[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 27 (Monday, July 8, 1996)]
[Pages 1151-1152]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

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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 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

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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 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.