President, Vice President Meet with CinCs

By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 1997 – President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore met at the Pentagon Jan. 29 with senior U.S. military commanders from around the globe.

Leaders of the nine unified commands plus the commander of U.S. Forces Korea were in Washington for the semiannual commanders' conference hosted by Army Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Clinton told the group America is proud of the military for maintaining an extraordinary tempo of operations for the past several years.

"The leadership and planning that have gone into these operations are a great tribute to the people around this table and to others in the armed forces," Clinton said.

Twice a year, the chairman calls together the chiefs of the warfighting commands to discuss their readiness to carry out the missions that have been assigned to them, a Pentagon spokesman said. During the two-day conference, the commanders talked about such issues as force protection, a U.S. proposal to ban nonself- destructing land mines, joint training and exercises, deployability and readiness.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, Deputy Defense Secretary John White, Shalikashvili and Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, welcomed the president and vice president to the Pentagon. The meeting was also Cohen's first with the senior military leaders since he was sworn in Jan. 24.