[EXCERPTS] INTERVIEW: DAVID JOHNSON ON CLINTON, CONGRESS, FOREIGN POLICY
(From USIA's "U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda," March 1997)
White House Deputy Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs David Johnson was interviewed by Contributing Editor Wendy S. Ross for the fifth issue of USIA's electronic journal "U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda."
Q: How will the administration work with the Senate to obtain its consent to ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) before it enters into force on April 29?
JOHNSON: We believe the CWC has to be dealt with on a bipartisan basis, and we are engaged in a dialogue on it with members of the Senate. U.S. ratification of the convention by the time it goes into force will allow us to help organize it, to help set up the inspection procedures, to be there first to provide what we believe will be the best possible influence. This has been a Republican and Democratic project for years -- negotiated by the Reagan administration, supported by Democratic and Republican administrations, supported by Republican and Democratic congressmen and senators, and it's something we believe is very much in the best interest of the American people. We are determined to work with the Senate to do whatever we can to move this process forward.
Q: Besides the CWC, what are the other major U.S. priorities in the area of arms control?
JOHNSON: There are two sets of major priorities that I would cite. One would be to continue our work with Russia to get START II ratified in the Russian parliament and to implement that agreement, which would significantly reduce the nuclear arms in our arsenal and in Russia's arsenal, and then, after that is done, to think about even further reductions.
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