ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:96070104.txt
DATE:07/01/96
TITLE:01-07-96  WHITE HOUSE REPORT, MONDAY, JULY 1, 1996

TEXT:
(Saudi review, G-7, Yeltsin, Guatemala, French spies)  (830)

NEWS BRIEFING -- Press Secretary Mike McCurry briefed:

SAUDI EXPLOSION REVIEW SET

Press Secretary McCurry told a questioner that if more stringent
security measures should have been in place before a truck bomb
exploded outside a U.S. housing complex in Dhahran, the review ordered
by President Clinton will bring that to light.

McCurry told questioners the staff of the National Security Council
and the Pentagon "have developed a very good charter for the
assessment" of security of U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere
in the Middle East." Clinton announced appointment of retired General
Wayne Downing to head the review on June 29.

"The security situation in Dhahran and elsewhere in the Middle East is
now under review by General Downing," McCurry said. "We are confident
that there were security measures in place that saved lives, and as to
whether there should be -- or should have been -- additional security
measures, General Downing is looking closely at that now."

The asserted security breakdown at the Khobar apartment complex drew
the ire of Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, and a White House statement of confidence in Defense
Secretary William Perry. Specter cited Perry's refusal to answer
questions about Saudi rejection of a wider security perimeter, and
scheduled a hearing July 9 on the explosion, which claimed 19 American
lives. He suggested he might call for Perry's resignation if he is not
satisfied with Defense Department answers.

According to Air Force security officers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
would not allow the United States to extend to 400 feet the security
buffer at the complex. The officers said they were told moving from
the 80-foot perimeter in place at the time of the explosion to the
requested 400 feet would disrupt parking for a mosque and a shopping
mall.

ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS IMPRESSED CLINTON

McCurry told a questioner the president "found participation by the
leaders of international lending institutions" at the Lyon Summit "to
be a very positive aspect of the G-7 discussions." He said Clinton had
"complimented" French President Jacques Chirac "for including them in
the discussion."

McCurry said the four "made a very useful contribution to the
discussion, and he (Clinton) is certainly entertaining the notion that
at the Denver G-7 Summit in 1997 -- if he is hosting it, or as we
prepare for it -- (we should) consider that kind of contribution
again."

YELTSIN'S HEALTH DISCUSSED

McCurry told a questioner he is not aware of any direct contact
between Clinton and Rusian Federation President Boris Yeltsin, who has
not been campaigning vigorously as the run-off election campaign draws
to a close. He said U.S. diplomats in Moscow have been in touch with
Russians officials about the topic.

The Russians "are telling us privately the same thing they're saying
publicly, the same thing that Prime Minister (Viktor) Chernomyrdin
told the president -- laryngitis, resting, looking forward to getting
back to work," McCurry said.

When presed for more detail, McCurry said he understands Yeltsin
suffers "some form of laryngitis, voice loss, that he is resting" and
that the Russian president "expects soon to return to his official
duties."

GUATEMALAN REPORT FORTHCOMING

McCurry said the administration has made "a very significant release
of information" about U.S. activities in Guatemala a decade ago, and
suggested there are "some fundamental things" about events in the
timeframe that "are unknowable."

He said the State Department alone had released 5,000 documents
relating to the degree of knowledge harbored by U.S. diplomats about
the deaths of American citizens and other human rights abuses by the
Guatemalan army. Separately, he noted, the Intelligence Oversight
Board has released its assessment of activities by assets of the
Central Intelligence Agency.

As a result of the investigations spurred by the accusations of
Jennifer Harbury and others, he said, the CIA has instituted important
reforms on how the agency deals with assets in other countries, how it
selects those it retains, and how it informs the on-site ambassador of
developing events.

"We are confident," he said, "that that type of abuse is not occuring
and will not occur." He said it will be "hard to satisfy" the victims
of torture or the survivors of those murdered "becasue some
fundamental things that they want to know as human beings may be
unknowable, based on the record ... that has been assembled." He
called the overall effort "the most compelling record that can be
assembled as to what happened in the 1980s."

SPY STORY NOTED

Asked about The New York Times story asserting that U.S. personnel at
the Lyon Summit were warned against letting sensitive documents out of
their possession, even during dinner, McCurry said: "The U.S.
delegation travelling with President Clinton received the same
security briefing it always receives, going into a foreign country.
Beyond that I won't comment."

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