U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
Briefer: Richard Boucher, Spokesman
TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2000, 1:15 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
QUESTION: Change of subject. Could we go to the issue we spoke
about a little bit on background this morning on John Holum's
comments on NMD and the decision-making schedule? What -
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. I refuse to be cognizant of things
that officials might have said on background.
QUESTION: They were just previewing what you would have today.
MR. BOUCHER: Did they do a good job?
QUESTION: They did a fine job.
QUESTION: Well, we don't know yet, because you haven't -
MR. BOUCHER: I know. I don't have a full transcript of John
Holum's remarks. He is quoted in different stories in different
ways. He said in one story, he doesn't know exactly when the
President is going to make his decision, whether it is days or
weeks away. Let's make clear where we stand on this then.
The President has said he expects to make the decision in the
next few weeks. We've described to you from here, from the White
House, from the Defense Department the process under way whereby
the President would receive a - what's it called - Deployment
Readiness Report - is that what that acronym stands for? -
receive a report from the Pentagon on deployments. The President
will also receive advice of his key advisors, and make a decision
at an appropriate time. As with other presidential decisions, I
cannot predict exactly when that would happen, but we have
described the kind of process we're going through to you as we go
forward.
QUESTION: And this was just likely perhaps a misquote, or -
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have the full transcript, so I don't know
how the quote was taken, should I say.
(The briefing was concluded at 2:00 p.m.)
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