[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 17 (Monday, May 3, 1993)]
[Pages 703-707]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Announcing the Director of the Office of National Drug Control 
Policy and Exchange With Reporters

 April 28, 1993

    The President. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Please be 
seated. I want to thank the members of the Cabinet who are here and the 
Members of the Congress who are here and express my apologies for the 
Attorney General who is with the Congress. And that's why some of them 
and why she is not here.
    I want to thank the representatives of law enforcement, people who 
are involved in drug treatment and drug education, and other citizens 
who are here with us today, as well as those who have been working in 
the office of drug policy who are here.
    It is a great pleasure and honor for me today to announce the 
appointment of Lee Brown, the first police officer ever to hold the job 
of Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
    A few weeks ago I elevated this office to Cabinet-level status 
because I believe drug abuse is as serious a problem as we have in 
America and because I believe that this office cannot work effectively 
on its own, no matter how many people it might have. The real ability of 
this office to make a difference in the lives of the American people is 
the ability to work with all the Departments of the National Government 
and with others who care about this issue to maximize our resources, to 
focus our efforts, and to make sure we're all working together. Lee 
Brown shares that view, and I am proud that he has agreed to join us in 
this administration.
    As Americans who care about our future, we can't let drugs and drug-
related crimes continue to ruin communities, threaten our children even 
in schools, and fill up our prisons with wrecked and wasted lives. We 
have to do a better job of preventing drug use

[[Page 704]]

and treating those who seek treatment, and we must do more to protect 
law-abiding citizens from those who victimize them in the pursuit of 
drugs or profits from drugs. I'm committed to winning this struggle, as 
all Americans are, and I'm convinced that there is no better American to 
lead this effort than Lee Brown. He's been the chief law enforcement 
officer in Atlanta, in Houston, and New York. He's a policeman with a 
Ph.D. in criminology who brings to this tough job a truly extraordinary 
record of innovation in crime reduction and a sensitivity to the 
problems of real people who want to walk home safe at night and who want 
to be free of the problems that we're trying to combat.
    To reduce drug use and drug-related crimes we have to do many things 
at the same time. It has to start with community policing, with more 
police at the local level working with our neighbors and the children 
and the friends to prevent crime and to quickly punish criminals. There 
must be better education and prevention efforts starting at the earliest 
ages. These work; I know that. And there must be treatment for those who 
want to get better.
    Dr. Brown knows a little something about community policing. It's 
nearly his invention. He turned the Houston police force into a model of 
community policing. And for many serious crimes, the crime rate there 
dropped. In New York he added thousands of officers to foot patrols; men 
and women whom he empowered to solve problems, not with the Federal 
program but with a commitment to a better life in a particular 
neighborhood. And reports of serious crime fell where that was done in 
New York. He's had the vision to seek conditions clearly and the courage 
to change what doesn't work. Most importantly, he gets results. And this 
is exactly what we need in the war against drugs.
    I pledge to him and to the American people an exceptionally focused 
and carefully executed antidrug effort from the National Government. At 
the heart of our efforts will be more funds for local police officers, 
more for treatment and more for prevention. We will continue to work 
with other nations who have shown the political will to fight illegal 
drugs. They will continue to get our full support and our cooperation.
    But it's time we turned our attention home and built a strategy to 
make the neighborhoods of America safer and more drug-free. We want to 
close the gap between those who want treatment and available treatment. 
Treating addiction is good urban policy and good anticrime policy and 
good health policy. We ask for a 10-percent increase in treatment funds 
for 1994. And we'll make drug treatment an important part of the 
national health care plan that will be presented to the Congress and the 
American people. Our goal is to work toward treatment on demand.
    I believe the parents of America want and deserve more help in 
educating their children about drugs. We can prevent drug abuse. School 
programs work. Public service programs work. But they aren't miracles. 
They require a commitment and a consistency year in and year out. We've 
asked for a 16-percent increase in drug prevention funding.
    Finally, we're determined to put more police officers on the street 
and to expand community policing. It's a local program, old-fashioned 
law enforcement, but it works. It means less crime. I think it's time to 
go back to the basics. I asked the Congress to approve $200 million in 
the jobs stimulus package for community policing. And I proposed almost 
$600 million in policing and other initiatives similar to that in 1994.
    The most basic responsibility of the Government is to protect the 
American people. It's our sacred duty to do our best. I believe we have 
a good program. It can be a great program if it can come alive in 
America in every community in this country. It's basic: more officers, 
more education, more treatment. And with the leadership of Lee Brown it 
promises to be effective.
    I look forward to working with him and with the other members of our 
Cabinet, administration to meet and to master the challenges ahead.

[At this point, Dr. Brown expressed his appreciation to the President 
and his commitment to develop a national drug control strategy.]


[[Page 705]]



Law Enforcement Background

    Q. Mr. President, you talked about the need to give resources to 
education and treatment from some of the law enforcement efforts. Why 
then did you pick someone with a background in law enforcement?
    The President. Because I don't think it's an either-or thing. I 
think having the right kind of community-based education and treatment 
programs, if they work, also requires having the right kind of community 
law enforcement strategy. One of the things that I have learned in the 
many years I served as attorney general and Governor, and talking to 
other people who have been involved in that, is that if you do it right, 
all these things go hand in hand.
    I wish the Attorney General were here today to talk about the drug 
courts she started in Miami, and what the relationship of law 
enforcement there is to integrating a treatment and education program.
    That's why I wanted someone who had a background in law enforcement 
and credibility on that issue, but who believed in innovation and 
education and treatment to do this job. I wanted someone who could put 
together a policy that makes sense. If you try to pick one or the other, 
you're never going to get the job done.
    Wolf [Wolf Blitzer, CNN News]?

Bosnia

    Q. Mr. President, you met last night with a bipartisan group of 
congressional leaders on the situation in Bosnia. And by all accounts, 
they seem to have given you some conflicting advice. Many of them appear 
to be more moved by the lessons of Vietnam than they are by the 
Holocaust. Did you emerge from that session more confused about what the 
United States should do as far as the situation in Bosnia is concerned?
    The President. No, I didn't. I still believe the United States has 
to strengthen its response. But the meeting was helpful because of the 
practical issues which were raised and the specific suggestions I got 
from people, many of whom have different views. But some who were there 
last night are here today; they can make their own comments. But I think 
it was a very helpful meeting and there were a lot of very specific 
things that came out of that, and that I think will come out of our 
consultations over the next couple of days.
    Andrea [Andrea Mitchell, NBC News]?
    Q. Do you feel that you can continue, though, to consider military 
options now that so many Members of Congress have strongly expressed 
their objections? Would you proceed if you felt it was still the right 
thing to do and if you had allied support?
    The President. Well, I will decide what I think the right thing to 
do is, and then see if I can persuade the Congress and the allies to go 
along. Right now, what I want to do is to hear what they think the right 
thing to do is, and the people with whom I consulted last night were 
good enough to tell me. And we agreed that they would set in motion a 
process to go back to their committees and try to solicit some more 
views.
    Q. Mr. President, is it accurate----

Drug Trafficking

    Q. ----plan to continue with the policy of hot pursuit like in the 
Machain case, or how are you going to deal with cases like that? Are you 
going to come to other countries and kidnap or bring to justice in this 
country a person suspected of a crime in a drug situation, like in the 
Machain case? How are you going to deal with that situation?
    The President. I'm not sure I heard you--the plane flew over. But 
you asked about the abduction out of Mexico? Is that what you asked 
about?
    Q. That's right--if you are going to continue with that type of 
policy.
    The President. I think I've made my position clear on that. I think 
the present ruling of law is too broad there. I don't believe that the 
United States should be involved in that unless there is a clear and 
deliberate attempt by a government in another country to undermine 
extradition or undermine the enforcement of its own laws and our laws on 
that. So that's been my position for months and months; I haven't 
changed that.

Bipartisan Support

    Q. Mr. President, do you expect to get bipartisan support from 
Congress for the

[[Page 706]]

money you're going to need? The two predecessors of Mr. Brown 
accomplished certain things, but not much. How will you make sure that 
Mr. Brown has the money to accomplish----
    The President. Well, I think there will be bipartisan support. Keep 
in mind this is partly a money problem and partly a resource problem. 
We're going to try to do some different things and attract people who 
have thought about this issue. I don't think this is a Republican or a 
Democratic issue. There's hardly a family in America that hasn't been 
touched directly or indirectly by this problem. So I feel very hopeful 
about it.

Drug Treatment Funding

    Q. ----in the budget, sir?
    The President. Well, we recommended more funds in the budget, and 
it's very critical to the whole health reform area. I mean, a big part 
of our strategy in this is embodied in the proposals we'll make on 
health care to deal with the whole treatment issue.
    Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International]?

Bosnia

    Q. When do you think you will have a decision? Do you have Yeltsin 
on board now to do more? And do you think the American people will 
support a military--[inaudible]--use of military force?
    The President. Well, you asked me three questions. I think there 
will be a decision soon. We are working very hard on it. There are a lot 
of very practical questions that have to be asked and answered. As you 
know, it is a very difficult matter.
    I believe that when we do make a decision, we will be, as we have 
been all along, consulting with our allies in the United Nations. And I 
think there is a fair chance that we'll be able to get the U.N. to go 
along with what we decide to do if we have some consultations as we go 
along; as we have.
    I think President Yeltsin--I don't know what he will say. It depends 
in part, obviously, on what we recommend. But I'll tell you this: I've 
been very pleased by the positions that he has taken both publicly and 
privately recently. And even in the midst of his own election, when it 
might have hurt him politically, Russia did not veto our attempts to get 
much tougher sanctions. And I think he's been pretty clear since the 
election that he's not at all happy about the continuation of Serbian 
aggression and the refusal to negotiate in good faith and try to settle 
this war and stop the ethnic cleansing. So I feel pretty good about 
that.
    Q. Mr. President, how are you going to tell the American people----

Office of National Drug Control Policy

    Q. Mr. President, a former drug czar, Bill Bennett, said today that 
you have gutted the office by cutting it down, cutting the personnel. 
How do you answer that?
    The President. Well, my answer to that--maybe I should refer you to 
Congressman Rangel. I spoke with him when we were trying to figure out 
what to do about this budget. And what I perceived happened in that 
office before is that it was a large office that operated basically 
separate from the rest of the Government. It has no legal authority to 
compel the behavior of any law enforcement officials, and it obviously 
has no legal authority over all the State and local people and the 
nonprofit people who are involved in drug education and treatment. So 
the real issue is whether it has the mechanisms necessary to pull all 
the levers in the Federal Government and pull people together.
    And I think by putting the office in the Cabinet, by coordinating 
all of our national policies throughout the Federal Government, and by 
having a staff that can support that function, it's much more likely 
that we're going to be effective.
    And I also would tell you that I believe in rhetoric in the war 
against drugs. I know that works. I think the education programs work, 
the prevention programs work, but it needs to be more than rhetoric. And 
I think it will also be perceived that I have appointed the most 
experienced person with the best record and the least political person 
who ever held this job. And I think that will count for something, too, 
with the Republicans and the Democrats.

Take Our Daughters to Work Day

    Q. Where's Chelsea?

[[Page 707]]

    The President. Well, we discussed it this morning and she said, 
``You know, it's easier for me; you work where you live. I know what 
it's like.'' She said, ``I missed a lot of school last month, so I'm 
going to school.''
    Q. Would she have gone to work with you or Hillary?
    The President. Actually, she thought it was just for mothers to take 
their daughters. I said, ``No, no, fathers can, too.'' She said, ``Well, 
you both work where you live. I'm going to school.'' But she's spent 
some time with us over here.

Health Care Plan

    Q. Have you firmly decided not to delay health care because it might 
risk your budget proposal, sir?
    The President. I think what we're talking about is not a risk.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 12:30 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. A biography of the nominee was made available by the Office of 
the Press Secretary. A portion of the exchange could not be verified 
because the tape was incomplete.