    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [February 9, 1996]
    [Page 200]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Memorandum on Benefits for Military Personnel Subject to Involuntary
    Separation as a Result of HIV
    February 9, 1996

    Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of
    Transportation, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs

    Subject: Benefits for Military Personnel Involuntarily Separated from
    the Armed Services as a Result of HIV

        The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (S.
    1124) contains a provision I strongly oppose, which requires the
    discharge of all military personnel living with the Human
    Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), regardless of whether there is any medical
    necessity for such discharge. This provision is clearly discriminatory
    and wholly unwarranted. It is also highly punitive. Service members
    discharged pursuant to this provision would not receive the benefits to
    which they would otherwise be entitled had they continued to serve until
    it became medically necessary for them to retire.
        Consequently, I will give my full support to legislative efforts to
    repeal this provision.
        In the meantime, I am committed to ensuring full benefits to these
    service members and their families to ameliorate the unfair burden this
    legislation will place on them. I am therefore directing you, in
    consultation with the Office of Management and Budget and such other
    agencies as may be appropriate, to take all necessary steps, consistent
    with applicable law, to ensure that these service members and their
    families receive the full benefits they are entitled to, including,
    among other things, disability retirement pay, health care coverage for
    their families, and transition benefits such as vocational education.
        This memorandum is for the internal management of the executive
    branch and does not create any right or benefit, substantive or
    procedural, enforceable by any party against the United States, its
    agencies or instrumentalities, its officers or employees, or any person.

                                                          William J. Clinton