    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [June 29, 1996]
    [Pages 989-991]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    June 29, 1996

        Good morning. I'm speaking to you today from Lyons, France, where
    the leaders of the world's industrialized democracies have gathered for
    our annual summit. We're meeting at a time of peace and prosperity but
    in the shadow of terrorism. The cowardly, brutal attack on American
    military personnel in Saudi Arabia is on everyone's mind. This weekend,
    all Americans

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    will join me in mourning the 19 Americans who lost their lives, in
    sending prayers to their loved ones. I've made it clear that I'll do
    everything in my power to discover who's responsible, to pursue them,
    and to punish them.
        I am pleased that our summit partners here agreed with me to direct
    our agenda to the work we can do together to fight terrorism and
    international crime. This is especially important now. While the
    international perils of the 20th century, fascism and communism, have
    been defeated, new dangers are rising up to take their place as we enter
    the 21st. New technologies and the rapid movement of information, money,
    and people across borders bring us closer together and enrich our lives.
    But they also make us all more vulnerable to rogue states, crime, drugs,
    and terrorism.
        Unlike the previous great struggles of this century, we must
    confront these threats along a moving front, from the Tokyo subway to
    the streets of London, from a bus in Paris to the World Trade Center in
    New York and the heartland in Oklahoma City and, of course, in Saudi
    Arabia. But just as no enemy could drive us from the fight to meet our
    challenges and protect our values during World War II and the cold war,
    we will not be driven from the frontiers of our fight against terrorism
    today. Working with our partners around the world, we will take on the
    forces of terror.
        As a result of United States leadership, here in Lyons we have
    adopted specific recommendations to combat crime and terrorism,
    practical steps that all governments can take and should take. They fall
    into four key areas.
        First, we need to make sure that criminals and terrorists have
    nowhere to hide. So we will strengthen our efforts to prosecute and
    extradite major criminals and terrorists, to share information, and to
    develop joint witness protection programs.
        Second, we must deny criminals and terrorists the resources they
    need to do violence to our citizens. So we will work to seize their
    assets, to gather more information on their financial transactions, and
    to shut down money laundering.
        Third, we have to strengthen the defense of our national borders so
    that criminals and terrorists cannot violate them. So we will crack down
    on weapons trafficking, alien smuggling. We'll do a better job in
    safeguarding travel documents from fraud and abuse. And we will track
    forged or stolen documents together.
        Finally, we must stop criminals and terrorists from misusing the
    high-tech communications we all rely on for commerce and cooperation, so
    we will take the fight to those who would abuse government and financial
    institutional data bases.
        There's more we can do together, so we directed our senior officials
    to come together as soon as possible to discuss additional steps to
    intensify the worldwide fight against terrorism.
        All these steps against terrorism, international crime, drug
    trafficking, and the spread of weapons of mass destruction are part of a
    campaign America has been leading for 3 years now. Without our
    leadership, the job will not get done. The good news is, the United
    States at this G-7 summit is in the best position we've been in for
    years to protect the physical security of our people, in part because of
    our strong leadership toward a more stable and prosperous economic
    future for ourselves and our allies.
        When I attended my first G-7 in Tokyo 3 years ago, the United States
    was not in a strong position to lead. Our partners said, ``Instead of
    telling us what to do, you should get your own house in order.'' Well,
    they were right. When I took office, our budget deficit was at an all-
    time high. Unemployment was more than 7 percent. We had the slowest job
    growth since the Great Depression. And we were being outcompeted in
    everything from automobiles to computer chips. But America has traveled
    a great distance from Tokyo in 1993.
        Here in Lyons in 1996, I was gratified to hear our partners praise
    the strength of our economy. We cut the budget deficit in half and
    proposed a plan to balance the budget. Lower interest rates have helped
    us to slash unemployment to 5.6 percent and create 9.7 million new jobs.
    Inflation is near a 30-year low. Interest rates have stayed down.
    Business investment is up nearly 30 percent. And America is the number
    one exporter and the most competitive nation on Earth.
        We stand on the brink of a new century and an age of great
    possibility. To realize its potential, we must face the threats to our
    generation, just as previous generations faced the threats to theirs. If
    we show strength and steadiness and judgment and flexibility in the face
    of change, if America continues to lead the world and to work with
    others as we have here in

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    Lyons, we will meet our challenges and protect our values. And we will
    enter the 21st century prosperous and secure with the greatest
    opportunity of any time in our history.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 3 p.m. on June 28 in the Cite
    Internationale in Lyons, France, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on June 29.