[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 43 (Monday, October 28, 2002)]
[Pages 1834-1836]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2003

October 23, 2002

    Today I have signed into law H.R. 5010, the ``Department of Defense 
Appropriations Act, 2003,'' which provides $354.8 billion for national 
security programs administered by the Department of Defense.
    I appreciate the bipartisan effort that has gone into producing this 
Act. It abides by an aggregate FY 2003 funding level that I support of 
$759 billion, which is consistent with the House-passed Budget 
Resolution. My Administration appreciates that the Congress has 
completed the FY 2003 Defense

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and Military Construction appropriations bills.
    I am disappointed that the Act does not fund the $10 billion I 
requested to support the war on terrorism. I am also concerned that the 
Act cuts $2.7 billion from my request for operations and maintenance 
activities at the very time our Armed Forces are engaged in a battle 
against global terrorism. Without these funds, we may be forced to 
reduce other important programs to finance the war on terrorism.
    Sections 8007 and 8111 of the Act prohibit the use of funds to 
initiate a special access program or to initiate a new start program, 
unless the congressional defense committees receive advance notice of 
such initiation. The U.S. Supreme Court has stated that the President's 
authority to classify and control access to information bearing on 
national security flows from the Constitution and does not depend upon a 
legislative grant of authority. Although the advance notice contemplated 
by sections 8007 and 8111 can be provided in most situations as a matter 
of comity, situations may arise, especially in wartime, in which the 
President must act promptly under his constitutional grants of executive 
power and authority as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces while 
protecting certain extraordinarily sensitive national security 
information. The executive branch shall construe sections 8007 and 8111 
in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the 
President.
    Section 8066 of the Act provides that, notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, no funds available to the Department of Defense for 
fiscal year 2003 may be used to transfer defense articles or services, 
other than intelligence services, to another nation or an international 
organization for international peacekeeping, peace-enforcement, or 
humanitarian assistance operations, until 15 days after the executive 
branch notifies six committees of Congress of the planned transfer. The 
provision does not affect transfers using funds available to the 
Department of Defense if the recipient is other than a nation or an 
international organization or if the transfer is of intelligence 
services, such as provision of or accommodation procurements for imagery 
intelligence, geospatial information, or cryptological support. The 
provision also does not affect transfers of defense articles or defense 
services using funds contained in the Act that are available to the 
Central Intelligence Agency rather than the Department of Defense. To 
the extent that protection of the U.S. Armed Forces deployed for 
international peacekeeping, peace-enforcement, or humanitarian 
assistance operations might require action of a kind covered by section 
8066 sooner than 15 days after notification, the executive branch shall 
construe section 8066 in a manner consistent with my constitutional duty 
as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
    A proviso in the Act's appropriation for ``Operation and 
Maintenance, Defense-Wide'' prohibits implementation of, and purports to 
prohibit planning for, consolidation of certain offices within the 
Department of Defense. Similarly, section 8121 of the Act purports to 
specify the content of future Department of Defense budgetary and 
programming plans. The executive branch shall construe these provisions 
relating to planning in a manner consistent with the President's 
constitutional authority to require the opinions of the heads of 
departments and to recommend for congressional consideration such 
measures as the President shall judge necessary and expedient.
    Section 8094 of the Act provides that, in implementing a health care 
interagency partnership under that section, Native Hawaiians shall have 
the status of Native Americans who are eligible for the healthcare 
services provided by the Indian Health Service. The executive branch 
shall implement section 8094 in a manner consistent with the requirement 
to afford equal protection of the laws under the Due Process Clause of 
the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
    Section 8116 of the Act makes certain appropriated funds available 
for transportation, food, lodging, supplies, fees, and training 
materials for members of the Armed Forces and their immediate family 
members while participating in chaplain-led programs, such as retreats 
and conferences, that assist them in building and maintaining a strong 
family structure. In implementing this provision, the executive branch 
shall accord the fullest respect to the fundamental constitutional

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right of free exercise of religion, subject to the constitutional 
limitation on establishment of religion and any other applicable law.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 October 23, 2002.

Note: H.R. 5010, approved October 23, was assigned Public Law No. 107-
248.