[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 47 (Monday, November 29, 1993)]
[Page 2461]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Nomination for Commander in Chief of the United States 
Southern Command

 November 24, 1993

    I am pleased to announce that I have nominated Lt. Gen. Barry R. 
McCaffrey to succeed Gen. George A. Joulwan as Commander in Chief of 
U.S. Southern Command and for promotion to the rank of General, United 
States Army.
    Lieutenant General McCaffrey has had a long and brilliant career 
spanning nearly three decades. He has served our Nation proudly in four 
combat tours and in seven foreign nations. As commanding general of the 
24th Infantry Division, he deployed the division to Saudi Arabia and led 
it on combat missions essential to the success of Operation Desert 
Storm. In addition, his performance in sensitive and demanding staff 
positions in Washington, including his current role as Director for 
Strategic Plans and Policy, Joint Staff, has distinguished him as one of 
our Nation's foremost military analysts and strategists. He has fully 
demonstrated both the military expertise and political acumen needed to 
fill one of our most strategically important postings.
    I have asked Lieutenant General McCaffrey to apply his considerable 
talents to enhancing the important security relationships we have 
developed with our neighbors in the region, to refining the role of the 
U.S. Southern Command in hemispheric affairs, and to continuing the 
outstanding work done by General Joulwan. I have the utmost trust and 
confidence in his ability to do so.