REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY COMMENCEMENT

 

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 22, 1998






United States Naval Academy
Annapolis, Maryland



10:22 A.M. EDT


THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you.
Thank you very much. Secretary Dalton, thank you for your generous
introduction and your dedicated service. Admiral Larson, thank you.
Admiral Johnson, General Krulak, Admiral Ryan -- Visitor's Chair Byron;
to the faculty and staff of the Academy; distinguished guests; to proud
parents and family members, and especially to the Brigade of Midshipmen:
I am honored to be here today. And pursuant to longstanding tradition,
I bring with me a small gift. I hereby free all midshipmen who are on
restriction for minor conduct offenses. (Applause.)

There was so much enthusiasm, I wonder if you heard the word,
"minor" offenses. (Laughter.)

You know, the President has the signal honor of addressing all of
our service academies serially -- one after the other in appropriate
order. This is the second time I have had the great honor of being here
at the Naval Academy. But I began to worry about my sense of timing. I
mean, what can you say to graduating midshipmen in a year when the most
famous ship on Earth is again the Titanic? (Laughter.) But then I
learned this is a totally, almost blindly, confident bunch. After all,
over in King Hall you eat cannonballs. (Laughter.) Now, for those of
you who don't know what they are, they're not the ones Francis Scott Key
saw flying over Fort McHenry, they're just huge apple dumplings.
Nonetheless, they require a lot of confidence. (Laughter.)

I will try to be relatively brief today. I was given only one
instruction -- I should not take as long as your class took to scale
Herndon Monument. (Applause.) Now, at four hours and five minutes --
(applause) -- the slowest time in recorded history -- (applause) -- I
have a lot of leeway. (Laughter.)

But you have more than made up for it. You have done great things
-- succeeding in a rigorous academic environment, trained to be superb
officers. You have done extraordinary volunteer work, for which I am
personally very grateful. In basketball, you made it to the NCAAs for
the second time in a row. (Applause.) You defeated Army in football
last fall. (Applause.) In fact, you were 26-6 against teams from Army
this year. And while I remain neutral in these things -- (laughter) --
I salute your accomplishments. (Laughter.)

Let me also join the remarks that Secretary Dalton in
congratulating your Superintendent. Admiral Larson has performed
remarkable service as an aviator, submarine commander, Commander-in-
Chief in the Pacific, twice at the helm of the Academy. I got to know
him well when he was our Commander-in-Chief in the Pacific. I came to
appreciate more than I otherwise ever could have his unique blend of
intelligence and insight and character, and passionate devotion to duty.

In view of the incident on the Indian subcontinent in the last few
days, I think it's important for the historical record to note that the
first senior official of the United States who told me that there was a
serious potential problem there and we had better get ready for it was
Admiral Chuck Larson, several years ago. (Applause.)

When I asked him to return to the Academy, I thought it was almost

too much, and then I realized it might have been too little, for he
loves this Academy so much this is hardly tough duty. He met all its
challenges. He taught you midshipmen to strive for excellence without
arrogance, to maintain the highest ethical standards.

Admiral, on behalf of the American people, I thank you for your
service here, your 40 years in the Navy, your devotion to the United
States. We are all very grateful to you. (Applause.)

I also have every confidence that Admiral Ryan is a worthy
successor, and I wish him well.

As I speak to you and other graduates this spring, I want to ask
you to think about the challenges we face as a nation in the century
that is just upon us, and how our mission must be to adapt to the
changes of changing times while holding fast to our enduring ideals. In
the coming weeks, I will talk about how the information revolution can
widen the circle of opportunity or deepen inequality; about how
immigration and our nation's growing diversity can strengthen and unite
America, or weaken and divide it.

But nothing I will have the chance to talk about this spring is
more important than the mission I charge you with today -- the timeless
mission of our men and women in uniform: protecting our nation and
upholding our values in the face of the changing threats that are as new
as the new century.

Members of the Class of 1998, you leave the Yard at the dawn of a
new millennium, in a time of great hope. Around the world people are
embracing peace, freedom, free markets. More and more nations are
committed to educating all their children and stopping the destruction
of our environment. The information revolution is sparking economic
growth and spreading the ideas of freedom around the world. Technology
is moving so fast today that the top-of-the-line, high-speed computers
you received as Plebes today are virtually museum pieces. (Laughter.)

In this world, our country is blessed with peace, prosperity,
declining social ills. But today's possibilities are not tomorrow's
guarantees.

Just last week, India conducted a series of nuclear explosive
tests, reminding us that technology is not always a force for good.
India's action threatens the stability of Asia and challenges the firm
international consensus to stop all nuclear testing. So again I ask
India to halt its nuclear weapons program and join the 149 other nations
that have already signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. And I ask
Pakistan to exercise restraint, to avoid a perilous nuclear arms race.

This specter of a dangerous rivalry in South Asia is but one of
the many signs that we must remain strong and vigilant against the kinds
of threats we have seen already throughout the 20th century -- regional
aggression and competition, bloody civil wars, efforts to overthrow
democracies.

But also, our security is challenged increasingly by
non-traditional threats, from adversaries both old and new -- not only
hostile regimes, but also terrorists and international criminals, who
cannot defeat us in traditional theaters of battle, but search instead
for new ways to attack, by exploiting new technologies and the world's
increasing openness.

As we approach the 21st century, our foes have extended the fields
of battle -- from physical space to cyberspace; from the world's vast
bodies of water to the complex workings of our own human bodies. Rather
than invading our beaches or launching bombers, these adversaries may
attempt cyberattacks against our critical military systems and our
economic base. Or they may deploy compact and relatively cheap weapons
of mass destruction -- not just nuclear, but also chemical or
biological, to use disease as a weapon of war. Sometimes the terrorists
and criminals act alone. But increasingly, they are interconnected, and
sometimes supported by hostile countries.

If our children are to grow up safe and free, we must approach
these new 21st century threats with the same rigor and determination we
applied to the toughest security challenges of this century. We are
taking strong steps against these threats today. We've improved
antiterrorism cooperation with other countries; tightened security for
our troops, our diplomats, our air travelers; strengthened sanctions on
nations that support terrorists; given our law enforcement agencies new
tools. We broke up terrorist rings before they could attack New York's
Holland Tunnel, the United Nations, and our airlines. We have captured
and brought to justice many of the offenders.

But we must do more. Last week, I announced America's first
comprehensive strategy to control international crime and bring
criminals, terrorists and money launderers to justice. Today, I come
before you to announce three new initiatives -- the first broadly
directed at combatting terrorism; the other two addressing two potential
threats from terrorists and hostile nations, attacks on our computer
networks and other critical systems upon which our society depends, and
attacks using biological weapons. On all of these efforts, we will need
the help of the Navy and the Marines. Your service will be critical in
combatting these new challenges.

To make these three initiatives work we must have the concerted
efforts of a whole range of federal agencies -- from the Armed Forces to
law enforcement to intelligence to public health. I am appointing a
National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and
Counterterrorism, to bring the full force of all our resources to bear
swiftly and effectively.

First, we will use our new integrated approach to intensify the
fight against all forms of terrorism -- to capture terrorists, no matter
where they hide; to work with other nations to eliminate terrorist
sanctuaries overseas; to respond rapidly and effectively to protect
Americans from terrorism at home and abroad.

Second, we will launch a comprehensive plan to detect, deter, and
defend against attacks on our critical infrastructures -- our power
systems, water supplies, police, fire, and medical services, air traffic
control, financial services, telephone systems, and computer networks.

Just 15 years ago, these infrastructures -- some within
government, some in the private sector -- were separate and distinct.
Now, they are linked together over vast computer-electronic networks,
greatly increasing our productivity, but also making us much more
vulnerable to disruption. Three days ago, we saw the enormous impact of
a single failed electronic link when a satellite malfunction disabled
pagers, ATMs, credit card systems, and TV and radio networks all around
the world. Beyond such accidents, intentional attacks against our
critical systems already are underway. Hackers break into government
and business computers. They can raid banks, run up credit card
charges, extort money by threats to unleash computer viruses.

If we fail to take strong action, then terrorists, criminals and
hostile regimes could invade and paralyze these vital systems,
disrupting commerce, threatening health, weakening our capacity to
function in a crisis. In response to these concerns, I established a
commission chaired by Retired General Tom Marsh, to assist the
vulnerability of our critical infrastructures. They returned with a
pointed conclusion: our vulnerability, particularly to cyberattacks, is
real and growing. And they made important recommendations that we will
now implement to put us ahead of the danger curve.

We have the best trained, best equipped best prepared Armed Forces
in history. But, as ever, we must be ready to fight the next war, not
the last one. And our military, as strong as it is, cannot meet these
challenges alone. Because so many key components of our society are
operated by the private sector, we must create a genuine public-private
partnership to protect America in the 21st century. Together, we can
find and reduce the vulnerabilities to attack in all critical sectors,
develop warning systems including a national center to alert us to
attacks, increase our cooperation with friendly nations, and create the
means to minimize damage and rapidly recover in the event attacks occur.
We can -- and we must -- make these critical systems more secure, so
that we can be more secure.

Third, we will undertake a concerted effort to prevent the spread
and use of biological weapons, and to protect our people in the event
these terrible weapons are ever unleashed by a rogue state, a terrorist
group or an international criminal organization. Conventional military
force will continue to be crucial to curbing weapons of mass
destruction. In the confrontation against Iraq, deployment of our Navy
and Marine forces has played a key role in helping to convince Saddam
Hussein to accept United Nations inspections of his weapons facilities.

But we must pursue the fight against biological weapons on many
fronts. We must strengthen the international Biological Weapons
Convention with a strong system of inspections to detect and prevent
cheating. This is a major priority. It was part of my State of the
Union address earlier this year, and we are working with other nations
and our industries to make it happen.

Because our troops serve on the front line of freedom, we must
take special care to protect them. So we have been working on
vaccinating them against biological threats, and now we will inoculate
all our Armed Forces, active duty and reserves, against deadly anthrax
bacteria.

Finally, we must do more to protect our civilian population from
biological weapons. The Defense Department has been teaching state and
local officials to respond if the weapons are brandished or used. Today
it is announcing plans to train National Guard and reserve elements in
every region to address this challenge. But, again, we must do more to
protect our people. We must be able to recognize a biological attack
quickly in order to stop its spread.

We will work to upgrade our public health systems for detection
and warning, to aid our preparedness against terrorism, and to help us
cope with infectious diseases that arise in nature. We will train and
equip local authorities throughout the nation to deal with an emergency
involving weapons of mass destruction, creating stockpiles of medicines
and vaccines to protect our civilian population against the kind of
biological agents our adversaries are most likely to obtain or develop.
And we will pursue research and development to create the next
generation of vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tools. The Human
Genome Project will be very, very important in this regard. And again,
it will aid us also in fighting infectious diseases.

We must not cede the cutting edge of biotechnology to those who
would do us harm. Working with the Congress, America must maintain its
leadership in research and development. It is critical to our national
security.

In our efforts to battle terrorism and cyberattacks and biological
weapons, all of us must be extremely aggressive. But we must also be
careful to uphold privacy rights and other constitutional protections.
We do not ever undermine freedom in the name of freedom.

To the men and women of this class of 1998, over four years you
have become part of an institution -- the Navy -- that has repeatedly
risen to the challenges of battle and of changing technology. In the
Spanish-American War, 100 years ago, our Navy won the key confrontations
at Manila Bay and off Cuba. In the years between the world wars, the
Navy made tremendous innovations with respect to aircraft carriers and
amphibious operations. In the decisive battle in the Pacific in World
War II at Midway, our communications experts and code breakers obtained,
and Admiral Nimitz seized on, crucial information about the enemy fleet
that secured victory against overwhelming odds.

In the Cold War, nuclear propulsion revolutionized our carrier and
submarine operations. And today, our Navy and Marine Corps are
fundamental to our strategy of global engagement, aiding our friends and
warning foes that they cannot undermine our efforts to build a just,
peaceful, free future.

President Theodore Roosevelt put it succinctly a long time ago.
"A good Navy," he said, "is the surest guaranty of peace." We will have
that good Navy, because of you. Your readiness, strength, your
knowledge of science and technology, your ability to promptly find and
use essential information, and above all, your strength of spirit and
your core values -- honor, courage and commitment. I ask you to
remember, though, that with these new challenges especially, we must
all, as Americans, be united in purpose and spirit.

Our defense has always drawn on the best of our entire nation.
The Armed Forces have defended our freedom, and in turn, freedom has
allowed our people to thrive. Our security innovations have often been
sparked and supported over and over by the brilliance and drive of
people in non-military sectors -- our businesses and universities, our
scientists and technologists. Now, more than ever, we need the broad
support and participation of our citizens as your partners in meeting
the security challenges of the 21st century.







Members of the Class of 1998, you are just moments away from
becoming ensigns and second lieutenants -- and I have not taken as much
time as you did to climb the Monument. (Laughter.) I thank you for
giving me a few moments of your attention to talk to you and our nation
about the work you will be doing for them for the rest of your careers.
You will be our guardians and champions of freedom.

Let me say just one thing in closing on a more personal note. We
must protect our people from danger and keep America safe and free. But
I hope you will never lose sight of why we are doing it. We are doing
it so that all of your countrymen and women can live meaningful lives,
according to their own lights. So work hard, but don't forget to pursue
also what fulfills you as people -- the beauty of the natural world,
literature, the arts, sports, volunteer service. Most of all, don't
forget to take time for your personal lives, to show your love to your
friends and, most of all, to your families -- the parents and
grandparents who made the sacrifices to get you here; in the future,
your wives, your husbands, and your children.

In a free society, the purpose of public service, in or out of
uniform, is to provide all citizens with the freedom and opportunity to
live their own dreams. So when you return from an exhausting
deployment, or just a terrible day, never forget to cherish your loved
ones, and always be grateful that you have been given the opportunity to
serve, to protect for yourselves and for your loved ones and for your
fellow Americans the precious things that make life worth living, and
freedom worth defending.

I know your families are very proud of you today. Now go and make
America proud. Good luck and God bless you. (Applause.)

END 10:48 A.M. EDT