For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 6, 2002
Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
2:40 P.M. EST
MR. FLEISCHER: Good afternoon. Let me give you a report on the
President's day, and then I have a statement by the President I'd like
to read to you.
The President began this morning with a call to President Putin of
Russia. President Putin has just returned from a trip he has taken to
China, India and Kyrgyzstan. The two of them discussed the situation
on the Korean Peninsula and the importance of North Korea making
certain that they comply with the international community in a
denuclearized Korean Peninsula. And the two discussed the importance
of continuing our joint efforts to make that the case.
Then the President had his usual intelligence briefings, followed
up by an FBI briefing and a National Security Council meeting.
And then later this afternoon, the President will depart to the
United States Trade Representatives Office to make remarks on the 40th
anniversary of the Trade Representatives Office. The President
believes that free trade is a key part of making sure America's economy
continues its recovery, and he looks forward to meeting with the
workers at the USTR's office.
And then finally today, the President looks forward to celebrating
in a birthday reception for Senator Strom Thurmond on the occasion of
his 100th birthday.
Now I'd like to read to you a statement by the President:
"My economic team has worked with me to craft an economic agenda to
help lead the nation out of recession and back into a period of
growth.
"I appreciate Paul O'Neill and Larry Lindsey's important
contributions to making this happen. Both are highly talented and
dedicated, and they have served my administration and nation well. I
thank them for their excellent service."
That's a statement by the President that will be distributed to
you.
Q Why are they leaving?
MR. FLEISCHER: They have each announced that they will resign,
Helen. Both will be resigning to pursue other endeavors. Larry
Lindsey has indicated that he looks forward to returning to the private
sector. And Secretary O'Neill will pursue his interests, and a more
personal front, he indicated when he left ALCOA, back when he came into
the administration, that he planned to retire and devote himself to
improving health care and education in Pittsburgh, and he looks forward
to engaging in that endeavor.
Q Did they call the President and submit their resignations
last night?
MR. FLEISCHER: This transpired this morning.
Q Does the President believe that changing the top leaders of
his economic team can give the economy the kind of kick-start that he's
looking for?
MR. FLEISCHER: You know, the President, as I mentioned,
appreciates the service that his advisors have given. The economy has
gotten the boost in the recovery since this team and since President
Bush took office. The President looks forward to announcing new names
of people who will continue the administration's efforts to give the
economy increased impetus to grow as we work with Congress on that.
Q Certainly he has said on more than one occasion that the
economy is still bumping along and that he is not satisfied with the
pace of growth. So does he believe the change in the economic team
will increase the pace of growth to a level that he's satisfied with?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think it's fair to say that the President looks
at the economy as a matter that is bigger than any one person or any
one expert, and the President looks forward to working with the
Congress to advance policies and plans that help get the economy
growing even stronger.
Q Today's unemployment report, did that factor into the
decision today?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, it did not.
Q Let me ask about Iraq, if I can, and the declaration we're
going to be getting supposedly tomorrow. U.N. officials have been
telling us that they're expecting something that could run to thousands
of pages, likely is going to be in Arabic, and it may well take weeks
to digest, to translate. Is that acceptable to the administration,
taking weeks to deal with something like that?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, it'll take as much time as is necessary to do
the job right. We have asked Iraq, through the international
community, to develop a list of what weapons it possesses and to come
out with a certification of what they possess. That is Iraq's right
and burden to do so. We look forward to reviewing it. Just as
important as what's in there, we'll also be curious to see what is not
in there. And Iraq will prepare it to turn it over per their
obligations to the world, and the President will direct his
administration to receive it, to look through it carefully -- this will
be done through the intelligence communities -- and render a judgment.
Q Is there no fear that, perhaps by loading it up with lots of
detail and leaving it in Arabic that they're playing for time?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, I don't think the language is going to be a
particular impediment. It has to be translated; there are translators
who do these types of things. I think that one of -- sometimes, one of
the best ways to hide or to deceive is to come out with such a
voluminous document that it makes people miss the things that aren't in
there. You know, another way I put that is, just because Iraq turns
over a phone book to the United Nations doesn't mean that nobody inside
Iraq has an unlisted phone number.
And so there would be a variety of things that we want to find out
about and whether or not Iraq has left information out of here. So we
won't be fooled by the size of this document into thinking that the
size alone dictates that Iraq has complied. We want to make certain
that Iraq is listing everything they have obligation to list, full,
accurate and complete, so the world knows that Saddam Hussein is
serious about disarmament.
Q Ari, can you discuss a little bit the reasoning behind the
goal of enlisting inspectors' help in getting weapons scientists out of
Iraq to help us locate other weapons? And what sort of commitment the
administration may be prepared to make along the lines of asylum,
witness protection programs, what are we talking about here?
MR. FLEISCHER: History, in dealing with Iraq, has shown that one
of the most valuable ways to get information about what is really going
on with Iraq's weapons programs is to talk to the scientists and the
weapons people inside Iraq who really know the facts about what's going
on.
The inspectors, for all their abilities, don't have the ability to
know and see everything. But there are many people inside Iraq who do
know a lot more. And history has shown that some of those people who
want to preserve peace, want to provide that information to the western
world. And because of the brutal regime that Saddam Hussein has, many
of these experts who have information they want to share, fear doing so
because they know that, if they do, they risk imprisonment, torture,
murder, their families will be at risk and they're vulnerable to the
brutality of Saddam Hussein's regime.
So in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441, it makes
explicit mention of the obligation on Iraq for the inspectors to have
the right at a time and place of their choosing, including outside of
Iraq, to interview any of these people inside Iraq. That often is one
of the best ways that we can obtain information about whether Iraq is
telling the truth. And so this is a very important part of the U.N.
resolution.
Q Can you amplify at all on what might be done to secure their
asylum and their protection in this country? I mean, is it -- there
may not be a final decision. As you said this morning, modalities
might have to be worked out. But is it at least in the discussion
phase, this notion of protecting them along the lines the way you
protect informers in mob cases in this country?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, let me put it to you this way. We attach
great importance to the safety and the welfare and the nonintimidation
of these experts in Iraq who have information that some of them may
want to share with the West and with the United Nations, with the world
and the United Nations. We take it very seriously and attach great
importance to it. We hope the international community will do the same
and attach the same amount of importance to it.
The exact way in which it could be done will be really a matter for
the United Nations and the inspectors on the ground to work through.
But, of course, much of the world stands ready to help because we saw
in the '90s that is the way that much of the world got information
about what was really going on inside Iraq.
Q Just one more on this. You don't want to utter the words
"witness protection program," but there is a commitment by this
government to protect those Iraqis who are willing to give the
international community information that would lead to the ultimate
disarmament of Saddam?
MR. FLEISCHER: We have a real and genuine concern to help protect
the safety and the welfare of those inside Iraq who have information
that can help preserve the peace. Because the information they have is
very important information. And history has shown that there people
inside Iraq who want to share it, but are fearful of doing so because
of the brutal tactics of the Iraqi regime.
And under the Security Council resolution, Iraq is obligated not
only to allow the inspectors to interview those scientists or weapons
developers and designers, but also their families, and to remove them
from Iraq. Those are the conditions Iraq has accepted.
Q And are we dangling U.S. citizenship as a carrot?
MR. FLEISCHER: Terry.
Q Ari, back on the O'Neill and Lindsey resignations, is there
any connection between these resignations?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think that each resigned for their own reasons
and -- just leave it at that, each has resigned for their own reasons.
Q So is it a coincidence that they resigned on the exact same
day?
MR. FLEISCHER: Terry, I think it's abundantly clear to everybody
who has covered White Houses that you know that people in government
service do not stay in government service for their entire portion of
Presidential terms. I think the last time you'd have to find a
President who had every single person stay in his administration goes
back to President Franklin Pearce, in the mid-1800s.
I think this administration, much more so than any modern
Presidency, has a stability in the number of its Cabinet Secretaries.
People always are free in government service to take a look at their
service and make their personal decisions. The President has respected
their service and is grateful to their service.
Q So your position is there's no coordination or connection
between these resignations?
MR. FLEISCHER: I've simply indicated to you that the President is,
as I said, very grateful for their service.
Q Can I ask you, should Americans, on the day that unemployment
goes to 6 percent and on the day that these two major resignations,
this shakeup of the President's economic team comes, see it as a sign
of uncertainty, lack of confidence, lack of direction in the
administration's economic policy?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, I think that the American people have shown
that they have confidence in the direction of the President's economic
policy. They recognize that the economy was in recession and the
economy is now growing. And the American people have seen cycles of
recession and growth before, and they know that after a recession the
economy doesn't instantly grow, that often the economy will grow in
fits and starts and stops. And that is, indeed, the pattern of a
growth pattern that we have witnessed in this past year.
So I think the American people have actually a pretty sophisticated
understanding of the economy in that sense. They've been through
periods of slowdown and growth before. They understand that we are
going from a period of recession into a period of more robust growth
now. And when you take a look at the data for the last, basically, two
or three months, while there is much data that is mixed -- and today's
report on unemployment is a disappointing report and the President
remains deeply concerned about any one individual who doesn't have a
job in our country.
But the data has been mixed. While there have been increasing good
signs recently in the data -- for example, for the last almost eight
weeks in a row, first-time unemployment claims have gone down;
productivity is increasing at a great rate; inflation remains quite
low; and in a change in the recent trend, consumer confidence has gone
up in the last couple months. So there is increasingly good signs on
the economic horizon. The President wants to make sure that we work
with Congress to create an environment for even more good signs to
manifest.
Q So the resignation of the Treasury Secretary and the
President's chief economic advisor on the same day shouldn't shake
anybody's confidence in the direction and certainly the
administration?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, I think people recognize that respected leaders
like Paul O'Neill and Larry Lindsey come into government service to
perform their duties on behalf of a grateful President and a grateful
nation and they are free to pursue other endeavors, too.
Q Today, close to 1 billion Muslims celebrate Eid, the
festival. The President arrived yesterday at the Islamic Center, where
he made several statements, of course, about no doubt that Islam is a
religion of peace. But most of the terrorist activities were involved
by the Muslims. So today, other than what he said on the Eid and about
Ramadan, what message would be to the nations who are supporting,
harboring and assisting the terrorists against the United States and
victims are basically, Islam one side, Hindus, Muslims -- Hindus,
Christians and Jews. So what would be the future --
MR. FLEISCHER: No. No. No, Goyle, no. People who commit these
acts defy their own religion. The President means it when he says from
the heart that the Islamic religion is a religion of peace. And just
because certain individuals have twisted and distorted that religion
for their own barbaric purposes, should not and will not in this
President's mind indict a good religion. And that's how you have to
look at this, as these individual terrorists are individual terrorists;
they are not a reflection on a faith.
Q Can I just follow? President Putin was in India and both
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Putin both made a joint
statement, and they are saying, calling on Pakistan to stop incursions
into Pakistan. And also at the same time, they said that United States
military action in Iraq will not solve the problem. So where do you
put these two leaders and countries as far as support -- Pakistan's
support of India's terrorism and Iraq's --
MR. FLEISCHER: The war on terrorism is a global war on terrorism.
We fight it in numerous ways on numerous fronts and different nations
lend different strengths to that war. They make different
contributions to that war as they see fit and that's how we see it.
Mr. Sanger, and then we'll keep moving.
Q Ari, back on the resignations, is it the President's hope,
when he appoints a new Treasury Secretary and a new head of the
National Economic Council, that the Treasury -- that these two
institutions will move more to the center of both foreign and domestic
policymaking than they have been? I think there was a widespread
sense, even within the institutions themselves, that they were more
there in the 1990s at the center of the table than they are today?
MR. FLEISCHER: I make no comparative basis. The President will do
as he has always done, and that is appoint experts to his Cabinet,
people who are well qualified, people who have a good and strong
understanding or background in both the private sector and the public
sector, people who are respected widely in their fields, including in
the marketplaces. That's what the President will look for in the
selection of a new -- new members of his team.
Q And why announce the resignations before you have the new
members ready to go, since these do not appear to have been entirely
voluntary resignations?
MR. FLEISCHER: The resignations were announced, as you know, this
morning by the Secretary of the Treasury and by Mr. Lindsey, and they
speak for themselves.
Q Ari, just to be clear on this, did President Bush ask either
O'Neill or Lindsey to resign? Or did he request anybody else to ask
for them to resign?
MR. FLEISCHER: I've answered it as directly as I can. The
individuals resigned, as you know.
Q Is that a yes or a no?
MR. FLEISCHER: The individuals resigned, as you know.
Q So are you denying that they were asked to resign?
MR. FLEISCHER: I've answered the question and that's what I intend
to say about it.
Q Actually, you haven't answered the question. (Laughter.)
MR. FLEISCHER: The individuals, as you know, have resigned. And
the President appreciates their service to the country and the work
that they did in terms of the tax cut that got passed into law;
terrorism insurance has been enacted into law; the trade legislation
that is now law of the land, the President is very grateful for their
service to our country.
Q But he did not ask them to resign? You're saying he did not
ask them to resign or --
MR. FLEISCHER: You asked the question just minutes ago. The
answer remains the same.
Q I want to follow on Terry's question, which basically is the
question that most everyone is asking now. Is it a coincidence that
the President's two most senior economic policy advisors offered their
resignations on the same day?
MR. FLEISCHER: I don't think that was a follow to Terry's
question; that was a carbon copy of it. (Laughter.)
Q Well, you haven't answered that question.
Q It was a good question. (Laughter.)
Q Let me ask it again --
MR. FLEISCHER: I would give you the carbon copy of my answer to
Terry's question. (Laughter.) Just because you ask it twice doesn't
mean I will answer it differently the second time. The answer is the
same.
Q Did the President talk at all --
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm sorry?
Q Did the President talk at all with either of the two men this
morning?
MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, I'm checking to take a look at that. I don't
have an answer at this time.
Q Do you know, did they reach out to him or did he talk with
them or --
MR. FLEISCHER: That's what I'm -- that came up this morning and
I'm checking on it.
Q What about the Vice President?
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm checking. I didn't ask that question, though,
David.
Q Do you know, had there been prior to this morning -- you said
events transpired this morning. Had there been an ongoing series of
conversations about their status back and forth with the President?
And had they indicated prior to today that either or both of them might
be thinking about leaving?
MR. FLEISCHER: As you know, I do not discuss any conversations
that may have taken place between the President and his Cabinet
Secretaries. They took the actions this morning and it speaks for
itself.
Q Would you expect, I mean with them gone now, that we can
anticipate a change in direction in terms of policy, or are we going to
see more of the same policies that have been in place and are currently
--
MR. FLEISCHER: The policies that the President seeks are the
policies that the President sets. And those policies include pursuing
policies of low taxation, making the tax cuts permanent, providing a
stimulus to the economy, energy independence. And you can expect that
next year the President will return to many of these same issues that
were not addressed by the Congress in the last session. He hopes that
the Congress will take a look at these ideas with fresh eyes next
year.
Q Two questions on two different subjects. First of all,
regarding Iraqi scientists, you made it clear this morning that you
expect, the United States expects the U.N. inspectors to take full
advantage of that provision in the resolution allowing for interviews
outside the country.
What about a situation in which there is someone who the United
States believes, or the U.N. believes, does have material knowledge of
this issue but is unwilling to be interviewed by -- does the United
States believe that they should be forced, that the U.N. should attempt
to, you know, in effect, involuntarily take these people outside --
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, again, that's why I indicated that the
modalities of this be worked out on the ground by officials inside
Iraq. But, obviously, there are many people inside Iraq and its
history has shown who wanted to come forward, would like to find a way
to come forward, but are fearful of coming forward. And the resolution
speaks to that. The resolution makes plain that Iraq must allow
individuals to leave the country, and include their families with
them.
Q What about a situation in which someone is not willing to
come forward -- do you believe they should be --
MR. FLEISCHER: I can't speak -- I can't speak to all scenarios.
Obviously, if somebody is willing to leave the country, it's a much
easier matter, a rather straight and plain forward. I can't speak to
any scenarios about somebody who might not. That's why I said these
modalities are often worked out by the United Nations on the ground.
Q Another question, on the --
MR. FLEISCHER: You only get two. We're going to try to come back
because --
Q No, no, no. I said I had two questions on two different
subjects.
MR. FLEISCHER: But you've taken two.
Q No, no, that was a follow-up. On the Putin phone call --
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm in a giving mood to you today, Ken.
Q -- the only subject you mentioned was North Korea. Is that
the only subject they discussed, was North Korea?
MR. FLEISCHER: That was the heart of their discussion, yes.
Q Did they discuss Iraq at all?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, it did not come up, as I was informed about the
phone call. And they very briefly did talk about India-Pakistan,
because President Putin was in Pakistan. That came up very briefly as
part of the phone call. But other than that --
Q Who initiated the phone call?
MR. FLEISCHER: I don't know who initiated this one, if it was
reaching out to each other, et cetera. I said he was in Pakistan, I
meant to say he was in India. That's what I said at the top. He was
in India.
Q How long was the phone call?
MR. FLEISCHER: Fourteen minutes.
Q Just to follow on Greg's question a little bit, Lindsey was
intimately involved in crafting the stimulus package. Does his
departure affect in any way the President's intention to propose a
stimulus package?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, the President continues, as I indicated last
week, to review the economic data, to make a determination about what
steps are necessary to keep the economy moving so we can continue to
move from recession into higher growth. The President will review that
data and make a determination as he sees necessary.
Q And also, similarly, O'Neill was probably the most forceful
advocate in the administration for tax reform. He also was supposed to
issue some recommendations on that issue early next year. Does his
departure change the schedule or intention on that subject?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, I think you can assume that on all these
issues -- Social Security reform and all the issues that are under the
purview of any of these individual offices -- that their offices and
their successors will of course take a look at the same issues and work
with the President. And, as always, the President will be the one who
sets the policy and dictates the direction, and he welcomes the
workings of a good team as he does that.
But all those issues, you can anticipate, will be looked at, of
course, by their successors.
Q And did the President ask either of them to stay?
MR. FLEISCHER: Answer is the same as when Suzanne asked it.
Q The administration has told a number of news organizations
that the President asked for the resignations. So is there someone in
the administration who is putting out bad information? We need to know
for news reporting purposes.
MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, that's a very clever way of asking Suzanne's
question parlayed off of Keith's question into a new bank shot. The
answer remains the same.
Q Why don't you answer it then?
Q Ari, I have a question and a follow-up. Both the President
and the Secretary of Defense say that there is hard evidence -- my
word, not theirs -- that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. There
is growing criticism that it's not enough just to say it, that you've
got to release the evidence so the world can see that --
MR. FLEISCHER: Who is that criticism by?
Q Well, it's coming by a former congressman and some world
leaders and some others.
MR. FLEISCHER: Anybody you care to name?
Q It's a long list, I'm afraid, but I'll supply you with it if
you'd like.
MR. FLEISCHER: But nobody off the top of your head?
Q Well, I'm trying to think of the former congressman who is
now -- somebody help me here --
Q Lee Hamilton.
Q Lee Hamilton, yes. Anyway, if that bothers you, strike that,
I'll just go back and ask it at the time. The President and the
Secretary of Defense say there's hard evidence that Saddam Hussein has
weapons of mass destruction. When will that evidence be released?
Once this white paper from Saddam is gone over, or when?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, again, per the United Nations Security
Council resolution, the obligation is on Saddam Hussein to disarm. I
think there's been no secret and everybody has recognized this --
including Democrats, Republicans, previous administrations, arms
experts, United Nations officials -- that Saddam Hussein has claimed
that he didn't have weapons of mass destruction when it was obviously
the conclusion of all that he did.
Those conclusions are based, Ivan, on a variety of information that
is available to administrations, and there is always the issue about
protecting the sources and methods of how we receive that information.
But I don't know anybody who takes what the administration and
administrations and people in both parties have said, and the United
Nations experts have said that Iraq does, indeed, have weapons of mass
destruction, and thinks it's inaccurate or discounts it. And the
President has made it perfectly plain, and I refer you to his
Cincinnati speech where he walked people through why we believe and
have concluded that they have weapons of mass destruction.
Q Let me do my follow-up, if I may. The follow-up, if I want
to go back to the Pentagon alive, I've got to ask you this question.
The Army-Navy game is tomorrow. The President went last year, he's not
going this year. The question is, which side does the
Commander-in-Chief favor?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President tomorrow will very strongly cheer for
Middlebury.
Mr. Sammon.
Q How do you react to reporting that this was timed for after
the mid-term elections. I mean, this is the biggest shakeup --
MR. FLEISCHER: The Army-Navy game? (Laughter.)
Q No, the resignations this morning. This is the biggest
shakeup of this entire administration. Can you give us any tick-tock
as to how long you've known about this, how long it's been in the
works?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, again, I think that everybody recognizes that
public service is a very noble endeavor and people choose to exercise
that desire to be in public service for a period of time of their
choosing. This morning, each of them made their announcements about
the resignation.
Q Did those come as bolts from the blue to the President? Or
did he have some indication that this was going to happen?
MR. FLEISCHER: Again, the President understands that there is
always the potential for people to decide that their tenure in
government has come to an end and they made their decision and their
resignations.
Q So they decided. You said, "for people to decide." So it
was their decision?
MR. FLEISCHER: I indicated that they have resigned.
Q Ari, markets responded very positively today to the news that
Treasury Secretary O'Neill and Larry Lindsey were stepping down. Is
market confidence at all a factor in their decision to leave the White
House, given the administration's concern about the stock market at
this point?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, number one, you know, as a matter of policy
and accuracy, the White House does not speculate about what makes
markets go up, down, stay the same on any given day. And I think that
Washington's experience in guessing what makes markets go up or down
has proved to be pretty wrong in almost all counts. I don't think even
New York is very good at predicting what makes markets go up or down.
But, again, I have nothing further on the topic other than the
reasons that have been expressed earlier. Go ahead.
Q Do you believe that Treasury Secretary O'Neill and Dr.
Lindsey had the confidence of the marketplace? Because, as you said,
you are looking for individuals to replace them who have that respect?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, I would refer you again to what I said at the
beginning. You have a statement from the President about their service
to our nation.
Q Ari, related to that, would you say that the President
regrets the resignation of these two individuals? Larry Lindsey was
with him all through the campaign, O'Neill was brought to him through
Dick Cheney.
MR. FLEISCHER: You have the statement from the President. And as
I've indicated --
Q Would you indicate that he regrets that they have had to
leave --
MR. FLEISCHER: Again, the President understands that people make
sacrifices to come into government in terms of their families, in terms
of the hours worked, in terms of the demands imposed and the
difficulties of the job. And the President respects the decisions that
people make and, in this case, the decisions to resign.
Q Considering the importance of the Treasury Cabinet post, is
the President -- his ambition is to have someone confirmed by the
Senate, maybe
by mid-January, soon after the Senate gets back?
MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, I wouldn't try to guess the timing of anything
of that nature. Again, there will be announcements about successors,
of course, and I won't predict to you what the timing of that will be.
Q But considering the importance of the position, you don't
want to say that the President hopes to have someone in that position
as soon as possible?
MR. FLEISCHER: I just never put an artificial deadline on any
appointment, no matter how important the appointment is. And these, of
course, are going to be important appointments.
Q Ari, on Monday, former President George Bush is going to
participate in a ceremony on the 10th anniversary of signing of NAFTA.
And he's going to be seated with the former President of Mexico, Carlos
Salinas de Gortari. Is there any worry by the President that he -- his
father will be sending the wrong message to Mexicans, where more than
90 percent of Mexicans believe that Carlos Salinas was one of the most
corrupted Presidents of Mexico?
MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, I have a pattern of not commenting on former
Presidents and I apply that to all of them.
Q How about the PTech raid in Boston? Could you talk about
what, if any, role the White House had in overseeing this or even being
involved in it? And also are you completely assured that there's no
problems with any of the software that this company --
MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, thank you for asking that, because earlier at
this morning's off-camera briefing, somebody said -- described this as
White House orchestrated. And I went back and took a look at the
actual report that accurately described it as White House coordinated,
meaning the White House is coordinated with it. The White House didn't
orchestrate this; this is a law enforcement matter.
But, as you can always imagine, and has happened before and you're
very familiar and aware with it, that anything that may be terrorist
related, of course, gets coordinated with the White House. The White
House wants to know about things of this nature. But these things are
done by the law enforcement community for law enforcement reasons and
for law enforcement purposes, and that was the case here.
This is a law enforcement matter. The U.S. Attorney in
Massachusetts is the proper authority to discuss any of this. It was a
Customs Service operation involving the potential for terrorist
connections in this company and, beyond that, it's law-enforcement
sensitive.
The one thing I can share with you is that the products that were
supplied by this company to the government all fell in the
nonclassified area. None of it involved any classified products used
by the government. The material has been reviewed by the appropriate
government agencies, and they have detected absolutely nothing in their
reports to the White House that would lead to any concern about any of
the products purchased from this company.
Q Who are they talking about -- a cyber office here or --
MR. FLEISCHER: No, I think it's more some of the experts in
technology and software, things of that nature.
Q Ari, given how common resignations could be, I wonder if the White House expects any others in the economic arena? Glenn Hubbard or
Mitch Daniels, are they all secure?
MR. FLEISCHER: Again, I'm just not in a position to speculate
about the future of White Houses, as you know. I'll just go back to
what I said, the President is very gratified by the service of all who
are in this administration. It has been compared to the history of a
very, very stable White House. But, certainly there will come times
when people who have made the sacrifice of entering into government
service will make the decisions to leave and pursue other endeavors.
And the President is grateful and recognizes that fact.
Q Ari, the White House has taken somewhat of a standoffish
attitude toward the imminent bankruptcy of United Airlines. And I was
wondering, with the new economic team coming in, will they be looking
at problems like this collapse of a large chunk of our transportation
grid? And also we have, going into 2003, AMTRAK is also facing a
possible bankruptcy -- will they look at these with new eyes?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think that you can expect that all people in the
administration, whether they're the current people or future people,
will be guided by the law. And the law in the case of the airline
industry created a fund that could be made available for finite and set
purposes limited to law, which is to provide assistance and to make
certain that the assistance went to organizations who would be able to
use the taxpayer funded assistance in a way that would not lead to
money that could no longer be reimbursed to the Treasury because the
financial entity -- in this case, the airline, in this case -- did not
have, as the Transportation Board stated, a viable financial plan. And
so these matters are decided by this board, and per the criteria
established by the Congress.
Q Ari, you'll be surprised -- I know the President is already
getting a lot of advise about who to fill these jobs. Steve Forbes is
reportedly recommending two Texans, Bill Archer and Phil Gramm, for the
Treasury Secretary slot. What's the President going to be looking for,
for both the Treasury Secretary and the Lindsey job?
MR. FLEISCHER: Just as I indicated before. The President is going
to look for people who are expert in the marketplace, in financial
matters, that have the confidence of the marketplace, a knowledge of
government service, and are well versed in both fields. He will look
for experts in these fields. And I make no distinction about whether
that means he will pick somebody from the private sector, from the
government sector. The President casts a wide net as he looks for the
most qualified for each position.
Q Will he be consulting with the Hill or Wall Street? Or who
will he be talking to?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, I think he'll -- the usual way personnel
works is the President, who has pretty strong ideas about what he likes
to see in his top staff, will work with his personnel office, with his
Chief of Staff, and make determinations. And the President will make
the final conclusions, of course. The Vice President is often a part
of that process. And that's how I think you can see it play forward.
Q Ari, has the President made any calls or talked to anybody to
try to assure the markets in this interim period?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think that the markets before have seen people
come into government service and decide to leave government service and
return to the private sector or to other endeavors. This is not new to
the markets, that markets need assurance in that sense.
Q Briefly, you said the President is going to celebrate Strom
Thurmond's 100th birthday. Yesterday, Senator Lott, the incoming
Senate Majority Leader, said he was proud that Mississippi had
supported Senator Thurmond when he ran for President in 1948 on a
platform supporting racial segregation based on white supremacy. Does
the President agree with that? And Senator Lott also said he thought
the country would be better off had Senator Thurmond and that cause
won. Does the President support that?
MR. FLEISCHER: Terry, first of all, I haven't heard that statement
before, so in terms of whether it's accurate or not, I'm not in a
position to judge. Second of all, the President looks forward to
having an enjoyable day celebrating a distinguished Senator's 100th
birthday. And many people have spoken on the floor of the United
States Senate, Democrats and Republicans alike, in praise of Senator
Thurmond. And I think this is a day in 2002 to celebrate Senator
Thurmond's 100th birthday with pride.
Q Thank you.
MR. FLEISCHER: Thank you.
END 1:13 P.M. EST
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