Press Briefing by Joe Lockhart

The Briefing Room

2:20 P.M. EDT

MR. LOCKHART: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to everyone here and welcome to everyone who has brought their daughters and sons.

Q: Where's yours?

MR. LOCKHART: My daughter is at school today. A little too young, I think, for this program. I look forward to at least getting respect from a small part of the audience today, those under 10. (Laughter.)

Let me bring you up to date on a couple of things. As you know, the President is working on two different issues today -- many of you who just came back saw him at the T.C. Williams School. Just before he left here he had about a 10-minute conversation with the Attorney General who is in Littleton, Colorado. She gave him an update of the situation on the ground.

She's there to offer any help that federal law enforcement can give to the local community, listen to and talk to community leaders, law enforcement officials, and she gave the President a rundown of the situation on the ground, which would very much track the rundown that the sheriff's office and the spokesmen from there have given to you throughout the day.

We will now, this afternoon, move to the meeting shortly with Secretary General Solana. I can tell you in a way of update, as many of you saw the Pentagon brief this morning in the NATO time slot, I gave you details of the -- over the last several days, NATO forces have engaged in a series of aggressive attacks on an increasing number of military, political and economic targets. They compromise the command and control apparatus of Milosevic's repressive forces. These national targets include radio and television relay stations, the ruling party building, and other command and control facilities and forces in the field in Kosovo.

As I believe the Pentagon discussed in great detail this morning, there are increasing signs that Yugoslav forces are hurting, their ability to conduct combat operations is being reduced, there are increasing signs of defections from the military. There are signs it is becoming more and more difficult to recruit conscripts, and that the ability to support and resupply the troops in Kosovo is eroding.

Many of you know the President spent several hours last night with Prime Minister Blair. They discussed the situation on the ground in Kosovo, the NATO Summit that will start tomorrow. Their message was clear and united: NATO is determined; they will continue the air campaign, will continue to attack Belgrade's military and industrial complex, and continue to tighten the pressure on Milosevic's ability to resupply his forces until our military objectives have been met.

Questions?

Q: Has the President heard from Chernomyrdin, who's left Belgrade?

MR. LOCKHART: We have not, as of -- I checked this a little bit ago. We have not received any report from his visit to Belgrade, one way or the other.

Q: What about the attack on the residence, President Milosevic's residence? Some people are suggesting that the NATO allies are looking for a way to kill President Milosevic. Is that the objective?

MR. LOCKHART: No, that's not the objective. The building that was targeted is an important communication, and command and control facility. We have targeted -- that target is part of NATO's overall effort to seriously damage Belgrade's war machine, to take away the instruments of repression in Kosovo. We will continue to hit targets that have military value like that.

Q: Can I follow up on that? Can I follow up on that?

MR. LOCKHART: Let's go here.

Q: When you say communication, command and control site -- how so?

MR. LOCKHART: I'm not going to get into great detail, but we believe that the military and political command and control structure is tightly intertwined in Yugoslavia and Belgrade, and we're going to continue to hit those sites.

Q: Well, if anyplace Milosevic goes, he brings with him the equivalent of the President's black box or whatever, is anywhere Milosevic is, by definition, a command and control site?

MR. LOCKHART: Well, clearly, Milosevic was not there, but --

Q: I'm not asking that. I'm saying --

MR. LOCKHART: Well, let me finish my answer, David. Clearly, Milosevic was not there, but we believe we're going to go after targets that have command and control functions. That target had one, and that target was hit.

Q: Some are saying that by attacking a residence, whether he was there or not, this was an assassination attempt.

MR. LOCKHART: Well, as Wolf said, probably the -- some are saying that, the same some that Wolf referenced, and those some are still wrong.

Try again.

Q: If Milosevic carries with him the apparatus to order his troops about, can we target him, or not -- excuse me -- can we target that black box or whatever it is, and say that that's the command and control center?

MR. LOCKHART: Let me articulate our policy. Milosevic, himself, is not a target; his military capabilities are. And we'll continue to target and hit those military capabilities.

Q: Did NATO ascertain Milosevic was not there before carrying that attack?

MR. LOCKHART: I can tell you that NATO had no expectation that Milosevic would be there at the time.

Q: Is his presidential palace on the list of potential targets?

MR. LOCKHART: I'm not going to talk about what's on a list or not on a list.

Q: Joe, the list of things that you had that the bombing has accomplished, you listed a bunch of things -- ability to conduct combat operations and eroding his ability to resupply, that sort of thing. Does that, by definition, make this a more permissive environment than it has been?

MR. LOCKHART: No, I think there's a permissive environment or non-permissive; is either hostile or non-hostile. So it either is or it isn't.

Q: Are we in line with the British on what constitutes the circumstances whereby ground forces --

MR. LOCKHART: I think if you listened to the press conference this morning between Secretary Albright and Foreign Minister Cook, they very much spoke in agreement.

Q: So when Robin Cook says that it doesn't necessarily take a peace agreement for ground forces to go in, that's our policy as well?

MR. LOCKHART: No, our policy is there has to be some sort of agreement. I think the Foreign Minister spoke to that -- well, he spoke again today, and let me just tell you what our policy is and you can go and put your questions to him. Our policy is, an agreement can be manifested in several different ways, but we believe that there needs to be a permissive environment, a non-hostile environment, which would come subsequent to an agreement.

Q: You, yourself, personally have said that a permissive environment is only when there is a deal with Milosevic and we have his permission to go into the country.

MR. LOCKHART: And I have said that we can have an agreement that can manifest itself in several ways, but you either have a hostile or a non-hostile environment.

Q: So you've defined "permissive" --

MR. LOCKHART: And I'm not changing my definition here.

Q: So when Cook says there may be circumstances in which Belgrade has not signed a formal treaty in which it may be appropriate to go in with ground troops, that's not a change in policy?

MR. LOCKHART: No. And I've said there's different ways to manifest an agreement. We have never said that something has to be -- all the details have to be signed, everything has to be signed off on, but we have to have an agreement. It has to be a non-hostile environment.

Q: Tell us more about the disaffections.

Q: Cook says that it will be a joint NATO decision when it's safe to commit ground forces. He seemed to leave that pretty open. He said, we're not going to fight our way in. When it's safe to commit ground forces, it will be a joint NATO decision. He didn't talk about an agreement, signed or otherwise.

MR. LOCKHART: Well, I think our position is clear, and I don't believe it's at odds. But let me, again, restate our position. In the absence of some sort of agreement, and some sort of permissive environment, our policy does not favor ground troops.

Q: But a permissive environment -- he seems to suggest that a permissive environment and an agreement are two different things.

MR. LOCKHART: Well, I can only tell you what our view is. I think -- I watched him this morning, and I thought he was pretty clear, but you can put any questions that you're not clear about directly to him.

Q: But does an agreement have to include his agreement for our ground troops to go in --

MR. LOCKHART: The agreement can manifest itself in a variety of ways, but it has to -- the environment has to not be hostile.

Q: So it doesn't take any more Milosevic saying, yes, I grant permission for ground troops to come in.

MR. LOCKHART: There has to be an agreement so that it is a permissive environment.

Q: I'm just asking you a straight question. Does it take Milosevic saying, yes, I accede to ground troops, or not?

MR. LOCKHART: Again, an agreement can manifest its way in a variety of ways, but we do not favor introducing ground troops into a situation that's a hostile environment, and that means there has to be some sort of agreement. This has to be post-some sort of agreement.

Q: With Milosevic?

MR. LOCKHART: With him or whoever else is there.

Q: -- about going to the Security Council to get some sort of -- suggested that there was some other way, an additional way, of going to the Security Council and imposing an agreement on Milosevic. Where does the administration come down on that, and do you have any plans to go into the Security Council?

MR. LOCKHART: Well, I think the reality of the situation is, the Russian views are quite well-known on a post-implementation force. It's one of the areas that we don't agree on. So I don't think it's a realistic proposition that there would be something that we could agree on that would get through the U.N. Security Council.

Q: In other words, the report today that there is pressure from the British and French to get the U.S. to look more seriously at the use of ground troops in something other than the most permissive environment, is that the case?

MR. LOCKHART: No. I think that the British, the French, the Americans and NATO are in complete agreement that we are highly confident that this air campaign will work, and this is the option that we're using.

The President met with the Prime Minister last night for almost three hours. They talked on a wide variety of subjects. The discussion of ground troops, which has dominated much of our conversation, certainly was part of that. But the British position, the American position, the French position, the NATO position, is we don't favor introducing ground troops.

Q: What about this talk of the semi-permissive environment?

MR. LOCKHART: Well, I don't know what it means. I honestly -- I know what a permissive environment is, I know what a non-permissive environment is. Our military knows what those things are. I don't know what the middle ground, or what it means.

Q: Joe, can you tell us some more about what communities have volunteered to take in refugees, and where exactly these refugees are now going to be going?

MR. LOCKHART: I can't tell you with any detail at this point. I can tell you that part of the team that will be processing and doing the work to bring refugees to this country is already in the region, from the State Department. The rest of the team, I believe, is leaving tomorrow. They will go and make an assessment and, as quickly as they can, come back with a plan of how we do this.

We have had anecdotal information of communities who want to be involved. One of the ways that this will work is through the 800, the USAID-RELIEF. That is a good, central location for those who want to find a way to participate. But right now we're concentrating on the screening process, how that will work and how and when we will begin to move people.

Q: Joe, will all the refugees be linked with families, or might there be others who are --

MR. LOCKHART: I think it will be a combination. I think priority will go to those who do have families here. I think they'll be reunited with people with relations and family members. But I think we will also look at people who are in urgent need, which, quite frankly, is the vast majority of all these people. But I think we'll look to see first toward reuniting families.

Q: Joe, when you said that an agreement can manifest itself in a variety of ways, could you give an example or two of beyond a written agreement, what other --

MR. LOCKHART: Again, I can't look into the future and -- I'm just trying to say that we don't necessarily have to have a signing ceremony that's lit with cameras and people shaking hands. I think we will know and our military will know what's a permissive environment and what isn't. And we, as a government and as an alliance, don't favor putting ground troops into something that's hostile.

Q: But you were stating the position of the administration. I'm not asking you to speculate ultimately what kind of form any agreement will take. What I'm asking you to do is to clarify what that language means. When you say the agreement can manifest itself in a variety of ways, beyond written agreement, which we're all familiar with, could you just explain what --

MR. LOCKHART: There are a variety of ways within written agreements, and I can't speculate. We are in a situation now where we're prosecuting an air campaign, we've made the demands well-known what Milosevic needs to do, and I'm not able to, nor willing to look into the future on how. But I'm responding to an important question, and it's an important question I think people have a right to have an answer on, on how we see what conditions we need for the deployment of ground troops. And our position has been clear and consistent from the very first day that a non-permissive, a hostile environment, we do not favor putting ground troops into.

Q: Joe, for example, Robin Cook said this morning that you can put ground troops if we are near -- his word -- to a cease-fire. Is that our position as well?

MR. LOCKHART: Our position is, we need some sort of agreement, and in the aftermath of an agreement again -- and I can't tell you how that manifests itself -- we will be working toward that. But I can't specify that, but our position is that to have a permissive environment you need some sort of agreement and that's what we'll work toward.

Q: How soon should Milosevic read the plan by NATO to update its assessment on the use of ground troops?

MR. LOCKHART: He should read it -- I can't speculate on how he'll read it or how he should, but I believe it's prudent military planning to periodically update the assessments and the plans that you have on the books.

Q: Joe, in all the appraisals that you've received from the Pentagon and elsewhere that you use to compile the kind of assessment that you gave us at the top of this briefing, have you ever heard anyone say that NATO is winning this war?

MR. LOCKHART: Listen, I think you've heard the President say that we will persist and we will prevail. We will grind down -- we, every day, make the price higher for Milosevic. Every single day, the instruments of his repression will be ground down. We will continue to do that. Now, I'm not -- we have prosecuted this now for a little over four weeks and we will continue to do it until we prevail.

Q: But, again, has anyone ever said, well, we're now winning?

MR. LOCKHART: Everyone has said that to date this has been an effective air campaign and they're highly confident we'll reach our military objectives.

Q: So the answer is no?

MR. LOCKHART: Peter, this is a game that I'm not going to continue to play.

Q: Personal targets, Joe?

MR. LOCKHART: Pardon?

Q: More personal targets?

MR. LOCKHART: I'm not going to get into the specifics of the targeting, only to say I think you'll see more of what you've seen.

Q: The disaffections, you say, and the lack of recruiting, well, how do you know that?

MR. LOCKHART: I'd refer you to a comprehensive and excellent briefing this morning at the Pentagon from their intelligence experts. They went through a lot of detail, and I'd draw your attention to that.

Q: Disaffections from Kosovo, or in --

MR. LOCKHART: Both. I think they've found evidence of desertions and evidence of difficulty and resupplying through recruiting in Serbia.

Q: Joe, two days ago, you in the morning and then Madeleine Albright said in the same -- that day, Guantanamo was still being prepared. Yesterday, we hear from Vice President Gore that Guantanamo is out and they'll be brought here. When was the change --

MR. LOCKHART: We made the decision yesterday, and as of yesterday, Guantanamo was prepared to take the first group of 500 refugees, and they were only stood down yesterday.

Q: Joe, you said a second ago people have a right to know what you mean by a permissive environment.

MR. LOCKHART: That's right.

Q: Why can't you answer a fundamental question? Does Milosevic have to agree to the presence of American ground troops or not?

MR. LOCKHART: We have to have an agreement that meets the demands. One of the demands is an international security force, led by or the command and control of NATO. That is one of the demands. That is clear.

Q: An agreement between who and who?

MR. LOCKHART: Whatever the ruling authority is.

Q: The ruling authority of Yugoslavia?

MR. LOCKHART: Yes.

Q: Joe, has there been some holdup in the plan to call up the reservists?

MR. LOCKHART: Not that I'm aware of. I think Secretary Cohen, when he was here on Tuesday, talked about them doing the final work on identifying which units that would be called up. As soon as that's done, it will come to the President, and I expect the President to quickly turn that around.

Q: Can you speak to a report that this was going to be scaled back from 33,000 to about 20,000?

MR. LOCKHART: I can't only because I don't know I'm not sure I ever spoke to the initial report.

Q: Joe, can I ask one more question on this agreement definition? Can agreement be implicit so that if, say, Serbian forces are basically destroyed -- opposition that there's an implicit agreement that U.S. ground troops are allowed?

MR. LOCKHART: Again, I don't know how the agreement manifests itself, but I'm not sure that there can be an implicit understanding.

Q: Do you think U.S. considers the U.N. a failure, now, because NATO has to go in Kosovo, not the U.N. And many members feel the same way in the U.N.?

MR. LOCKHART: No, I don't think so. I think this is a situation in Europe. This is exactly why we have NATO. We're going to spend the next three days talking about both commemorating 50 years of the most important alliance we have, military and political alliance we have, and all that it's done to keep Europe safe in the last 50 years, in the last half of this century, and the challenges that NATO as an organization faces moving into the next century.

So I think this is a difficult issue for NATO. No one believes that any of these decisions are easy, or any of these issues are easy. But this is exactly why we have NATO, and it's a test, and will ultimately demonstrate the importance and utility of NATO.

Q: Just to follow, I'm sorry. The U.S. still favors U.N. support, and has faith and trust the way it did for the last 50 years?

MR. LOCKHART: Sure. I mean, the United States is still a full partner in the United Nations around the world. And we will continue to be.

Q: Joe, do we know if the Russians will send anybody of any diplomatic level to the meeting?

MR. LOCKHART: Can we get that answer?

MR. LEAVY: Yes. We're still hopeful that there will be --

MR. LOCKHART: Okay. We do not have the final answer. I don't expect that there will be a senior level -- I don't expect that there will be a senior level delegation, but there could be some diplomatic representation. We'd encourage them to do that.

Q: Joe, at the event out in Alexandria, the President talked about sending a new initiative up to the Hill. Do you have any details on that?

MR. LOCKHART: Well, there are a couple of things. I think I talked a little bit yesterday about the omnibus crime bill. The President, in the State of the Union, talked about doing a new crime bill with a particular emphasis on juvenile justice. We've talked about some of the items, including the Brady Bill extension. I expect that to come sometime next week, to go up to the Hill, and we'll do something to commemorate that here.

The second issue is, we have the reauthorization of the -- the Elementary and Secondary Education reauthorization -- there's some acronym for that -- which will come sometime next week. Within that is some --

MR. TOIV: That will not come next week.

MR. LOCKHART: Okay. Well, within that, which the President will continue to talk about, there is an element of the Safe and Drug-Free School Partnership. We'll have some ideas on that next week.

Q: Were there anything on either of these bills that have been added since Littleton?

MR. LOCKHART: I don't know that we've added anything. I think, as you know from the State of the Union and some of the things we've talked about, we've had some ongoing initiatives that we think address important issues. I'm not aware that there's anything in addition that will come.

Q: -- no legislative response to Littleton?

MR. LOCKHART: No, right. I think we have a number of legislative issues that are quite relevant to the discussions that are ongoing, now, in this country, and we look forward to talking about those in greater detail next week.

Q: What did Reno tell the President about the situation?

MR. LOCKHART: She gave him an update of the investigation on the ground. And again, I think she gave him the kind of public information that you all have seen, and the kind of private information that the investigators for now would like to keep private, and also gave the President a sense of the community, and how they've pulled together on the ground. I think the President mentioned that there's some extraordinary people in Littleton and in the surrounding areas who have pulled the community together. The Vice President has reached out and talked to a number of people there. And there, again, is some extraordinary work being done.

Q: Has the President addressed the idea of security within schools? Some now say that security guards within schools ought to be armed, that's the only way to protect students. Even Governor Ventura, I believe, now supports it. Has the President addressed that? What about armed security guards?

MR. LOCKHART: I don't know if -- I haven't heard any particular discussion on arming all security guards within school. I know that we have a program that we'll continue to talk about, and talk some more about in the coming days, about using the COPS program to help with school resource officers. But I would have to check on whether there's any specific ideas on --

Q: Did the Attorney General discuss with him these two big bombs that have now been found in the cafeteria --

MR. LOCKHART: I think she gave him the latest information, which I think was reported out within the last half an hour by the spokespeople out there.

Q: He amended the amount of weapons and explosives that are now available to kids these days. Does he think his proposals go far enough -- the Brady Bill and things like that? Does he think he's now going to have to revise it and increase the --

MR. LOCKHART: Well, I think the proposals represent the best thinking that we have within our government, now, on how to deal with this. We have, through the years, moved very aggressively on the issue of guns and violence, particularly with youth. There have been a series of laws we've passed -- with quite stiff opposition at times. We have gone back every year and tried to get as much as we can; this year will be no different. We will have a comprehensive crime bill this year. I think that, in its scope, will be like the first omnibus crime bill the President set up, and we are looking forward to debating these issues and getting this moving quickly.

Q: Joe, on gun control, the Brady Bill extension -- forgive me, I don't remember -- what is the Brady Bill extension, and will there be any specific new gun control initiatives the President will include in it?

MR. LOCKHART: There will be, and -- to the Brady Bill extension we've already talked about, which is there used to be a five-day waiting period for handguns. That lapsed under the first Brady Bill, and we are now proposing instituting a three-day, which --

Q: Why don't you want to do a five-day?

MR. LOCKHART: Well, this -- you have to think of this -- it lapsed in the context of having this national insta-check system, but we believe even with a national insta-check system, we ought to have a three-day, just -- if nothing else, as a cooling off period for those who would not be eliminated under an insta-check.

Q: Joe, what about the additional gun control measures?

MR. LOCKHART: We'll have additional ideas to discuss next week.

Q: Joe, guns will still be available after five days and kids can have access to guns. Do you think anybody thinking in the administration or Congress --

MR. LOCKHART: It's one of the things the President has already talked about and will be included in the legislation he'll talk about next week, which is holding parents, adults responsible, criminally responsible for the transfer of firearms to -- I think, those of you who were on Capitol Hill, there's a bill introduced today by Carolyn McCarthy that has a number of the same ideas that the President's legislation will represent next week that seeks to toughen the penalties for either parents or adults with some responsibility with children to stiffen the penalties and make the price much higher for those who allow children to get access to guns.

Q: Is it correct that the President has to authorize, issue a special order authorizing the use of the Apache helicopters in Albania?

MR. LOCKHART: I believe he does have to authorize that.

Q: Why are those particular units under that sort of a structure, because everything else is under Wesley Clark's command and also, when will that authorization come through?

MR. LOCKHART: The first part is because I don't know, and the other is, I'll let you know when we know.

Q: Do you expect the air campaign to be substantially improved by the introduction of these helicopters?

MR. LOCKHART: I think it's just one part of the air campaign which continues to intensify.

Q: Has Russia said that they are not coming and you all are hopeful that, in fact, some kind of information group will attend? What exactly --

MR. LOCKHART: No, I think as far as the foreign minister or a high-ranking official, foreign ministry or other official coming, they've indicated that they don't plan to attend. I don't know that we have heard definitively on whether they would send a diplomatic representative to represent them in the non-NATO part. I think they've made clear, in a variety of ways, of their problems with NATO's operation and their unwillingness to participate in the NATO portion of this.

Q: Wait, they could have participated in the NATO portion of this?

MR. LOCKHART: Yes. But there are also things that are happening later on in the weekend which they might --

Q: Joe, in the last two days both you and the President have said we need to take a look at the vast access to violent material on the Internet or the violent content of video games. The President was careful to talk about first amendment issues. So in what context should we frame that? Is he talking about parental oversight? Is he talking about legislative remedies? What does that mean?

MR. LOCKHART: I think he's talking about everything. I don't think you can look at this issue through the lens of any one particular part of it. I don't think you can look at these tragedies that we've had only through the lens of gun control issues, because there are certainly cultural and societal; you can't look at it just through family issues. I mean, there are those who will argue that you can do it that way, all we need to do is toughen this law. Or there are those who argue that somehow it's a reflection of the breakdown of American families in our society.

I think the President believes this is a combination. We need to continue to move forward with the ideas that we have in the pipeline, as far as legislation. We need to continue -- you know, for instance, we've done a lot of work with on-line companies and Internet service providers as far as trying to protect children in the aftermath of the Supreme Court striking down the CDA.

So I think we have to take -- the President believes we have to take a comprehensive approach that looks at all of these elements and balance these issues. And we are going to continue to do that. I think sessions like today are important for the President to be exposed to children, to peer counselors, to mediators, to get a sense of exactly what it is we can do.

Q: Joe, yesterday you said the information was not conclusive, all the information wasn't in. But today the President did come out and say, as you said, that there were a lot of components to this issue. One component was the racial aspect -- it was on Hitler's birthday and they hated African Americans, as well as Hispanics. Will the President deal with this on a racial issue and dispatch his new office on race to that area possibly?

MR. LOCKHART: Well, again, we'll wait until we have some more information before we make that decision. I think what the President more broadly was speaking about -- and he spoke about this repeatedly -- is the problem that he says bedevils us at the end of the century around the world. We as a nation, as a culture, deal with it as well or better than anyone in the world about our ethnic differences -- whether they be racial, religious -- and defining ourselves in a way that we create who we are by downgrading someone else.

We obviously have tragic incidents in this country -- some that are based on race, some based on other hatreds. But we need to continue, as the President has said repeatedly, to stay focused on that issue and work to overcome them, whether it be racial or otherwise.

Q: Can I follow up? On a related note, is this the kind of subject that office would be dealing with, though, if they were to take it on?

MR. LOCKHART: Sure. I think if as the information comes in we find that one of the underlying problems, one of the underlying causes of this situation were racial problems, either in the school or in the community, I'm certain that Ben and his office would try to become involved and bring their resources to bear.

Q: Greg Craig spoke up at the Vermont Law School on Tuesday and he said -- he described what he said was one of the most depressing parts of the impeachment process for the President, and he referred to the 100-0 vote in the Old Senate Chamber to go forward with the impeachment trial. And Craig said, the President thought the partisan nature and the unfairness of the process had been lost and we are now beginning from scratch, and that his spirits were very low as a result of that.

How would you square that with your statements here that the main objection at the White House was to the partisanship of the process, that the President's lowest moment came --

MR. LOCKHART: Well, I speak for myself and I speak here as accurately as I know how to do, and Greg will speak for himself.

Q: Joe, is it a given that Clinton will go to the Denver, to Littleton, and it's just a matter of timing?

MR. LOCKHART: No, I think as happens in some instances like this, the local community comes together. If the local community believes there's an appropriate role for the President, I think the President would be anxious to play any positive role he can. But this is the sort of thing that takes time. They're sorting out some fairly traumatic and significant issues on the ground there, so it will take time.

Q: When did Secretary General Solana notify the White House that it wanted the military to update its assessment of the use of ground troops? Can we assume it was after your briefing when you addressed the subject yesterday?

MR. LOCKHART: That's certainly my understanding.

Q: And is this something -- is it your view that the Pentagon does, and President Clinton would want to review before the information is sent back to NATO?

MR. LOCKHART: No. This is something that the military command within NATO will do. It's basically just a periodic -- excuse me, it's just an update of what they did in October. And that review will be available to the Secretary General, and then to all of the allied countries.

Q: Joe, getting back to the summit. What would you say are the President's personal goals, since he's the host for this summit, on the summit's decision making on Kosovo itself, and on the future of NATO?

MR. LOCKHART: I think the President -- you know, I think as Sandy Berger said here on Tuesday -- or if he didn't say it, he said to me -- which is, the summit will focus a little bit on the past, a lot on the future, and a lot on the present. The past -- we will commemorate 50 years of a very important alliance. But we will also be looking to the future, as far as how NATO is structured, how we can adapt the forces to the changing realities in Europe, how we can deal with things like weapons of mass destruction. So I think there are a series of challenges that we will face, and I think there will be a number of important statements to make on the future of NATO.

Dealing with the President, I think the President very much wants to meet with the 19 countries and come out of this with a strong, unified statement that we will continue to prosecute this air campaign, that this air campaign will prevail with persistence, and that the NATO alliance is unified in meeting the goal, and we will continue on with this campaign until we meet our goals.

MR. LEAVY: We actually have got to get the stills going.

MR. LOCKHART: Ah.

Q: Thank you.

MR. LOCKHART: Thank you.

END 2:55 P.M. EDT