ACCESSION NUMBER:271917

FILE ID:POL501

DATE:03/12/93

TITLE:CLINTON SAYS U.S. MUST FACE NEW SECURITY CHALLENGES (03/12/93)

TEXT:*93031201.POL

CLINTON SAYS U.S. MUST FACE NEW SECURITY CHALLENGES



(Cites efficiency, small force effectiveness)  (390)

By Alexander M. Sullivan

USIA White House Correspondent

Washington -- The United States cannot pretend that far-off violence has

no meaning at home, President Clinton declared March 12.



While the aggression of a Saddam Hussein or the violence of a Bosnia may not

directly threaten U.S. shores, the president said, Americans dare not

"overlook the significance" such new challenges present.  "Blinders never

provide security," he said.



Clinton, making his first visit to a military installation as president,

flew to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt via helicopter to

underscore the adaptation of the U.S. armed forces to the new world

environment following the end of the Cold War.

1

Marking the dimunition of the threat from the former Soviet Union, the

carrier set sail from Norfolk, Virginia March 11 without its usual

complement of submarine-hunting aircraft.  Instead, it took on board a

Marine Corps contingent that would enable the vessel to take control of a

port, or distribute humanitarian supplies.  Clinton's remarks to the ship's

crew, and a later address carried on the Armed Forces Radio Network, were

monitored at the White House.



"The changed security environment," Clinton asserted, "demands not less

security but a change in our security arrangements."  He said the new

manning of the carrier reflects "the new challenges of the post Cold War

era," enabling it to "address new potential challenges such as evacuations,

or taking control of troubled ports."



He said the reductions in the size of the armed forces was "not down-sizing

for its own sake; it's right-sizing for security's sake."  He said the

smaller size means the armed forces "operate with greater efficiency and

effectiveness."



Clinton predicted the changes in the way the Roosevelt is being manned will

prove to be a model for other parts of the military establishment, which he

said will have to be "especially mobile;" with greater air and sea-lift

capacity, "agile;" with stress on speed, maneuver and technological

superiority; "precise," to eliminate casualties from friendly fire and

accidental harm to civilians; "flexible," to cooperate with diverse

partners in different parts of the world, and "smart," with the

intelligence and communications needed for the "complex threats we face."



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