For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 13, 2001
Remarks by the President to the Troops and Personnel
Norfolk Naval Air Station Norfolk, Virginia 11:25 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you
all. Thank you very much. General, thank you for
that kind introduction, and thank you for your service to our
nation. I'm honored to be here with the Secretary of
Defense, Don Rumsfeld. I picked a good man to be the
Secretary of Defense. (Applause.)
General Shelton, thank you for accompanying us
today. Admiral Perowne, Admiral Mayer, members of the NATO
staff. I want to thank the NATO ambassadors who are here, or
the ambassadors representing NATO countries who are
here. I'm honored that you took time out of your day to come
down. I'm thankful that members of the congressional
delegation from the Commonwealth of Virginia and other states traveled
with us. I'm particularly pleased that Senator John Warner
is here, along with the former governor of the state of Virginia, now
Senator George Allen.
I also want to recognize not only members of
the United States House of Representatives, but also Ed Shrock, the
newly elected United States Congressman from this
district. I appreciate Ed traveling with us as well.
Most of all, I want to thank the men and women
who wear the uniform for your warm greeting. And thank you
for your service to the United States of America. I also
want to thank your family members who are here with
you. Oftentimes, we talk about the men and women who wear
the uniform; it's also important to remember the husbands and wives of
those who do, as well.
Just this morning, we're reminded of the risks
of your duty and the sacrifices that you make. I ask you to
join me in a moment of silent prayer for the dead, the wounded and
missing crew members of the 25th Infantry Division who were involved in
a training accident on Oahu this morning.
(A moment of silence is
observed.) Amen.
We fly 19 flags here. Together,
they symbolize one of the supreme achievements of the last
century. NATO is the reason history records no World War
III, by preserving the stability of Europe and the transatlantic
community. NATO has kept the peace; and the work goes on.
When NATO was formed, the great challenge was
to prevent conflict in Europe, by a system of collective defense among
three nations. In a message to Congress sent with the NATO
Treaty, President Harry Truman explained his purpose this
way: "The nations signing this treaty," he said, "share a
common heritage of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of
law. The security and welfare of each member of this
community depend upon the security and welfare of all. None
of us alone can achieve economic prosperity or military
security. None of us alone can assure the continuance of
freedom."
This is still true today. Our
challenges have changed, and NATO is changing and growing to meet
them. But the purpose of NATO remains
permanent. As we have seen in the Balkans, together, united,
we can detour the designs of aggression, and spare the continent from
the effects of ethnic hatreds.
I'm here today with a message for America's
allies. We will cooperate in the work of
peace. We will consult early and candidly with our NATO
allies. We will expect them to return the
same. In diplomacy, in technology, in missile defense, in
fighting wars and, above all, in preventing wars, we must work as
one. Transatlantic security and stability is a vital
American interest, and our unity is essential for peace in the
world. Nothing must ever divide us.
A little while ago I saw an example of that
unity in action. From the command center here I had a
glimpse of future threats and of the technology that will be used to
meet them. These new systems are impressive and they're only
a beginning in the technologies we will need to deter wars in the
decades to come.
Because America, NATO and our allies have made
the world more secure, we have an opportunity today given to few
nations in history, to prepare for the future, to think anew.
Eleven years after the Cold War, we are in a
time of transition and testing, when it will be decided what dangers
draw near or pass away, what tragedies are invited or
averted. We must use this time well. We must
seize this moment.
First, we must prepare our nations against the
dangers of a new era. The grave threat from nuclear, biological and
chemical weapons has not gone away with the Cold War. It has
evolved into many separate threats, some of them harder to see and
harder to answer. And the adversaries seeking these tools of
terror are less predictable, more diverse. With advance
technology, we must confront the threats that come on a
missile. With shared intelligence and enforcement, we must
confront the threats that come in a shipping container or in a
suitcase.
We have no higher priority than the defense of
our people against terrorist attack. To succeed, America
knows we must work with our allies. We did not prevail together in the
Cold War only to go our separate ways, pursuing separate plans with
separate technologies.
The dangers ahead confront us
all. The defenses we build must protect us
all. And secondly, as you know firsthand, we must extend our
peace by advancing our technology. We're witnessing a
revolution in the technology of war, powers increasingly defined not by
size, but by mobility and swiftness. Advantage increasingly
comes from information such as the three dimensional images of
simulated battle that I have just seen. Safety is gained in
stealth and forces projected on the long arc of precision-guided
weapons. The best way to keep the peace is to redefine war
on our terms.
At my request, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld
has begun a comprehensive review of the United States military, the
state of our strategy, the structure of our forces, their priorities of
our budget. I have given him a broad mandate to challenge
the status quo as we design a new architecture for the defense of
America and our allies. We will modernize some existing
weapons and equipment, a task we have neglected for too
long. But we will do this judiciously and
selectively. Our goal is to move beyond marginal
improvements to harness new technologies that will support a new
strategy.
We do not know yet the exact shape of our
future military, but we know the direction we must begin to
travel. On land, our heavy forces will be lighter, our light
forces will be more lethal. All will be easier to deploy and
to sustain. In the air, we will be able to strike across the
world with pinpoint accuracy, using both aircraft and unmanned
systems. On the oceans, we will connect information and
weapons in new ways, maximizing our ability to project power over
land. In space, we'll protect our network of satellites
essential to the flow of our commerce and the defense of our common
interests. All of this require great effort and new
spending.
The first budget I will send to Congress makes
only a start. Before we make our full investment, we must
know our exact priorities, and we will not know our priorities until
the defense review is finished. That report will mark the
beginning of a new defense agenda, and a new strategic vision, and will
be the basis for allocating our defense resources.
As I announced yesterday, my 2002 defense
budget will increase spending on the people of our military immediately
with better pay, better housing and better --
(applause.) This need is urgent, and it's obvious.
(Laughter.) You give the best, and we owe you the best in
return. (Applause.) My 2002 budget will also include $2.6
billion as a down-payment on the research and development effort that
lies ahead.
Yet, in our broader effort, we must put
strategy first, then spending. Our defense vision will drive our
defense budget; not the other way around.
Vice President Cheney often points out that
the military itself is like a ship that cannot be turned around in a
moment. It has a dynamic and momentum all its own, set in
motion by events and decisions long ago, and turning only in a wide,
long arc. Change will not come easy for America's military
and for our allies. But we must know our direction and make
our turn. You can count on me to lead these changes in a
spirit of respect and gratitude for the military and its traditions.
Some things about America's Armed Forces must
never change. In times of trouble and in times of peace, the
men and women who wear the uniform are the military's greatest
asset. Without your hard work and heroism, your discipline
and personal courage, the finest of technologies cannot defend
us. (Applause.)
Our NATO allies have brought their own
character and courage to the defense of liberty. We're cast
together in a story of shared struggle and shared
victory. Here, where three ships from England once passed on
their way to Jamestown, we carry on the alliance that joined the old
world and the new. We're allies and we are
friends. As long as we stand together, power will always be
on the side of peace and freedom.
God bless the United States
military. God bless NATO, and God bless
America. (Applause.)
END 11:40
A.M. EST
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