Bill Clinton: “I have sent to the Congress $1.097 billion in proposals to strengthen our antiterrorism, counterterrorism, and security…”

“I have sent to the Congress $1.097 billion in proposals to strengthen our antiterrorism, counterterrorism, and security efforts in this country and abroad. These proposals include fiscal 1996 supplemental appropriations for the Department of Defense as well as fiscal 1997 budget amendments to my appropriations requests now pending before the Congress. On July 29, I met with the bipartisan leadership of the Congress to discuss an appropriate Federal response to the threat of terrorism, adding to the strong antiterrorism initiatives my administration had already taken. This package of budget proposals is the product of an interagency review that I ordered, subsequent to that meeting, in the wake of recent acts of domestic and international terrorism. It is a comprehensive, balanced program to address this urgent requirement, and I urge the Congress to act expeditiously on it. Over the past year, the danger to U.S. forces and installations from international terrorism has grown. At my direction, the Department of Defense and the intelligence community identified measures to enhance programs to deter and thwart terrorism. My requests for 1996 supplemental appropriations will fund the most urgent of them. These requests total $353 million for various antiterrorism activities to increase physical security at overseas installations and to improve intelligence capabilities to detect and combat terrorist activity.…”