| MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS | |
| 13 | CIA Role/Reporting |
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................QUESTION: Jamie, I don't know if you've answered this in the past about - is the CIA determinations on compliance, is that going to be made public during the course of the 12 weeks? Who's done what --
MR. RUBIN: There are no limits to your appetites. No, I would expect not.
MR. RUBIN: I'm sorry, let me amend the answer in the following way. There has been a misperception that I think Mr. Tenet sought to clarify in today's newspaper. The CIA doesn't make judgments; the CIA provides information and facilitates cooperation - provides the facts and the information and reports to the State Department and other agencies of the government for judgments to be made about compliance with the agreements and making political judgments.
So there's been a slight misperception on that. But the information that's provided by our experts has never been provided publicly before. I wouldn't expect it to be now.
QUESTION: Forget them making it public. The question, which you had to wrestle with yesterday and which Congress is making an issue of - and we both know they've always had a role, so we don't have to go over that again. This agreement is bottomed on the notion that the CIA will have an enlarged verification role. The CIA, hey, Israel, you can do this stuff because the CIA's going to be on the job making sure this stuff is done. Now, whether they make the judgment or provide the information for someone else to make the judgment, you're not disputing the CIA will be far more active than it ever has been in the past.
MR. RUBIN: I would point you to the article and the view of Mr. Tenet, as this is fully consistent with things it's done before. Experts will obviously play a role in fighting terrorism; that's a greater and greater priority for the United States - that is, fighting terrorism and particularly in this region. So I would expect there to be more activity to fight terrorism.
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QUESTION: In this discussion of letters that have been sent, some of which are being revealed, you didn't seem to want to exclude the possibility that there are secret assurances contained in letters. Now, I don't suppose you just want to let that impression sit out there, do you?
MR. RUBIN: If I look back at the transcript about the letters, I'll have no clue what you said or what I said. All I'm telling you is, I'm not commenting on any letters.
QUESTION: My question is, are there secret assurances in letters? Can you tell us --
MR. RUBIN: If they were secret, I wouldn't want to comment on them.
QUESTION: So there could be secret assurances in letters?
MR. RUBIN: We can go back and forth and it will end up with me saying, no comment. But if you'd like to continue, that would be fine with me.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
MR. RUBIN: I don't want to comment on the question of private communications.
QUESTION: No, but in the past, government spokesmen have been able to tell you what they said or they say we can assure you what you see is what there is - there are no secret assurances to the parties.
QUESTION: There were letters of assurances after the Hebron agreement, and we're in the same position today as we were then, which is that the Israeli one leaked within five minutes and the Palestinian one, until this day, is unknown.
MR. RUBIN: Well, some countries or some entities have different approaches to their dealings with the media. I don't know whether that applies in this case or it doesn't apply. What I know is that I am not now in a position to tell you what private assurances were made, what subjects were dealt with, whether there were secret assurances. I'm just not going to address the question in any meaningful way.
QUESTION: Well, you can still pick from a variety of other options. I mean, this didn't begin with Hebron; it began in 1973.
MR. RUBIN: Do you enjoy this?
(Laughter.)
QUESTION: No, I don't enjoy this, but I'm waiting --
MR. RUBIN: Because I don't; I definitely don't.
QUESTION: No, I'm waiting - it's all right, it will be the last from me anyhow. But I'm waiting for the familiar, and if I don't hear it then I know I haven't heard it; so I've got to ask the question.
MR. RUBIN: I'm trying to provide no meaningful information on this question.
QUESTION: You're doing very well so far.
(Laughter.)
But I'm waiting for the familiar statement that nothing was told to one party that wasn't told to the other party. And if you can't say that, that's significant; because if there are secret agreements or if you're not going to reveal whether there are, then the next question is, did one side hear things that the other side didn't?
MR. RUBIN: I will take this elaborate exchange and I will read through it and try to ascertain what questions in it I will approach the authorities with, and try to get you answers best I can.
QUESTION: Fair enough.
MR. RUBIN: But maybe afterwards we can decide more specifically what the questions are that are likely to yield answers - other than what is our secret assurance to one country or another or another entity.
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(The briefing concluded at 1:35 P.M.)
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