Gerald Ford

DRUG ABUSE is one of the most serious and tragic problems in this country.

I am immensely appreciative of the cooperation that I have found in your organization and with each of you individually.

I think we can gradually eliminate many of the problems we have.

We've got to move ahead even more rapidly and more effectively than we have in the past in trying to do something affirmatively about this problem of drugs.

We do have a serious problem, as you indicated, at the Mexican border.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is the agency principally responsible for Federal drug law enforcement.

This proposal is in keeping with my philosophy of reducing unnecessary and burdensome Federal restrictions.

I am grateful for your input and your cooperation.

I want to take this opportunity to pledge to the American people an all-out Federal effort to combat the drug menace.

It will eliminate the requirement for State matching funds, as well as most Federal requirements and prohibitions on the use of Federal funds.

It remains our duty to remember our religious heritage.

America is not good because it is great; America is great because it is good.

I hope and pray it will ring forever in this great land of ours.

We are taught in the Psalms, that blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

The faith of our Fathers is living still in America today.

Only God, however, can count the number of lives that have been changed by the gospel you preach throughout the world.

I thank you, first of all, for taking on this responsibility which, I think, is extremely significant in the reorganization of the intelligence community.

We have sought to achieve accountability so that individuals in the various intelligence agencies will know precisely what their responsibilities are and to whom they are accountable.

You are to act as an independent auditor on what takes place within the intelligence community.

The main new addition, which, I think, is fundamentally necessary, is the Oversight Board.

I believe that the measure I proposed is the right way to proceed.

We have had the right policies.

I happen to have a great deal of faith in the educational system of our country.

We should have optimism for this situation.

We can say we are on the right path and we are getting results and this is what the American people want.