    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [January 7, 1997]
    [Pages 7-10]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Receiving the Report of the Presidential Advisory Committee
    on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses and an Exchange With Reporters
    January 7, 1997

        The President. Thank you very much to Dr. Lashof and the members of
    the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses; Secretary
    White; Secretary Brown; Secretary Shalala; Deputy Director Tenet. I'd
    like to say a special word of thanks to Dr. Jack Gibbons for the work
    that he did on this. I thank Senator Rockefeller, Senator Specter,
    Congressman Lane Evans for their interest and their pursuit of this
    issue, and all the representatives of the military and veterans
    organizations who are here.
        I am pleased to accept this report. I thank Dr. Lashof and the
    committee for their extremely thorough and dedicated work over 18 months
    now. I pledge to you and to all the veterans of this country, we will
    now match your efforts with our action.
        Six years ago hundreds of thousands of Americans defended our vital
    interest in the Persian Gulf. They faced a dangerous enemy, harsh
    conditions, lengthy isolation from their families. And

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    they went to victory for our country with lightning speed. When they
    came home, for reasons that we still don't fully understand, thousands
    of them became ill. They served their country with courage and skill and
    strength, and they must now know that they can rely upon us. And we must
    not, and will not, let them down.
        Three years ago I asked the Secretaries of Defense, Health and Human
    Services, and Veterans Affairs to form the Persian Gulf Veterans
    Coordinating Board to strengthen our efforts to care for our veterans
    and find the causes of their illnesses. I signed landmark legislation
    that pays disability benefits to Gulf war veterans with undiagnosed
    illnesses. DOD and VA established toll-free lines and medical evaluation
    programs.
        I am especially grateful to the First Lady who took this matter to
    heart and first brought it to my attention quite a long while ago now. I
    thank her for reaching out to the veterans and for making sure that
    their voices would be heard.
        To date, we have provided Gulf war veterans with more than 80,000
    free medical exams. We've approved more than 26,000 disability claims.
    HHS, DOD, and the Veterans Department have sponsored more than 70
    research projects to identify the possible causes of the illnesses.
        But early on, it became clear that answers were not emerging fast
    enough. Hillary and I shared the frustration and concerns of many
    veterans and their families. We realized the issues were so complex they
    demanded a more comprehensive effort. That is why, in May of 1995, I
    asked some of our Nation's best doctors and scientists, as well as Gulf
    war veterans themselves, to form a Presidential advisory committee that
    could provide an open and thorough and independent review of the
    Government's response to veterans' health concerns and the causes of
    their ailments.
        Since that time, we have made some real progress. The Department of
    Defense, with the CIA, launched a review of more than 5 million pages of
    Gulf war documents, declassifying some 23,000 pages of materials and
    putting them on the Internet. Through this effort, we discovered
    important information concerning the possible exposure of our troops to
    chemical agents in the wake of our destruction of an arms depot in
    southern Iraq.
        The committee made clear and the Defense Department agrees that this
    new information demands a new approach, focusing on what happened not
    only during but after the war and what it could mean for our troops.
    Based on the committee's guidance, the Department of Defense has
    restructured and intensified its efforts, increasing tenfold its
    investigating team, tracking down and talking to veterans who may have
    been exposed to chemical agents, and devoting millions of dollars to
    research on the possible effects of low-level chemical exposure.
        I'm determined that this investigation will be comprehensive and
    credible. We haven't ended the suffering. We don't have all the answers,
    and I won't be satisfied until we have done everything humanly possible
    to find them. That's why I welcome this committee's report and its
    suggestions on how to make our commitment even stronger. I also take
    seriously the concern regarding DOD's investigation of possible chemical
    exposure. I'm determined to act swiftly on these findings not only to
    help the veterans who are sick but to apply the lessons of this
    experience to the future.
        I've asked the Secretaries of Defense, Health and Human Services,
    and Veterans Affairs to report to me in 60 days with concrete, specific
    action plans for implementing these recommendations. And I am directing
    Secretary-designate Cohen, when confirmed by the Senate, to make this a
    top priority of the Defense Department. I'm also announcing two other
    immediate initiatives.
        First, I've asked this committee to stay in business for 9 more
    months to provide independent, expert oversight of DOD's efforts to
    investigate chemical exposure, and also to monitor the Governmentwide
    response to the broader recommendations. The committee's persistent
    public effort has helped to bring much new information to light, and I
    have instructed them to fulfill their oversight role with the same
    intensity, resolve, and vigor they have brought to their work so far.
    Dr. Lashof has agreed to continue, and I trust the other committee
    members will as well.
        Second, I'm accepting Secretary Brown's proposal to reconsider the
    regulation that Gulf war veterans with undiagnosed illnesses must prove
    their disabilities emerged within 2 years of their return in order to be
    eligible for benefits. Experience has shown that many disabled veterans
    have their claims denied because they fall outside the 2-year timeframe.
    I've asked Secretary

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    Brown to report back to me in 60 days with a view toward extending that
    limit.
        And we will do whatever we can and whatever it takes to research
    Gulf war illnesses as thoroughly as possible. Every credible possibility
    must be fully explored, including low-level chemical exposure and combat
    stress.
        I know that Congress shares our deep concern, and let me again thank
    Senator Specter, Senator Rockefeller, and Congressman Evans for being
    here. Caring for our veterans is not a partisan issue. It is a national
    obligation, and I thank them for the approach that they have taken.
        As we continue to investigate Gulf war illnesses, let me again take
    this opportunity to urge the Congress to ratify the Chemical Weapons
    Convention which would make it harder for rogue states to acquire
    chemical weapons in the future and protect the soldiers of the United
    States and our allies in the future.
        This report is not the end of the road, any more than it is the
    beginning. We have a lot of hard work that's been done, and we have made
    some progress, but the task is far from over. The committee's assessment
    gives me confidence that we are on the right track, but we have much yet
    to learn and much to do.
        As we do make progress, we will make our findings public. We will be
    open in how we view Gulf war illnesses and all their possible causes,
    open to the veterans whose care is in our hands, open to the public
    looking to us for answers. I pledge to our veterans and to every
    American, we will not stop until we have done all we can to care for our
    Gulf war veterans, to find out why they are sick, and to help to make
    them healthy again.
        Thank you very much.
        Q. Mr. President, this has been studied to death. Do you believe
    that there is a Gulf war illness?
        The President. I believe that there are a lot of veterans who got
    sick as a result of their service in the Gulf. And I leave it to the
    experts to determine whether there is one or a proliferation of them and
    exactly what the causal connections were. That has been apparent for
    some time. That's why the Congress agreed to support our efforts that
    for the first time gave disability payments for people with undiagnosed
    conditions.
        But let me say that I think that this committee has done a good job.
    I think--I want to compliment the work that has been done in the last
    few months by John White in the Defense Department in facing up to the
    things which were not done before. No one has ever suggested that
    anybody intentionally imposed--exposed American soldiers to these
    dangers, and there is nothing--there is no reason that anyone in this
    Government should ever do anything but just try to get to the truth and
    get it out and do what is right by the veterans.
        And there are also--I think we need to be a little humble about
    this. There are a lot of things that we still don't know. That's what
    Dr. Lashof said. And that's why these research projects are so very
    important.
        And the final thing I'd like to say is we don't know all the answer
    here. You heard that--Dr. Lashof said that sometimes, when people are
    exposed to substances that can cause cancer, it may not be manifest for
    10 years, which is why I want to thank Secretary Brown for urging that
    we scrap the 2-year rule. We have to be vigilant about this. And my
    successor will be working on this. We will be monitoring this for a long
    time to come.
        But we've got a process now the American people and the veterans and
    their families can have confidence in. We've got the appropriate
    commitment of personnel and money. And more important, we've got the
    appropriate commitment of the heart and the mind. And I'm convinced now
    that we will do justice to this issue and to the people that have been
    affected by it.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:55 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House. In his remarks, he referred to Joyce Lashof, Chair,
    Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses.

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