From Mail-Server@lex-luthor.ai.mit.edu  Fri Sep  3 01:57:25 1993
To: Clinton-Speeches-Distribution@campaign92.org,
Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1993 18:16-0400
From: The White House <75300.3115@compuserve.com>
Subject: Clinton Rems Freeh Swearing-in

                      THE WHITE HOUSE

               Office of the Press Secretary
__________________________________________________________
____
For Immediate Release                          September
1, 1993     

           
                 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
                IN SWEARING-IN CEREMONY FOR
                 FBI DIRECTOR LOUIS FREEH
           
                       FBI Building
                   Washington, D.C.    

10:16 A.M. EDT
           
           THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much, General
Reno, for that fine introduction and for your exemplary
work.  I want to thank, as the Attorney General did, Floyd
Clark for his distinguished work over a lifetime for the
FBI and his work as the Acting Director.  
           
           Also, I think bound to thank Judge Freeh's
family, his wife, his children, his parents who are here,
for their willingness to support him and for the work they
did to make him what he is today.
           
           Finally, let me say by way of introduction, I
am profoundly honored to be here in the presence today of
the person Judge Freeh picked to swear him in -- Judge
Frank Johnson.  To those of us who grew up in the South,
Frank Johnson was a symbol of respect for law, the
determination to live by it, and the belief that all of us
who live in this country without regard to the color of
our skin are entitled to a fair shot at life's brass ring.

And I thank you for being here today, Judge.  (Applause.)
           
           I am also honored to be here today among the
thousands of brave men and women who make up our FBI --
people who continue to be our elite force in the fight
against crime.  You should know that I have special
respect for FBI agents.  When I was governor of my state,
a former agent served as my Chief of Staff and other
former agents served in my administration.  
           
           Today we come to celebrate the elevation of a
genuine law enforcement legend, Judge Louis Freeh, to take
the reins of this great agency.  It is a new day for the
FBI.  
           
           Judge Freeh has agreed to take on a difficult
task, but no job is more important.  And I want to thank
the leaders of the Congress on a bipartisan basis,
beginning with Senators Biden and Hatch and Mitchell and
Dole, for their historic and rapid move to confirm Judge
Freeh virtually as soon as I nominated him.  
           
           The FBI's mandate is broad. its reach is
sweeping.  Its 24,000 employees track down violators of
civil rights, people who defraud the health care system,
those who run drugs ultimately into the veins of our
children.  The FBI scientists and technicians perform
feats of investigative wizardry that can fine wrong-doers
through a fragment of a fingerprint or a shard of a bomb. 
Its agents show commonly that bravery is uncommon
everywhere but the FBI, the armed forces and a few other
places in our country.
           
           There are many heroes that do their work in the
ordinary course of business -- people like Special Agent
Daniel Miller of Minneapolis, who subdued an armed bank
robber by hand to ensure that no one else got hurt. 
Special Agent Neil Moran of New York, who was severely
injured when he used his car to block a suspect's getaway
vehicle rather than risk wounding his colleagues with
colleagues with gunfire.  People like the 45 others who
received agency medals over the past three years.  All of
you have served well, and America is justly proud of you.
           
           Today's FBI operates in a new and challenging
world, without that part of the agency's mission that was
driven by the Cold War, but with new and even more
immediate threats.  Terrorism once seemed far from our
shores, an atrocity visited on people in other lands. 
Now, after the attack on the World Trade Center, we know
that we, too, are vulnerable.  Violent crime has been
frightful but limited.  But now armed drug gangs stalk the
streets of our cities, equipped like mercenary armies,
randomly cutting down innocent bystanders in a primitive
struggle for territory.
           
           The FBI has already begun to meet these
challenges head on.  Through the Safe Streets program the
agency has begun working with state and local police
forces to combat drug gangs and to reclaim our
neighborhoods.  But we must do more, and we will.
           
           Today, I was given a pin which I am wearing
that commemorates the FBI's drug prevention program.  In
churches, in schools and scout troops all across this
country, agents work with young people to stop drug use
before it starts.  
           
           The FBI has always worked at the cutting edge
of law enforcement technology.  Today, the scientists and
technicians are exploring new frontiers, pioneering the
use of DNA analysis to ferret out the guilty and to
protect the innocent.  
           
           And in the interest of justice and
effectiveness, the agency has begun to open its doors to
full equality for minorities and for women.  We must do
more, and we will.
           
           Now, amid this swirl  of change, a new era at
the FBI is about to begin.  The FBI has passed through
some troubled times, but I believe those times are over. 
The men and women who work day and night to protect the
public never let us down.  And now, a vigorous new
director is going to lead the FBI into the next century so
that the men and women who work for the FBI will be led
and not let down.
           
           In a few moments, Judge Freeh will take the
oath of office.  He is, as has been widely chronicled and
now is as widely known by his fellow Americans, a
brilliant investigator, a tough prosecutor, a born leader.

He has the unique combination of experience, courage and
prudent judgment that I believe the directorship of the
FBI demands.  A career as the scourge of drug-runners and
terrorists, tempered by his service as a federal judge in
my judgment makes him the ideal director of the FBI.  He
does have, as the Attorney General said, both humanity and
humility to go with experience and brilliance and
toughness and judgment.
           
           Even those who serve with him respect him and
also notice these qualities.  I must say, I have been
overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for Judge Freeh,
and I have to say -- I have to tell you one example which
may surprise even the biggest supporters of the judge. 
One fellow wrote in and told us that he'd had a lot of
experience with the criminal justice system.  I'd like to
paraphrase the letter we received -- the judge received.  
           
           He said,  "Earlier this year you sentenced me
to 20 years in prison.  But I want you to know that of the
five judges who have sentenced me to prison, you have been
by far the fairest --(laughter) -- and I endorse your
nomination to be Director of the FBI."  (Applause.)  With
all the problems we've got in this country, I hope he'll
be getting a lot more of those letters in the next few
years.
           
           I believe that under the leadership of this
dynamic young director, the FBI will capture the
imagination of the American people once again, and will
enlist once again the millions of ordinary Americans in
the work of keeping our safe streets and fighting our
crimes for us in partnership with the FBI and with state
and local law enforcement officials.
           
           I want the men and women of the FBI to look
back on the 1990s as a decade in which the FBI became
well-known and well-loved for its successes in cracking
down on terrorists and drug lords, just as much as the G-
men of the '30s were successful in cracking down on
racketeers and mobsters.  
           
           And to Judge Freeh I say, keep showing the
vision and integrity that brought you here, that earned
you the esteem of all your colleagues, your countrymen and
women, and even those you sent to jail.  
           
           To the men and women of the FBI I say, you are
the finest we have.  Just keep on doing your best and we
will stand behind you.  
           
           And to the American people, I say we know that
our people value law and order and safety.  We are working
to pass a crime bill that will put more police officers on
the street.  We are working to get guns out of the hands
of criminals.  We are working to expand the toughness of
our law enforcement.  Our front line crime fighters --
Attorney General Reno, Drug Policy Coordinator Lee Brown,
and now the FBI Director Louis Freeh -- are putting
decades of grass-roots experience to work for you. 
           
           You, the American people, have a right to
freedom from fear.  Your families  have a right to
security and to safety.  We won't rest until you have
those rights.  We ask only for your support and your
cooperation as this fine director launches what I believe
will be a legendary career in the legendary Federal Bureau
of Investigation.  
           
           Thank you very much.  (Applause.)
           
           (The oath is administered.)  (Applause.)
           
           DIRECTOR FREEH:   Thank you very much and good
morning to everyone.
           
           Mr. President, I am deeply grateful for this
rare opportunity to serve this great nation, the American
people and the FBI.  
           
           Attorney General Reno, I am pleased to follow
your strong leadership of this excellent Department of
Justice, where I've spent 16 of my 18 professional years. 

           
           And Marilyn, thank you for your strength and
love, which enables me to take on this challenge.  You are
certainly the sustaining light in my life.
           
           I want to thank also Father Jaffe, and Kim, our
excellent vocalists from the New York Police Department,
and all the men and women who planned this truly beautiful
event, and also whoever was responsible for keeping Emily
at bay for another 24 hours.  I want to thank all of my
friends and colleagues and the many FBI employees I will
soon come to know for also being here today.
           
           As I look into the eyes of my four sons this
morning who are with us, and upon the faces of all the
children throughout America, I see the promise as well as
the uncertainty of the future before us.  As we hurtle
towards the 21st century, we must confront the stark
realities of crime and disorder with an unprecedented
dedication of purpose.  We owe this to ourselves and to
our children, and this is what we must be about.  It is
only by facing up to these realities that we can forge the
solutions and opportunities needed to ensure peace and
justice for all.
           
           We didn't become the greatest republic in the
history of the world by being untested or timid.  We have
not become the lamp of liberty because we lack fortitude
and moral strength.  And we haven't journeyed across the
oceans and the generations of hopes and sacrifices to be
lost in a tyranny of crime and chaos.  Instead we must do
now and here what the people of American have always done
in terms of crisis -- take control of our own destiny and
use our enormous resources, ingenuity and will to
establish the domestic tranquility and justice envisioned
in the Constitution of the United States.
           
           The frightening level of lawlessness which has
come upon us like a plague is more than a law enforcement
problem.  The crime and disorder which flow from hopeless
poverty, unloved children, and drug abuse can't be solved
merely by bottomless prisons, mandatory sentencing
minimums or more police.  A 1991 report showed nearly two
million violent crimes.  They included nearly 25,000
murders, more than 106,000 forcible rapes, almost 700,000
robberies, and one million aggravated assaults.  
           
           If we saw in this morning's news reports that a
foreign power had killed 25,000 Americans or raped 106,000
American women, we would be at war by the afternoon.  And
yet there seems to be a sort of fatalism among many that
crime can be sharply and permanently reduced.  Perhaps we
have become so used to crime growing in small increments
over the last 30 years that we no longer recoil in horror
to find it an indelible part of the landscape.  It seems
popular for some to say we live in a time of diminishing
expectations.  Well, crime is not diminishing.  And we
should not have diminishing expectations that we can make
sacrifices to win the war against crime.
           
           We must, however, be willing to make those
sacrifices.  That means mobilizing all of America's
resources to solve the root causes of the problem.  The
greatest enemy here is losing faith that we can control
and reverse the pandemic of crime.  We must steel
ourselves against the easy fatalism that the fact and fear
of crime faith that we can control and reverse the
pandemic of crime.  We must steel ourselves against the
easy fatalism that the facts and fear of crime cannot be
overcome.  If we give up the hope and will to solve this
crisis, we will be turning our backs on our most difficult
but solvable national problem.  
           
           By such an indifference, we also risk losing a
large part of the next generation of young Americans.  The
price we will pay for such a loss will be our humanity. 
We must never forget that each one of us working together
can make a difference.  Judge Johnson, who's here with us
today, as well as Judge Falcone have proved that
individual people can make such historic differences.
           
           So how do we begin solving the problems?  While
there are many parts to the equation, no progress can be
made on the law enforcement front unless we create new
levels of cooperation which have not been attained in the
past.  It is hardly a new idea, as we can see from the
inscription in this courtyard.
           
           One reason to make rapid progress now in
developing this concept is that we must face the fact that
financial resources for law enforcement are not endless. 
Creation of closer federal ties to state and local
enforcement agencies would multiply resources for all and
enable us to have a truly unified national effort against
crime.     
           Numbers tell part of the story.  The FBI has
about 10,000 agents -- less than we had in 1987.  New York
City, on the other hand, has 30,000 fine police officers. 
Nationally, there are 535,000 state and local law
enforcement officers, a vast army for good.  
           
           More cooperation is also needed among federal
agencies.  As an FBI agent and prosecutor, I had the
privilege of working in the trenches with outstanding law
enforcement officers from the New York Police Department,
the New York State Police, the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, the
marshal service, customs, ATF, the Secret Service, the
postal inspectors, to name only a few.  During these
cases, I regretted the extraordinary amount of time and
scarce resources expended over needless turf wars and
duplicated efforts.  On almost every occasion, those
battles began and ended several bureaucratic levels above
the various street agents who almost always work together
competitively but effectively.
           
           The turf wars must stop because they aid only
the criminals.  Greater cooperation by federal agencies
would again multiply resources against crime.  In this
regard, we should try to follow the advice which we often
give our children -- play with your friends; be fair and
honest with them; and share your toys.  
           
           To our friends and comrades around the world --
police, prosecutors and judges -- we pledge our continued
support and collaboration.  We will stand with you
shoulder to shoulder and arm in arm.  We will never
forsake you in the courageous battles being waged by you
against terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime in
our global village.
           
           The FBI is the greatest and most powerful law
enforcement organization ever known to a democracy.  Its
greatness and unique capacity for good stems from the
extraordinary quality of its men and women -- and I mean
all of them, the agent work force, as well as the support
staff.  Both are essential to its successful operation.  
           
           As we move forward to the year 2000 we need to
keep an open mind on the remarkable strengths, as well as
some of the failings of our past.  The FBI must always
serve the course of justice by upholding the Constitution
and the rule of law.  Yet our operations and methodologies
must be constantly subject to review and renewal.  As we
prepare to deal with the application of vast and complex
new technologies to our work, we need also to keep in mind
our basic mission, a lawful investigation of matters
within our jurisdiction and the proper gathering and use
of information.
           
           This essential work takes place primarily in
our field offices and on the streets of America.  It must,
therefore, be the purpose of this headquarters to support
and guide the basic mission.
           
           Do we require more than eight percent of our
agent force at headquarters when parts of the country are
virtual war zones?  If we're accumulating the right
information and expertise to have an impact on crime, are
we also utilizing and distributing it in the best way? 
Are we following the legal requirements of protecting
confidential information and doing enough to guard against
the kind of leaks which destroy investigations and lives?
           
           We should be measuring our progress and
diversifying by substantive changes in our leadership,
career advancement, and recruitment programs.  Is our
administrative advancement system designed to identify and
to promote our best leaders as well as managers?  Do we
have an inspection system that correctly evaluates whether
we're doing the most significant cases in the field in the
best possible way?  We have to be concerned about serving
the law enforcement needs of our varied communities and
not focus simply on the last time the oil was changed in
the Bureau car.  
           
           To answer these questions and carry out my new
responsibilities, I will need the help of every person in
the Bureau and everyone in the extended FBI family.  And
we should all remember that to do this important job well
and effectively, we must have the support and love of our
families, which deserve extraordinary credit for making
the sacrifices that enable us to function.  And I want to
thank all of them this morning for those sacrifices.
           
           In closing, I want to tell you how honored I am
to serve with you, and how proud I am of the FBI.  Your
job requires immense sacrifice, dedication, and what's
known as grace under pressure.  It's a high-risk job
belied by your bravery.  More often than not, it's a
thankless job.  And yet I cannot think of a more critical
and satisfying thing to do for your country.  I salute you
today. 
           
           I can make only one certain promise to all who
work for the FBI and to the American people:  I will do
the best I can.  And that means I will resist any effort
from any source to impair the integrity of the FBI.  I'll
hold you only to the same standards to which I hold
myself.  Meanwhile, I can't forget where I came from or
what a street agent does for a living.  And I can't forget
the dangers and frustrations which you face on a daily
basis.  
           
           All of us in the FBI, no matter what our jobs,
must be absolutely honest and fair in everything we do. 
We must carry out the responsibilities given to us by the
President, the Attorney General and the Congress.  We must
effectively and fairly enforce the law.  We must be beyond
reproach in our own hiring, promotion and diversity
programs. 
           
           We must make certain that we care about and
protect everyone in this country to the best of our
ability, including those who now feel most helpless,
frightened and neglected.  I also want to thank Floyd
Clark for the leadership and counsel which he has shown,
and I look forward and am delighted that he will remain
here as my deputy.  
           
           I look forward to working with the Attorney
General, the Congress and the President in the days to
come.  
           
           Thank you very much, and may God bless you all.

(Applause.)

                     END10:44 A.M. EDT

