Bill Clinton: “Well, frankly, the only way to do that--there are only two ways to do that. One is, I have to appoint good people in…”

“Well, frankly, the only way to do that--there are only two ways to do that. One is, I have to appoint good people in positions in those departments who are in a position to know what is going on or to find out if I need to know. Or there has to be some external way of knowing, which means that all of you have to find out so that I can either see it or read it or hear it on the news, or we have to have--or some independent commission, if a particular problem or question is hanging out there, should press further. I think the--let me just say, I think the commission I appointed on Gulf war illnesses has done an exemplary job. And I believe that the Pentagon, in fairness, has also done much better recently. And we have done--as I think all of you know, we have given free medical exams to tens of thousands of people. We have qualified 26,000 people for disability. And we have a lot of various medical tests going on. That all came about, I believe, in large measure because the American people kept demanding a response. And so I put this commission together, and they did their job. And then the Pentagon, as I said--Secretary Perry, having seen the evidence, has moved in an expeditious fashion. But I think those are the ways--there is never any magic about that. The President has to have good people in those agencies; they have to be able to find out the truth. And then if you do your job, and then if some real big problem arises and a group of citizens can look into it, we normally find a way to make our democracy work. Ken [Ken Walsh, U.S. News & World Report]. Go ahead, Ken; Ken and then Susan [Susan Page, USA Today]. Go ahead. Medicare and Budget Negotiations”