then that goes to Con-
gress and they'll make decisions on it.  But there is a fairly long
and extensive history with Homestead.  The original strip was a
commercial one.  It was turned over to the U.S. Government in 1942
during World War II.  It was used as a stop-over point for aircraft
being ferried from the northeastern U.S. to the Caribbean and down on
to North Africa.  It was a training facility for air crews who flew
the C-54's on the hump route from Burma to China.  Then in September
of 1945, it was heavily damaged by a hurri- cane and it was shut down
for a period of time.  In 1955 the Air Force decided to reactivate it
at that time, to use it for B-47 stratojet bombers.  It later became a
base for 
B-52's, and then the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing was added in 1962 and
fighters deployed from there to Vietnam.  Then it had F-4's and later
F-16's.  

      The location of the base is very important.  It facili- tates
strategically valuable air coverage of the region which protects the
sea lanes in the eastern northern Caribbean through which a lot of our
trade passes.  So I think you have to look at the location of the base
to understand its impor- tance.  It's also a place we use for counter-
drug missions.  Again, it has a strategic location.  

      Q:  On the Army troops in Florida, are they limited now to
troops from the 82nd and the 10th Mountain?  Are those the only two
units involved, or are there others?  
      A:  I do not believe that's correct.  We've got lot of bits and
pieces of units.  There are medical people from other places and
stuff.  It's hard for us to get a wrap-up of units.  You've got
engineering people, Corps of Engineer people from a number of places,
you've got medical people from a number of places, but I think in
terms of the kind of what you think of as the combat troops that have
deployed, it's been the 10th Mountain Division and thee 82nd.  

      Q:  Back to Homestead, did the Pentagon recommend to the White
House that the base be rebuilt, or has it recommended that the base be
rebuilt?  Of it this a White House decision?

      A:  No, we were part of that decision.  

      Q:  What was the Pentagon's recommendation?  
      A:  That it be rebuilt.  

      Q:  Despite not even knowing how much it would cost?

      A:  It is a strategic location to have a base.  

      Q:  Again, you can't rule out the fact that it might be on a
future closing list.  
      A:  You can't rule out any facility from being on a future
closing list.  

      Q:  It's an independent commission.  

      Q:  You said the Air Force is going to use money they already
have to start rebuilding Homestead.  Do you know how 
much?  
      A:  No, at this point we're still working at that.  

      Q:  Are you aware that Homestead barely made it through the last
round of base closures, and the handicappers were saying that it
wouldn't make it through the next round.  
      A:  I never go to the track, so I don't know much about handi-
capping.  

      Q:  Let's talk about the last round.  It was strongly considered
to be closed and barely escaped.  
      A:  That's your assumption.  The bases that were closed are the
ones that were closed, and we start with a clean slate as we look at
all the remaining facilities in terms of the base closure...  

     Q:  . . you said the Pentagon recommended that it be rebuilt.
Was this an Air Force recommendation as well?  
      A:  It's certainly one that the Air Force supports.  

      Let me just back up a little bit here.  There was a com- parison
made with Clark.  There's an important difference from Clark.  Clark,
with the volcano situation, you were going to have years of impossible
conditions for flying.  That's not going to be the case at Homestead.
Once it's repaired, in fact we're flying in and out of there now.
We're using it as a facility now.  So there's damage on the ground,
but we don't have an environmental problems in terms of actually being
able to fly and operate out of like you were going to have at Clark.
It's a very different situation.  

      Q:  There were problems, people were saying there were problems
with the congested air traffic around there, that to move those
F-16's, you've already moved them to Shaw and to Moody in a week...  
      A:  We moved them before the hurricane.  

      Q:  Before the hurricane.  That Homestead...  
      A:  Thank goodness we did, because we didn't lose very many
planes.  

      Q:  As Bob says, a lot of people were speculating that after the
election Homestead would be on the hit list.  
      A:  I can't help what people are speculating.  It's con- sidered
to be a very good base.  One advantage of being in Florida is you've
basically got seas, you're not flying over land, you're not disturb-
ing, you don't get into the low fly business, problems with that.
Being able to operate over the ocean very conveniently, it's a good
facility.  But it's also important in terms of coverage of the sea
lanes in the region, as well as the drug trafficking lanes.  

     Q:  The speed of this announcement by the President to go ahead
and to declare today that the Pentagon is committed to rebuilding
Homestead without really studying how much it's going to cost, what
are the alternatives, how do you explain the process that happened,
other than the fact that it's election year?  
     A:  One, whatever year it was in, it's very important and it's
very clear that we are supporting the people of Florida and the people
of these communities in their effort to recover.  He made several
other announcements about what the federal government was doing in
terms of helping to pick up the cost of the recovery effort.  I think
it's very appropri- ate that he reassure the communities that we are
committed to rebuilding in that area, and there's a federal facility
there that we're committed to rebuilding.  It's a very important
message to be sending.  It's the people of Florida that have suffered
an incredible catastrophe.  

     Q:  Is that the role of the Department of Defense, to get
involved in...  
      A:  Every part of government is involved in this recov- 
ery.  

      Q:  When that list, when the next list is forwarded to the White
House, if Homestead is on it, the President either has to take the
whole list or throw it out.  That means that if Homestead is on the
list...  
      A:  He can send it back for...  

      Q:  Right, but he either has to take the whole list or not.  He
can send it back to...  
      A: He sends it to Congress as a whole list. I need the legal
requirements of the Base Closure Commission in front of me to be sure
I'm saying the correct things here, Charlie.  

      Can I make a few other announcements?  

      Q:  General Sullivan said that the Commanding General of the
10th Mountain Division is sitting in the Mayor's office.  A:  I think
      it was the City Manager of Homestead.  

      Q:  Where's the Mayor?  
      A:  He was referring to they're basically co-located in the same
building, probably on the same floor, the same suite.  

      Q:  People haven't gone in and...  
      A:  No, he has not taken over his desk, no, and he's not taking
over his functions.  But what he's trying to say is symbolically we
have very close cooperation at all levels with the local government.  

     Q:  Can I come back to my question real quickly about why not
pull the plug on FEMA at this point an just make this a permanent role
for the military disaster relief.  Do you see problems with doing
that?  
      A:  You're in an area between state and federal government that
I think the lawyers are going to have to look at. There are going to
be political decisions that are going to be made in term of changing
the structure of major govern- ment agencies, I don't think I want to
speculate on it from the podium.  I don't think General Sullivan felt
it was appro- priate for him, either.  

      Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney will speak at the Clarksville,
Tennessee, Rotary Club luncheon at 12:45 central daylight time on
Thursday, September 3rd.  That's 1:45 EDT.  The event which is open to
the media, will be held at the Joe Morgan University Center Ballroom
at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee.  Secretary
Cheney will have a media availability prior to his speech at 11:30
a.m. CDT in the Executive Dining Room of the Harville Cafeteria
Building at Austin Peay State University.  The Secretary's speech and
the question and answer period following his speech will be piped back
to the Pentagon.  

      The Secretary will also have a question and answer ses- sion
with the faculty and students of Austin Peay at 1:45 CDT in the
Clement Auditorium at the Clement Building at the university.  That
session is also open to the media.  The point of contact for all
events is Dennie Burke, who is the Austen Peay State University public
affairs officer at (615) 648-7459.  

     Later in the evening of September 3rd, the Secretary will travel
to Chicago where he will receive the Hubert H. Humphrey Award from the
American Political Science Association.  That will be at 9:20 p.m.
CDT.  The event is also open to the media, and it will be held in the
Red Lacquer Room of the Palmer House Hilton Hotel in Chicago.  The
point of contact for that Chicago event is Cara Turner at (312)
917-1711 or (312) 726-7500, extensions 5831 through 5833.  

      Q:  Are you going to have a briefing Thursday?  
      A:  We will have a briefing Thursday, yes.  This event takes
place after the briefing.  It is being piped in.  It will be about
1:45 p.m. EDT.  

      The Secretary will also speak at the luncheon meeting of the
Economic Club of Indianapolis at 12:45 EST -- Indianapolis is on EST,
which equates to 1:45 EDT -- on Friday, September 4th.  The meeting
will be held in Hall C at the Indiana Con- vention Center, 100 South
Capitol Street, Indianapolis.  It's open to the media.  He will also
have a media availability prior to the speech at 11:30 a.m. EST --
that's 12:30 EDT -- in Room 123 on the main level of the Indiana
Convention Center.  The point of contact is Bob Gildea at (317)
634-1171.  That will be piped back to the Pentagon on EDT.  

      Tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 in Room 3E869 here in the Pentagon,
the Secretary will unveil the 1992 National Get Out the Vote Campaign.
That includes radio and television spots and print media ads.  The
Secretary is the presidential designee appointed to administer provi-
sions of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act for
the federal govern- ment.  The unveiling of the campaign is open to
your coverage.  Betty Sprigg in DDI is the contact point.  He'll have
remarks and he will show off the spots.  

      We also have a Memorandum for Correspondents today that we'll be
releasing with some general officer promotions.  I won't go into them
now, but that will be available after the briefing.  

      Today, we have the third release of POW/MIA documents that we're
releasing in response to the July 22nd Presidential Executive Order
which instructed us to review for declassification and make publicly
available Vietnam era POW/MIA documents.  There's about 40,000 pages
in this batch, containing information on POW/MIA's.  They're primarily
from the files of Dr. Roger Shields, who was the Assistant Secretary
of Defense for International Security Affairs for POW/MIA and Economic
Affairs.  The files span between the years 1971 and 1981.  So they're
not only his files, but also, I think, of other Assistant Secretaries
of Defense for International Security Affairs.  

      In addition, the release today contains the files from the
Secretary of Defense from 1974 to 1977, and from the files of Richard
Armitage from 1983 to 1989.  Richard Armitage, as you know, was the
Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
during that period of time.  

      There are also papers from the Joint Staff and informa- tion
concerning the four-party joint military team that was chartered to
put in place a mechanism to recover evidence of lost U.S. military
personnel in the 1970's.  

      We have a set of all these documents in the reading room across
the hall where they've been before.  They will also be available in
the Library of Congress Microfilm Reading Room that's in the Adams
Building, and through the Inter-Library Loan Program starting Septem-
ber 15th.  The earlier documents we released, the two batches, are now
available through that process, through the Library of Congress in the
library's Microfilm Reading Room and the Inter-Library Loan Program.
Information on that concerning access to those collections is avail-
able; questions can be addressed to the photo duplication service at
the Library of Congress.  That number is (202) 707-5640.  

      Finally, when we release these documents and they're available
across the hall, we will have, as in the past, people available at
about 1:30 p.m.  They can discuss in generic terms what kind of
documents these are, what's included in these boxes and the process we
went through in terms of declassification.  They won't be able to get
into the details of a specific document or comparing the documents
with past releases or other material.  

      We have available, again, as last time, an index of what's in
these materials so you can....  

     Q:  With what was released previously, Bob, how many does this
bring...  
       A:  Previously we released, on July 23rd, 30,000 pages;  August
               12th, 12,000 pages; and this release is 40,000 pages.  

      That's all I have in terms of announcements.  

      Q: On Iraq, there was a report from the Gulf that the captain of
the Independence suggested that there might have been some violation
of the 32nd parallel. What I'm hearing here is you all have no proof
on...  
      A:  We cannot confirm any contact, we can't confirm any Iraqi
aircraft as being down below the 32nd Parallel as of today.  

      Q: Given the absence of any challenge of the no-fly zone, is any
thought being given to slackening the sortie pace, or has it been
slackened?  
      A:  Beyond saying that I'm sure the appropriate people are
looking at the level of our operations, I'm not going to discuss the
op tempo from here.  

      Q:  Have the British or French joined in yet?  I believe the
French said earlier this week that they've already sent one batch and
they're scheduled to send a batch on Thursday.  
      A:  I'm going to stick with our policy of allowing the British
and the French and other countries to speak for themselves.  We'll
talk about our missions.  Let me just give you some numbers here.  

      Since the last briefing, the U.S. has flown 409 sorties.  That
brings it to a total of 636 sorties since we started Operation South-
ern Watch.  

      Q:  But as of...  
      A:  That's as of 8:00 p.m. EDT Monday.  

      Q:  At the State Department briefing yesterday, there was dis-
cussion again as to who are the members of the coalition.  The State
Department briefer very kindly deferred the question to you, so I
guess I'll refer it to you again.  
      A:  I think he also said they we're letting each coalition
partne -- everybody participating -- speak for their on operation.
We're speaking for the U.S.  We'll let the others talk about their
role.  

      Q:  How many members are there of the coalition?  
      A:  There are a number of countries that are participat- ing,
but I'm going to let each country talk about its own activity.  

      Q:  Some of the U.S. military officers on the scene have told
reporters that the Saudis, for example, are helping in the refueling;
that they're helping with the AWACS, they're helping in other ways as
well; that U.S. Air Force planes are taking off from bases in Saudi
Arabia.  Can you go that far and confirm what military officers on the
scene have told reporters?  
       A:  I'm going to stick with my position that we are oper- ating
            from various locations in the region and leave it there.  

     Q:  Why the sensitivity this time as opposed to Operation Desert
Storm?  
      A:  Each country talked about its role at the time.  I'm going
to leave it that way now.  

      Q:  On the decision on the M1 battle tank to upgrade to M1-A2's
for $250 million, correct me if I'm wrong, but the Pentagon has
opposed this in the past.  Atwood has said this is a waste of money.
But now the Pentagon is going to go ahead and do this.  Can you just
explain the decision, how this came about?  
      A:  I think this is a decision that came about between discus-
sion between the acquisition people here in the building and the Army.
Congress has a role.  I'm not familiar with the specifics of how the
decision was made, but it's been in discussion with a number of
people.  

      Q:  How about the Saudis?  They want the M1-A2.  
      A:  This is a decision for us.  It doesn't involve any sales.  

      Q:  What is the job impact?  
     A:  I don't know.  I'm sure the prime contractor and the subordi-
nate contractors can probably tell you what that is, but I'm not sure
I can.  

     Q:  The implication, at least...you could draw the conclu- sion
that, this being an election year, the decision to reverse on the
Osprey to give jobs in Texas and Pennsylvania at stake, and now the
M1-A1 in Michigan and Ohio, Homestead in Florida, that a lot of
decisions involving the Defense Department are emanating from poli-
tics.  
      A:  I disagree with you, Wolf.  We make decisions about acquisi-
tion all the time.  I think if the hurricane had hap- pened six months
from now or two years ago, I believe the decision would have been
exactly the same.  It's a base that's important.  It's also important
that the federal government support the people of Florida in the
effort to recover, and we're doing a lot of kinds of things.  I think
it's a commitment the President has made.  I think it's the right
commitment to be making.   But if you took your logic to he fullest
extent, we would make no acquisition decisions for one year out of
every four.  

      Q:  The M1-A2 was on your recision list.  The Osprey was some-
thing you fought for three years.  The same thing with the C-130.  

      A:  I think we've explained the Osprey very carefully.  We've
been in a logjam with Congress for a number of years and we need to
move ahead.  We need to move ahead and acquire this capability, and
the President, or the Secretary reached an agreement with Congress so
we can move ahead.  Sometimes you just have to make these decisions
and move forward on things.  Otherwise, you never get anything done.  

      Q:  Do you have any up-to-date figure for us on aid to Somalia?

      A:  Sure.  The total through today has been 88 food flights to
Wajir in northern Kenya, with 1,567.35 metric tons of food.  That
operation has been going on for a week and a half now.  Then on
Friday, of course, we started flying into Beledwyne in Somalia, and
we've had 21 food flights with 190.17 metric tons of food on those
flights.  That's a grand total of 1,767.52 metric tons on 109 flights.


      Q:  Has the military moved the Pakistanis in?  
      A:  No, I believe we are still committed to doing that, but I'm
not sure they're ready to deploy yet.  

      Q:  Do you have a time frame at all?  
      A:  No, I don't have a time frame on it.  

      Just for your information, in terms of the operation in Somalia,
there is going to be a one-day safety stand down tomorrow, on Septem-
ber 2nd.  It's not in response to any specific incident or accident,
but it's a pause, the kind of thing the military does often where they
basically pause and look at their operations and make sure they're
following safe procedures.  Just in Somalia.  

               Press.  Thank you.  




Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney
with CNN, Wolf Blitzer
Wednesday, September 2, 1992

     Q:   Good morning Leon, and Mr. Secretary, good morning to you, too.
Thank you very much for joining us.

     You've just came back from Florida, you spent the day there yesterday with
the President.  The impression was, at least many officials here were surprised
by the speed that the President committed himself to rebuilding the Homestead
Air Force Base. This is a price tag that no one really knows the extent of the
final damage.  Wasn't it a little speedy in your opinion?
     A:   No, I think it was an important decision on his part.  Homestead has
been an important base for us, given its strategic location.  It's been
headquarters for our counter-narcotics effort in the Caribbean and there's a
long relationship there.  But more than that, this is a unique circumstance.
We've got a terrible hurricane that has flattened south Florida.  The most
important federal presence in that part of the state is Homestead Air Force
Base.  If the government is really going to be committed to helping south
Florida get reconstructed and rebuilt, then it's important for us to rebuild
our major facility in the area.  That was his reasoning, I think, and I think
it's a very valid judgment.  I think everybody understands that.  I have to go
to Congress to get their authorization for it, but this is a unique circum-
stance that we felt warranted that kind of commitment.

     Q:   In the past you've often said that the Defense Department is not a
jobs agency or a disaster relief agency, it's a national security agency.  The
role is the best value for the U.S. defense dollar.  So it seems that this
decision goes against the grain of that kind of thinking.
     A:   I don't think so.  We are a disaster relief agency.  In reality, we
get heavily involved in that.  We have all over the world.  But in this
particular case, I do think it's a unique set of circumstances.  I think from
the standpoint of the President - - in his role as Commander-in-Chief, but also
as President, making decisions about how to allocate resources, if you go down
and see what's happened to the people in south Florida, see the devastation
that's affected their lives.  All of their homes are gone, and all of the local
buildings are gone.  It looks as though someone detonated a nuclear weapon
above south Florida.  These people badly need to have their communities
restored and reestablished.  In this particular case, having Homestead Air
Force Base there has been sort of the anchor in that part of the state, and the
President felt, and I agreed with him, that this is, indeed, the kind of
situation where we ought to make that kind of decision.  So he did, and we will
rebuild Homestead Air Force Base.

     Q:   At a cost of?
     A:   We don't know yet.  We still are in the process of assessing the
damage.  Some of the buildings there can probably be rehabilitated and
restored.  Others will have to be completely demolished and we'll have to build
brand new ones in their place. We'll have an estimate, I would guess, within
the next week or two.

     Q:   General McPeak, the Air Force Chief of Staff, says hundreds of
millions of dollars.
     A:   I would expect it will be an expensive proposition.  Air Force bases
cost a lot of money.

     Q:   You understand why some critics suggest that politics, Florida's
electoral votes, played a role in this decisionmaking process.
     A:   I have a problem with that, Wolf.  As I've watched this whole thing
unfold over the last week, we're criticized -- you didn't move fast enough, you
didn't do enough.  Then when you do do something, and you do make a quick
decision like Homestead Air Force Base, then they say, "well, that's politics."
Some days there's no way to please your critics, and I would guess that that
may, in fact, be the kind of situation we've got here with respect to these
kinds of charges and claims.

     The President of the United States is President of the United States 24
hours a day, 365 days a year.  He has to deal with a situation created by an
act of God, by nature, a hurricane that devastated south Florida.  He can't say
wait, I'm not going to deal with that for the next two months because somebody
might accuse me of politics.  He's the President now, he'll be the President
tomorrow, he has to deal with that situation down there and he's done it.  I
think his decisions ought to be evaluated on their merits and without always
having this charge that somehow this is politically involved.  You can't have
it both ways.  You can't criticize him for doing nothing, and then criticize
him when he does something.

     Q:   Senator Bentsen has announced that the President, later today in
Texas, is going to change U.S. policy and support the sale of F-16 fighter
aircraft to Taiwan -- jobs in Texas, General Dynamics.  That, too, smacks, at
least gives the appearance, that politics are involved, the vote in Texas.
     A:   The decision, if there's to be a decision like that, will have to be
made and announced by the President.  I wouldn't want to preempt that.

     Q:   Do you expect that decision to go forward?
     A:   I wouldn't want to preempt it.  The President gets to make that
decision.

     Q:   What about the decision on the F-15's to Saudi Arabia? That one is
also said to be in the works.
     A:   The Saudis have requested F-15's from the United States.  We've sold
them F-15's previously.  I personally think it's a good idea.  I'm a strong
advocate of selling F-15's to Saudi Arabia.  They're a close ally to the United
States.  I don't believe they're a threat to Israel.  They do have legitimate
security needs, and I think we ought to help them satisfy those.  But as a
government, as an administration, that decision has not been made yet. 
     Q:   How extensive is Saudi support for the no-fly zone -- the area in
southern Iraq where the U.S. and other coalition partners are now barring the
Iraqis from flying their airplanes?
     A:   I think the most appropriate way to deal with that is to allow each
government to say whatever they choose to say about the degree of their
participation.  I don't think I ought to make statements or announcements on
behalf of another government.

     Q:   Are the Iraqis complying?  Is there any indication that the U.S., and
its coalition partners, are in for some sort of confrontation?
     A:   At this point, there's no evidence of that.  That is to say we've
seen Iraqi compliance with the no-fly edict that has been passed to them, and
there's been no violation of that as best we can tell.

     Q:   Mr. Secretary, unfortunately we're out of time.  Thank you very much
for joining us. 


Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney
with NBC, Bryant Gumbel
Wednesday, September 2, 1992

     Q:   In "Close Up" this morning, the military's relief role. About 20,000
troops and mountains of equipment make this one of the largest peacetime
military rescue missions in history. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney toured the
disaster area yesterday. This morning he's at the Pentagon.  Mr. Secretary,
good morning.
     A:   Good morning, Bryant.

     Q:   You got your first post-Andrew view of south Florida yesterday.  How
did it compare to some of the war zones you've seen?
     A:   It's exactly what it looks like, Bryant.  It's almost as though
somebody had detonated a nuclear weapon without the fire effects and so forth,
but the blast effects.  There's literally nothing left standing.  All the
houses, trees, fences, telephone poles, everything is absolutely flattened over
an area of nearly 100 square miles.  It's devastating.

     Q:   You were on vacation last week when all this happened. Were you at
any time called when this happened, or asked to cut short your vacation and
come back and expedite matters on the military side?
     A:   When I go on vacation like that I take a communicator with me, so I
was in touch with the Pentagon throughout that period of time, in contact
primarily with my deputy, Don Atwood. It was my view that they could handle it.
That was also their view, so I was never asked to come back and don't believe
there was any requirement that I do so.

     Q:   I say this without accusation, but you would usually be called back
in the event of a crisis.  Why didn't this warrant that?
     A:   I have been called back in August of '90 when Saddam Hussein invaded
Kuwait; called back in '91 when there was a coup in the Soviet Union.  In this
case, where we had a ready response capacity to deploy troops rapidly, where I
was in touch on a communications basis, there was nothing that I could do here
in the Pentagon that couldn't be done by others.

     Q:   Are you totally satisfied with the speed, the extent of the military
response?
     A:   I am.  I think the military response has been tremendous.  I saw the
troops down there yesterday.  We've got naval, air, marine, and army assets
actively engaged and nearly 20,000 people committed to the effort, and more if
need be.  We can't move into an area and take over and begin to operate until
we've received a specific request to do so.  We began the planning process once
it was clear that there was going to be a hurricane striking Florida, and we
got ready to roll and have now moved.

     There's been a lot of debate about whether or not it ought to be faster.
I look at it the other way, Bryant.  I see what may well be the worst natural
disaster in the history of the country in terms of property damage, and minimal
loss of life because the system did respond so well, because we did have
warning, and there is now a massive effort underway to deal with the cleanup.

     Q:   Any guess, Mr. Secretary, about how long the troops are going to have
to stay there?
     A:   No, clearly I would guess it's going to be a matter of months in some
cases.  There are sort of different stages of the cleanup. First is to provide
emergency services, medical care, food, and so forth.  That effort is well
underway.  Second is to clean away the debris, and that effort is also under-
way.  The third stage will be the actual rebuilding.  The actual rebuilding may
well take a period of years.

     Q:   Let me move on to some other matters if I might, Mr. Secretary.  On a
trip to Texas today, the President is expected to announce an end to the
decade-old ban on sale of fighter jets to Taiwan.  Why is lifting that ban
warranted at this time?
     A:   First of all, the decision should be announced by the President, not
by me, Bryant.  I think this is an area where we have a legitimate interest in
assisting Taiwan in terms of dealing with their security concerns.  We have had
a good relationship there over the years.  I'm convinced that whatever might
subsequently be announced is consistent with basic U.S. national security
interests.

     Q:   Sources also indicate the President is set to announce the decision
to try to sell 72 F-15 fighters to Saudi Arabia. Will he be requesting the
F-15H or the more advanced F-15Es?
     A:   You're moving on beyond, Bryant, where we ought to be. No decision
has been announced at this point with respect to the sale to Saudi Arabia.
Again, Saudi Arabia is a close friend and ally of the United States.  We just
recently deployed half a million people halfway around the world to defend
Saudi Arabia against Saddam Hussein's aggression.  They have legitimate
security needs, and we have an interest in helping them satisfy those needs.
That may well involve the sale of additional aircraft.

     Q:   Would such a sale, if it were to happen, upset the qualitative
military edge the Israelis currently enjoy?
     A:   We're committed to maintaining the qualitative edge.  I don't believe
Saudi Arabia constitutes any kind of a threat at all to Israel, and we've
previously sold F-15's to Saudi Arabia.

     Q:   One final note, Mr. Secretary, getting back to the storm, if I could.
Amid complaints about FEMA's response.  There have been suggestions that that
agency's duties be folded into the Pentagon, that you're better equipped in
terms of organization, in terms of manpower to better cope with disasters of
this kind.  How does that suggestion strike you?
   A:   I'm not an expert on FEMA.  That doesn't come into my jurisdiction.
We're happy to do whatever we're called upon to do in this area.  I think
there's a tendency sometimes, because the military does work so well, because
it is a very efficient, professional organization, to want to give us every-
thing.  After the riots in Los Angeles there was a suggestion in many corners
that we ought to turn over management of the problems in the inner cities to
the U.S. military.  I think we have to remember what our business is.  Our
business is to defend the country.  We do have capabilities that allow us to
help in areas like the crisis in south Florida, and we're happy to do that.

     Q:   Mr. Secretary, thank you.
     A:   Thank you.


Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney
with Fox Morning News, Lark McCarthy
Wednesday, September 2, 1992 - 7:31 a.m. (EDT)

     Q:   Hurricane Andrew ripped through southern Florida, ravaging homes and
communities.  Yesterday, President and Mrs. Bush, as well as Defense Secretary
Dick Cheney, went down to the disaster area to assess the damage.  The Presi-
dent increased the amount of reimbursement to 100 percent for the eligible cost
of the cleanup and rebuilding efforts.  He also announced that the destroyed
Homestead Air Force Base will be rebuilt.  Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney
joins us this morning from the Pentagon to discuss the military efforts to
provide relief.  Good morning, Mr. Secretary.
     A:   Good morning, Lark.

     Q:   Before we get to the nuts and bolts, let's talk first about just your
impressions.  We've all seen those pictures.  It's so difficult to comprehend.
How would you describe what you saw?
     A:   The pictures don't do justice to it, Lark.  It is devastating,
awesome.  It is an area of about 100 square miles that has been just absolutely
flattened.  The houses gone, trees gone, telephone poles gone.  In many cases,
in areas where there were buildings or trailers with people living in them,
there's now nothing but just a field of rubble.  The pictures don't do justice
to the scope of the disaster.

     Q:   I heard people say they get a physical reaction just seeing it, like
being hit in the chest, that it takes your breath away.  Did you have that kind
of reaction when you saw it?
     A:   You do. That's your first reaction when you see it.  Then you get a
chance to spend a little bit of time with the people there, and the amazing
thing is the resilience, if you will, of the folks in the community.  They're
picking themselves up, they're going to work to clean things up and to restore
their community.

     Q:   Nuts and bolts, how many troops do we have down there now, and how
long do they have to stay?
     A:   We're committed at this point to provide upwards of 20,000 personnel
from all the four services.  There are significant detachments of Navy, Marine,
Air Force, and Army personnel currently on board.  We have a command structure
in place, communications gear.  There are medical facilities, feeding facili-
ties.  We're building tent cities.  We're doing a lot of work, for example, to
help rehabilitate the schools so they can be reopened in time for school to
start.  I would guess that there would be some U.S. military presence there for
several months. 

     Q:   Several months, not days.
     A:   Right.

     Q:   Let's talk about Homestead Air Force Base.  It's gotten a lot of
attention, the fact that the President has promised to rebuild.  We have the
Democratic congressman from Maine saying this is blatant pork barrel.  How do
you respond to that?
     A:   The President, on the one hand, is criticized because he supposedly
didn't do enough to respond to the hurricane in Florida.  Then he makes a
decision like Homestead Air Force Base, and the media cries, "well, this is all
politics."  I just think it's crazy criticism coming from some congressman in
Maine.  I don't know who it is.  I assume he's worried about a base in his
district.

     The fact of the matter is that Homestead Air Force Base is the anchor, if
you will, of the federal presence in south Florida.  If the federal government
is committed to the notion that we're going to rebuild south Florida and
restore those communities, then the first place to begin, really, is with the
major federal presence down there and that's Homestead Air Force Base.

     Q:   Critics are saying given the fact that the Pentagon has looked at
base closings, even though Homestead wasn't on the list, that wouldn't it at
least be time to take a look and see if what Homestead used to do could be
farmed out elsewhere since it is destroyed?
     A:   Homestead has not been slated for closure.  It was not on the first
list of bases that we agreed to close.  It's an important facility because of
its strategic location.  It's been the heart of our counter-narcotics effort.
But also, it's the one major facility that is in the middle of this area.  If
you want to write off south Florida, you could make the decision, well we're
not going to go rebuild south Florida.  Those people can move elsewhere.
Clearly, that's the kind of cold, heartless decision nobody's prepared to make.
I think with respect to Homestead, the President felt very strongly that not
only was it an important base, but it was also very important as a symbol of
the commitment of the federal government to help those thousands and thousands
of people in south Florida get back their lives, to restore their communities.

     Q:   You're well aware of the criticism of the initial response that many
local officials down in Florida criticized as slow.  Will there be procedural
changes?  For example, instead of waiting to be called upon, will you be able
to get on the phone and say, "we're offering help, do you want it right now?"
     A:   The problem here -- and I'm not familiar with all the details of who
struck John in south Florida -- I think it's important for people to remember
we have a federal system.  Local officials are the ones that have the prime
responsibility in their communities.  If they're unable to cope, they go to the
governors and ask for state assistance.  If the state can't handle it, then
they come to us and ask for federal assistance.  There are various ways in
which we can help.  In terms of getting the military involved, we need a
specific request for the U.S. military to go into an area and provide assis-
tance and deal with the situation. 

       We do not have the authority under our Constitution, under our federal
system of government, we don't have the authority to unilaterally move into a
domestic situation and begin to operate.  We do need requests for assistance.
We responded very rapidly when we got that request.  I think the evidence is
there for all to see.

     I'm struck by this continued criticism of the response, because I think
we're overlooking some very important facts.  Number one is the fact that in
what may well be one of the most devastating storms in the history of the
nation, we had very minimal loss of life.  The reason for that, of course, was
because our warning systems did work.  We were able to track the storm, get
warnings out on time, and get people evacuated.  So there have been some great
success stories in connection with Andrew that are absolutely uncovered because
everybody's running around trying to figure out why something didn't happen a
little bit sooner.  I think it's important for us to have a balanced perspec-
tive on what did happen.

        Q:   A couple of other topics very quickly.  Nicaragua now has been hit
by an earthquake and a subsequent tidal wave.  Will the U.S. military be
involved in the relief efforts there?
     A:   It's too soon to say.  If we're asked to provide assistance, cer-
tainly we will.  We could end up flying medical supplies in and that sort of
thing.  We've done it all over the world.  There's no reason why we couldn't do
it in Nicaragua if they need that kind of help.

     Q:   Iraqi fly-overs.  Any confrontations yet in Iraq?
     A:   None.  So far it looks as though the Iraqis are complying with our
requirement that they not fly south of that particular line in southern Iraq.

     Q:   How long will this no-fly zone be in effect?
     A:   I don't have any way of knowing, Lark.  We're committed, the U.S. is,
and the UN Security Council members are committed to enforcing those Security
Council resolutions.  This relates specifically to one of those resolutions.
We'll continue the effort just as long as we have to, until we get full Iraqi
compliance.  He has no choice but to comply with the UN resolutions.  That's
been true since August of 1990.  It's still true today.

     Q:   Thank you.  Defense Secretary Dick Cheney joining us live this
morning from the Pentagon.  We appreciate it.
     A:   Thank you.

Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney
with CBS, Edie Magnus
Wednesday, September 2, 1992 - 7:08 a.m. (EDT)

     Q:   More now on the hurricane relief effort.  Joining us from the
Pentagon to talk about the military's is Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.  Thanks
for joining us this morning.
     A:   Good morning.

     Q:   Was the trip yesterday with Mr. Bush successful?
     A:   I think it was.  It was amazing to me to see how warm and friendly
the people were in terms of their reception of the federal presence, but also
the tremendous outpouring of support from all around the country -- the private
agencies, the volunteers that have turned out to help rebuild southern Florida.

     Q:   What is your assessment of the relief effort so far?
     A:   I think it's going very well.  The task is massive. Some have
described this as the worst natural disaster ever to hit the country in terms
of property damage, and I think that's probably true.  Close to 100 square
miles have been absolutely leveled.  No buildings, no telephone poles, no trees
left standing.  The scope of the effort in terms of just the cleanup and
restoring basic services is massive, let alone the task then of going back to
rebuild those communities.

     But the thing that impresses you when you're there is the extent to which,
in fact, people, especially in those local communities, have turned to to get
on with the job.

     Q:   There are still problems getting those tent cities open.  What is the
holdup?
     A:   I don't know all the details at the local level.  The tent cities are
up in many cases, that is the tents have been erected.  In some cases, there
are problems that have to be resolved with local officials.  They actually will
control when the facilities are used and when people move into them.  I think
there are probably some problems at the local level that are still being worked
out in terms of getting sanitation facilities up to snuff and so forth.

      Q:  Mr. Bush has said that he wants to rebuild Homestead Air Force Base.
There are  number of lawmakers who have questioned the wisdom of that at a time
when you all are trying to cut back the Defense Budget and have a number of
bases now that are unused.  What is your assessment of the wisdom of rebuilding
it?
     A:   I think it makes sense.  If you look specifically at the base from a
military perspective, it's been an important base over the years. It was the
headquarters for a lot of our counter-narcotics activities in the Caribbean.
But beyond that, this is a unique set of circumstances.  You've got an area
that has been totally devastated by the hurricane.  The major federal presence
in the region has been Homestead Air Force Base.  The President felt very
strongly that it's a commitment of the United States Government to our rebuild-
ing southern Florida, it was vital for us to move forward and restore our major
presence in the area which is Homestead.

     We will need congressional approval to do that.  Congress will have to
authorize and appropriate the funds for it, but we will make that request here
within the next couple of weeks, and I hope and expect that they will approve
it.

     Q:   The initial efforts to mount this relief effort down there seemed to
stumble an awful lot in the beginning because there was no so-called vertical
chain of command.  Who is in charge there now?
     A:   The way the process works, at the outset, of course, local officials
are initially the ones who are charged with dealing with the problem with a
disaster like this.  If they can handle it, then that's the end of it.  If they
can't, then it gets elevated up to the governor's level.  He has certain
authorities, the National Guard and so forth available to him.  We have the
federal program, FEMA, that can move in and provide help and assistance as
well.
     In terms of getting the military involved, that occurs when we get a
request for help, and once we've received a request, then we respond.

     Q:   Do you think this is going to set a precedent for getting the
military more involved when there are disasters of this magnitude?
     A:   We already do a great deal, whether it's an earthquake in California
as we did earlier this year, the Los Angeles riots, Hurricane Hugo a couple of
years ago in South Carolina.  This has become a normal kind of activity for the
military, I think for understandable reasons.  We've got certain capabilities,
we've got a command system, we've got communications, logistics support,
medical capabilities.  We can do things that nobody else can do and it's an
activity we're happy to do.  The troops enjoy it, it's important work, so
whenever we're called upon for this kind of assignment we're happy to undertake
it.

     Q:   Is FEMA obsolete when it's something this big?
     A:   When it's something this big, I think everybody's capabilities are
strained just by the sheer enormity of the task. I think at the outset, a lot
of people didn't understand just exactly how devastating this hurricane had
been, or the wide area that had been affected by it.  All the communications in
the area have been eroded and destroyed.

     But I think FEMA's responding well.  I think the agencies are responding
well.  We're now a little more than a week into it.  I think one of the great
success stories is the extent to which we were able to avoid significant loss
of life from what may well have been one of the most difficult and dangerous
storms in the history of the nation.

     Q:   Let me switch gears on you for a moment.  The President is campaign-
ing in Texas today.  Can you confirm that he is going to announce the sale of
F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan?
     A:   Of course not.  If a decision's going to be made by the President,
he'll make the decision.  That's not something for me to preempt.

     Thanks very much for joining us this morning.


Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney
with ABC, Good Morning America, Joan Lunden
Wednesday, September 2, 1992

     Q:   It is not the typical assignment for a soldier, but it's probably one
of the most rewarding.  Leading the relief effort in Florida, feeding the
hungry, housing the homeless.  The man who is the boss of all these soldiers is
Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney.  Yesterday, he was with President Bush for a
tour of south Florida and Louisiana.  Secretary Cheney joins us this morning
from the Pentagon.  Secretary Cheney, good morning.
     A:   Good morning, Joan.

     Q:   For those of us who have only seen the pictures, give us your
firsthand impressions of the damage and the devastation there.
     A:   The thing that you're struck by most when you arrive is that the
pictures don't do justice to the extent of the disaster.  To travel mile after
mile after mile and see the absolute total devastation where nothing is left
standing -- trees, power lines, houses, everything is destroyed -- has an
enormous emotional impact on you that you don't get simply by looking at the
television set.

     Q:   Bring us up to date as far as the relief effort.  How are the tent
cities coming, how many kitchens have been set up, how many medical centers,
etcetera.
     A:   The relief effort's going very well at this point.  We have committed
now upwards of 20,000 troops.  There are also thousands of volunteers from all
over the country down there.  I talked with people yesterday from several
different states who had simply gotten in their cars and driven down to provide
help and assistance.  So the relief effort, both private and public, is
massive.  There are schools that are being used for medical centers.  We've got
medical teams in the area.  We've got mobile kitchens providing help and
assistance -- a major effort underway. 

     The real question, of course, is how long it will take us to be able to
rebuild and restore south Florida.  This is going to be an activity that is
going to take, I would guess, a year or more, and go on long after the press
interest has faded.

     Q:   No one wants to assign blame, of course, in a situation like this,
but surely you're aware that there is a perception at least that President Bush
waited too long to send in troops.  Why did he wait four days?
     A:   First of all, I think it's important to go back, Joan, and look at
what happened here.  This is what may well be the worst natural disaster ever
to hit the country.  Given that, the amazing thing is that there was such a
minimal loss of life, that we did get adequate warning to get people out of the
area, that the local agencies responded as well as they have.

     The President does not have sole authority in this area.  He has to deal
with local and state officials.  We respond to requests for help and assis-
tance, but we don't ordinarily move in and take over a situation unless we've
been asked to do so.  If local and state officials can handle a crisis or a
disaster, then they do that.  They call upon us when they get into dire
circumstances.

     In this case, I think the response has been pretty good. I've been
impressed with it. 

     Q:   The President announced yesterday that the Homestead Air Force Base
will be completely rebuilt.  The Pentagon has estimated that the cost of doing
that I think is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  I think this is the
second time the air base has been wiped out by a hurricane, and I think about a
year ago it was listed as one of those perhaps to be completely eliminated for
cost savings.  Is this going to be money well spent, do you think?
     A:   I think it is.  Homestead Air Force Base has been an important
facility for us.  Its where the counter-narcotics effort, was headquartered for
the Caribbean.  Given its strategic location in south Florida, it's been
important vis-a-vis Cuba and the Caribbean. 

     There's another dimension, though, I think, to the decision the President
made.  That's the fact that south Florida has been absolutely devastated by the
hurricane, and that he wanted to demonstrate the commitment of the federal
government to rebuilding that area.  Our most important facility, our most
important activity in south Florida has been Homestead Air Force Base.  I think
you put together, both the military needs as well as the impact of having the
government committed to rebuilding Homestead, I think we all recognize that
this is a unique set of circumstances, and that it's something that definitely
ought to be done.  So we will seek approval from Congress to go forward with
rehabilitating Homestead Air Force Base. 

     Q:   It is unique in that you said we've never really been hit by some-
thing quite this bad before, and sometimes you don't know what you need until
you get into the situation.  So do we revamp the way we run things so that we
can get help in there faster the next time?
     A:   We always learn, in each of these crises, how better to deal with the
next one.  There's always an educational process, if you will.  I think it's
important for us, though, even as we work to try to improve our response time,
to recognize that each one of these situations is somewhat unique.  An earth-
quake is different from a hurricane, and this hurricane is different from the
last hurricane -- Hurricane Hugo in the Charleston area here years ago.  So I
think in general the response of the agencies has been very good.  I can't say
that we can't find ways to get even better, and I'm sure we want to work on
that. 

     Q:   Secretary Cheney, thank you very much.
     A:   Thank you.

                              (END)



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