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THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release November 6, 2000 PRESS BRIEFING BY JAKE SIEWERT The James S. Brady Briefing Room 10:45 A.M. EST Q Are you glad you signed the - vetoed the official secrets. (Laughter.) MR. SIEWERT: Thank you. All of your views were well represented to the President, and -- Q Are you taking credit for that veto, Jake? (Laughter.) MR. SIEWERT: No, no. But I did pass on what I heard from members of the press. Q Seriously, Jake, what did he say about that, why he was doing it? Did you -- Q Just to clarify that point, you're not denying it are you? MR. SIEWERT: Excuse me? Q Just to clarify his question, you're not saying -- MR. SIEWERT: I'm not commenting on it, deliberately. Q How about the position, the U.S. position on an international force? Has that changed? MR. SIEWERT: I'm not going to discuss those sorts of negotiating issues that - negotiating stances here at this podium. Q Jake, did you talk to the President at all about why he decided to veto that intelligence authorization bill? MR. SIEWERT: Yes. Q Wasn't it out of great affection for the press corps and its role? (Laughter.) MR. SIEWERT: I don't think affection or lack of affection had anything to do with it. The President thought that the bill, while other wise well-intentioned, had a provision in there that simply was not worth the risk it might have. It might well have chilled the work that you do, the work that people in government do, important work, and he didn't think that it was worth the risk that this bill would be used by those who might have an interest in not seeing information that should be in the public realm brought to light. He just did not think that this was worth the risks that were associated with that particular provision. END 11:07 A.M. EST