    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [March 6, 1996]
    [Pages 376-377]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 376]]

    Remarks at the Swearing-In Ceremony for Barry McCaffrey as Director of
    the Office of National Drug Control Policy
    March 6, 1996

        Thank you, Justice Ginsburg. I want to say a special word of welcome
    to Mrs. Jill McCaffrey, and to all of General McCaffrey's family who are
    here, to Attorney General Reno and Secretary Shalala, and our FBI
    Director, Louis Freeh, to Senator Biden and Congressman Zeliff, and to
    all the distinguished members of the Government and the military who are
    here.
        I would like to begin with a simple and heartfelt thank you to
    General McCaffrey for accepting this call to lead our Nation's battle
    against drugs. Service to our country runs in his family. In fact, we
    have three generations of McCaffrey service in attendance here today, as
    you saw standing with me.
        The general's father, Bill McCaffrey, who is here with his wife,
    Mary, is a retired lieutenant general who saw combat in World War II,
    Korea, and Vietnam. Two of his three children are pursuing careers in
    the military. His son, who is also here, drove all night from Fort
    Bragg, which is a testimony to the fact, General, that the physical
    training is still adequate to the task. [Laughter] He is an Army captain
    stationed at Fort Polk in Louisiana. His daughter Tara is an Army
    National Guard nurse. His other daughter, Amy, is a graduate student at
    Central Washington College. The McCaffrey family is a shining example of
    what is right with America. We are fortunate to have their service and
    their presence here today.
        General McCaffrey has faced down many threats to America's security,
    from guerrilla warfare in the jungles of Vietnam to the unprecedented
    ground war in the sands of Desert Storm. Now he faces a more insidious
    but no less formidable enemy in illegal drugs.
        Drugs are as much a threat to our security as any outside enemy is
    today. They are a leading cause of crime and violence. They add
    literally billions of dollars to health care costs every year. There is
    a new CDC report that says that drugs are the cause of at least half--
    one-half--of all the new HIV infections in the United States. And drugs
    are imperiling our Nation's most precious resource, our children.
        As I said in the State of the Union, if we ever expect to reduce
    crime and violence in our country to the low level that would make it
    the exception rather than the rule, we have to reduce the drug problem.
    We know it is a difficult battle. We know that overall drug use and
    crime are down in every segment of our society except one, our young
    people. And that makes the battle more difficult and more important.
        The glamorization of drugs and violence is a big reason for this.
    That's why I worked so hard for the V-chip and for the television rating
    system. That's why we need to stop the glorification of drugs in our
    popular culture. And for those who say we should throw in the towel and
    just make drugs legal,\1\ I say, not on my watch. I don't believe in
    that. That would be a mistake.
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        \1\White House correction.
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        Over the last two decades we have made significant progress in this
    effort. Just in 1979, more than 22 million Americans used illegal drugs;
    5 million used cocaine. Today less than 12 million Americans are regular
    drug users, and the number of cocaine users has dropped 30 percent in
    the past 3 years. But the problem is still too great, and I say again,
    it is perplexing and troubling as it affects our juvenile population.
    Drug use among people 18 to 34 is down. Casual drug use among people
    under 18 is up. That may be why the crime rate is down overall in our
    country but random violence among people under 18--our children and our
    future--is still up.
        Tomorrow General McCaffrey and I will have the opportunity to
    address this, along with others in the administration, at our National
    Conference on Youth and Violence. And this is a good way to kick it off,
    with his service.
        In the last 3 years we have tried to take many concrete steps to
    protect our children and their future. We're working to get hard-core
    drug users off the street, to make sure they can't commit crimes, and to
    get them into treatment. We're bringing drug prevention to our schools
    by teaching our children that drugs are wrong, illegal, and dangerous.
    We've put more

    [[Page 377]]

    police on the street, and that is a major cause of the decline in the
    crime rate.
        Two months ago I signed a directive requiring drug testing of
    Federal arrestees. We are doing all we can to stop drugs at their
    source, before they get to our borders. Just yesterday our U.S. Customs
    officials began seizing all imports of the sedative Rohypnol, which has
    been associated of late with date rape.
        But General McCaffrey and all of us know that we have to do more. We
    have to do much more. There's no one more capable to lead this effort
    than Barry McCaffrey. He is America's most highly decorated combat
    veteran. He earned two Distinguished Service Cross Awards for
    extraordinary valor in Vietnam. He also earned two Silver Stars for
    heroism and three Purple Hearts. He served two tours in Vietnam, where
    he was severely wounded by enemy gunfire. He led the now famous left
    hook maneuver that crushed the Iraqi army in Desert Storm. And for the
    last 2 years he's been on the frontlines of our efforts to stop drugs at
    their source in his role as commander in chief of the United States
    Southern Command based in Panama.
        As part of our counternarcotics team, he displayed decisive
    leadership in strengthening the efforts in Latin America, including
    forming one of the most successful international coalitions against
    drugs that has ever existed in that region. In addition to his heroism
    on the battlefield, General McCaffrey has distinguished himself as a man
    of ideas, a brilliant man of ideas, especially the one that Justice
    Ginsburg thought so much of that she mentioned a few moments ago.
        He has always taken a comprehensive view towards problem solving,
    and he knows that our efforts in the struggle against drugs will require
    a combination of treatment, prevention, education, enforcement, and
    interdiction. Teamwork and coalition building are not just words to him;
    he has done it. Teamwork and coalition building literally saved his life
    and the lives of his soldiers. There is no doubt that he has the talent,
    the courage, and the vision to take up this fight.
        But he cannot do it alone. As I said in the State of the Union, he's
    going to need a larger force than he has ever commanded before, indeed,
    a larger force than he and his colleagues who have come from the
    Pentagon to join him today have ever commanded before. He's going to
    need every American doing his or her part if we are going to succeed. It
    means that we have to begin with parents talking firmly and clearly with
    their children, with our communities, our houses of worship, our
    schools, our employers, our national and community groups. The fight
    against drugs must in the end be a citizens campaign because every
    citizen has a direct stake in the outcome.
        General, I want you to have the tools you need. For the last 3 years
    I have challenged Congress to do its part. In each of those years
    Congress has appropriated less than I asked for counternarcotics efforts
    in the Department of Defense and other agencies. America must never send
    its troops into battle without adequate resources to get the job done.
        That's why today I am directing General McCaffrey to take the first
    step to make sure that we are adequately armed to fight this battle. As
    your first act of duty, I direct you to prepare a plan to amend the 1996
    fiscal year budget through reallocating $250 million from the Department
    of Defense budget so that it can be added to our counternarcotics
    efforts. I will submit the plan to Congress this month. I'm also
    directing you to examine the fiscal year '97 budget to determine if a
    similar reallocation is needed.
        We have to get after this. We have to get General McCaffrey off to a
    good start. I believe that he will get our country off to a good start.
    Our national security, the well-being of our children are at stake. We
    can create a safer, more drug-free society. We can do this if we work
    together.
        As I have said many times in different contexts, when we are divided
    as a country, we defeat ourselves, but when America is united, we never
    lose. I believe Barry McCaffrey will help to unite America, and I
    believe he will help us to win this great and enduring struggle for our
    character, our soul, and the future of our children.
        Thank you again, General McCaffrey, for laying down your four stars
    to reach for the stars. We appreciate you. Your country is grateful. And
    I ask you now to come and say what's on your mind.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:45 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House.