[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[August 10, 1996]
[Pages 1288-1290]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
August 10, 1996

    Good morning. Earlier this week Hillary and I were honored to 
welcome America's Olympic team to the White House. I believe the 
centennial Olympics were the best ever. The competition was wonderful. A 
record 197 teams were involved. The crowds were enormous and 
enthusiastic. Our athletes amassed a terrific record. There were 
powerful moments of courage in victory and defeat that captured the 
imagination of the entire world.
    I think most of us wish the world would work more like the Olympics. 
There were all kinds of people bound together by mutual respect and 
acceptance of the rules of the game. All the individuals and teams had a 
chance, gave it their best, and win or lose, were better off for their 
efforts.
    As heroic as the feats of the athletes in this Olympics was the way 
all those involved in the Atlanta games pressed on in the face of 
adversity. Just 2 weeks ago today a pipe bomb exploded in Centennial 
Olympic Park. It was a terrorist act aimed not only at the innocent 
people there but the very spirit of the Olympics. This was brutal 
evidence that no nation is immune from terrorism and an urgent reminder 
that we must do everything we can to fight the terrorists.
    The world we live in is more open than ever. People have more 
opportunities than ever because people and technology and information 
travel quickly across national borders. But these things that make us 
all closer and give us more chances also make us more vulnerable to the 
forces of organized destruction, to the drug traffickers, the organized 
criminals, the people who sell weapons of mass destruction, and of 
course, especially to the terrorists.
    What happened in the Olympic Centennial Park, that wonderful public 
space open to all people who visited Atlanta, is symbolic of the world's 
problem with terrorism. Now, that's why terrorism must be a central 
national security priority for the United States. Our efforts must and 
will be unrelenting, coordinated, and strong.
    We are pursuing a three-part strategy against terrorism.
    First, we're rallying the world community to stand with us against 
terrorism. From the Summit of the Peacemakers in Sharm al-Sheikh,

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Egypt, where 13 Arab nations for the very first time condemned terror in 
Israel and throughout the Middle East to the antiterror agreements we 
reached with our G-7 partners in Russia last month to take specific 
common actions to fight terrorism, we are moving forward together. Our 
intelligence services have been sharing more information with other 
nations than ever to stop terrorists before they act, capture them if 
they do, and see that they're brought to justice. We've imposed stiff 
sanctions with our allies against states that support terrorists. When 
necessary, we're acting on our own. A law I signed this week will help 
to deny Iran and Libya the money they use to finance international 
terrorism.
    Second, our antiterrorism strategy relies on tough enforcement and 
stern punishment here at home. We made terrorism a Federal offense, 
expanded the role of the FBI, imposed the death penalty. We've hired 
more law enforcement personnel, added resources, improved training. And 
I'm proposing a new law that will help to keep terrorists off our soil, 
fight money laundering, and punish violent crimes committed against 
Americans abroad.
    Third, we're tightening security on our airplanes and at our 
Nation's airports. From now on, we'll hand-search more luggage and 
screen more bags and require preflight inspections for any plane flying 
to or from the United States. I've asked Vice President Gore to head an 
effort to deploy new high-technology inspection machines at our airports 
and to review all our security operations.
    We'll continue to press forward on all three of these fronts. But we 
cannot cast aside any tools in this fight for the security of our 
country and the safety of our people. That is exactly what the 
Republican majority in Congress did by stripping from the antiterrorism 
legislation key provisions that law enforcement needs to help them find 
out, track down, and shut down terrorists.
    Law enforcement has asked for wiretap authority to enable them to 
follow terrorists as they move from phone to phone. This is the only way 
to track stealthy terrorists as they plot their crimes. This authority 
has already been granted to our law enforcement officials when they're 
dealing with organized criminals. Surely it is even more urgent to give 
them this authority when it comes to terrorists. But Congress said no.
    And law enforcement has also asked that explosives used to make a 
bomb be marked with a taggant, a trace chemical or a microscopic plastic 
chip scattered throughout the explosives. This way sophisticated 
machines can find bombs before they explode, and when they do explode 
police scientists can trace a bomb back to the people who actually sold 
the explosive materials that led to the bomb.
    Now, tagging works. In Switzerland over the past decade it's helped 
to identify who made bombs and explosives in over 500 cases. When it was 
being tested in our country several years ago, it helped police to find 
a murderer in Maryland.
    In the last 2 weeks since the Olympic bombing, our law enforcement 
officers have been working around the clock, but they have been denied a 
scientific tool that might help to solve investigations like this one.
    Our antiterrorism bill would have given us the ability to require 
tagging gunpowder often used in making pipe bombs. The Republicans in 
Congress could give law enforcement this antiterrorism tool, but once 
again they're listening to the gun lobby over law enforcement. It may be 
good politics, but it's not good for the American people. This is a 
reasonable proposal from our law enforcement community. It doesn't have 
anything to do with limiting people's ability to own or use guns in a 
lawful manner. The same people who opposed the Brady bill and the 
assault weapons ban are opposing this provision. I'd just like to remind 
them that no hunter or sportsman has lost a weapon or the right to use a 
weapon in a lawful manner as a result of the Brady bill or the assault 
weapons ban, but we're getting rid of 19 deadly assault weapons, and 
60,000 felons, fugitives, and stalkers have not gotten handguns because 
of the Brady bill.
    We should have a good taggants provision in our antiterrorism 
legislation. So let's put aside interest group politics and honor the 
victims of terrorism, protect our people, and support our law 
enforcement officials by giving them the tools they plainly need.
    This fight against terrorism will be long and hard. There will be 
setbacks along the way. But let's remember, we can win. Already we have 
prevented planned terrorist attacks on the Holland Tunnel in New York, 
on the United Nations building, on our airplanes flying out of our west 
coast airports. Already we have suc-


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ceeded in extraditing terrorists back to America and convicting 
terrorists and arresting others who are suspected of terrorism. We can 
whip this problem.
    Just as no enemy could drive us from the fight to meet our 
challenges and protect our values in World War II and the cold war, we 
cannot be driven from the fight against today's enemy, terrorism. We 
know that if we all work together, America will prevail.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 3:30 p.m. on August 9 at the Bar B Bar 
Ranch in Jackson Hole, WY, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on August 10.