Bill Clinton: “Well, we know they've made an effort to get chemical weapons; they may have made an effort to get biological weapons. We…”

“Well, we know they've made an effort to get chemical weapons; they may have made an effort to get biological weapons. We do not know that they have them. It is true--if you take this thing out to sort of the science fiction conclusion, obviously the genome project itself carries the seeds of its own misuse. But right now I'm absolutely convinced that the advantages dwarf the disadvantages in this area. Plus, which all the other advantages of it--I mean, it's going to lead us to--we will save countless lives because we'll know in advance what predisposition people have, what problems they have--the genome project would be the seminal event--you know, when it's done, of the first part of the 21st century, there's no doubt about that. But to come back to your point, the only point I would make, whenever you ask me a question like that, I think it's best for you to remember the formulation that I started with, and it's interesting to think about the moat and the catapult, the spear and the shield-- anything. It's all a question of people who have money, organization, and an interest, whether it's political or financial or religious or whatever, in oppressing other people or holding them down, will always be looking for new offensive weapons. Our goal should always be, for the sake of the world as well as the security of the American people, to make sure not only that we can defend ourselves and counter-punch, if you will, but to develop with each new wave of technology to close the gap between offense and defense. And if we do that, I think that's the strategy that I hope will become at least an integral part of our national security strategy in the WMD area. Anthrax Vaccinations”