    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [October 22, 1993]
    [Pages 1804-1805]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1804]]

    Interview With Stephen Clark of KGTV, San Diego, California
    October 22, 1993

    Technology Reinvestment Project

        Mr. Clark. UCSD, University of California-San Diego, was the one you
    named today from this area?
        The President. That's right. They have a project that will use
    composite materials that were part of the Stealth aircraft development
    to build and repair bridges. There are others; let me just tell you
    where the others are in southern California. We have one in Redondo
    Beach that Cal State-Fullerton was involved in; one at Newport Beach
    with Hughes Electric, G.M. Hughes; one in Torrance--two in Torrance. So
    if you want to mention any of them, we can.
        Mr. Clark. Joining us now to talk about what is called the first
    wave of the Technology Reinvestment Program grant is the author of the
    plan, more or less, the President of the United States, Mr. Clinton.
    Thanks for joining us today to talk about what we here in San Diego call
    the defense conversion. Can you give us kind of a short definition or
    explanation of what it is you want to accomplish here?
        The President. Yes, we're trying to take the capacities, the skills,
    the technologies that were developed in the big defense build-up of the
    1980's, and instead of just letting those technologies and the abilities
    of those people go to waste, we want to give them a chance to be used in
    the commercial sector in a way that helps both national defense by
    keeping that skill and that technology alive and helps to rebuild the
    domestic economy and to create jobs.
        Today we announced the first of what will be four announcements
    between now and the end of November in the technology research project,
    which involved 41 projects from California to Maine from former defense
    contractors or current defense contractors using technologies in defense
    for domestic purposes.
        In San Diego, the University of San Diego and Muller International
    and a company called Trans-Science Corporation are using the composite
    materials developed for the Stealth aircraft to build and repair
    bridges. And they're working on a bridge in San Diego now. And this is
    just one of, as I said, over 40 projects. California got a large number
    of these projects but so did several other States that have been hurt by
    base closing and defense cutbacks. They were all given out on the
    merits, I assure you, and now what the companies have to do is to
    negotiate with our defense conversion projects to make sure that the
    Government and the companies all put up a fair amount of money. Then
    they'll start hiring people and going to work. We're very excited about
    it.
        Mr. Clark. Mr. President, some claim that if it was a good idea, a
    strong company would run with that idea. Do you run a risk of propping
    up a bad company or a bad idea?
        The President. There may be some risk of that, but it's not much of
    a risk. After all, in terms of the potential expenditure of money, this
    is mostly seed money to get these projects started. A lot of these
    companies are quite well-established, and these technologies have proven
    merit in the defense area. This is the sort of thing that our
    competitors in Germany, Japan, countries with lower unemployment rates
    and higher investment rates than we do, they do these things all the
    time. We know the technology, the skills, the ideas to make the
    conversion, but we aren't organized for it. This simply helps us to
    organize to make this conversion from a defense-based to a domestic
    economy. It will create a lot of jobs. And I think that it will be among
    the most efficient Government programs ever seen because, keep in mind,
    we don't put up all the money; if the other side doesn't put up half the
    money, the project doesn't get done. So, that's a pretty strong
    incentive to make sure whatever is done is a good project.
        Mr. Clark. Mr. President, UCSD's $21 million--granted, nobody wants
    to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it's really a drop in the bucket
    when you consider what San Diego has lost so far in cutbacks in the
    military and defense jobs.
        The President. It is, but that's the point. It starts up a new
    business enterprise for which there must be a market in the private
    sector. We believe there's a huge market. That's why all these things
    are helping to start up a process.
        Keep in mind, too, that San Diego gained 5,200 jobs in the last
    round of base closings and consolidations, so those new jobs will be

    [[Page 1805]]

    coming into your area over the next couple of years, and that will help
    some also.
        Mr. Clark. Mr. President, thank you very much for joining us today.
        The President. Thank you.

    Note: The interview began at 11:50 a.m. The President spoke via
    satellite from Room 459 of the Old Executive Office Building.