10 April 1998
(Roundtable includes scientists, foreign policy advisors) (570) Washington -- President Clinton led a roundtable discussion April 10 with some of his senior foreign policy advisors and some of the government's leading experts on genetic engineering and biological weapons. "This is a subject the President had wanted to schedule time to get a thorough briefing on, and then have a discussion about," White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry told reporters. The participants in the meeting talked about advances in technology and the implications those advances pose for responding to the threat of biological weapons, McCurry said. Much of the discussion, he added, involved classified material relating to threat assessments and how the United States responds to particular scenarios. The White House Press Secretary noted that Clinton had talked in his State of the Union message to Congress in January about ways to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention and suggested that the United States needs a new international inspection system to detect and deter cheating. In addition, Clinton felt it was very important for him to be fully briefed on the dangers of genetic engineering, McCurry said. Following is the White House announcement on the roundtable issued prior to the event: (begin text) ROUNDTABLE ON GENETIC ENGINEERING AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS April 10, 1998 President Clinton will lead a roundtable discussion Friday morning on genetic engineering and biological weapons. He will be joined by a small group of outside experts and several Cabinet members. The purpose of the roundtable is to discuss advances in technology and their potential implications for controlling and responding to the biological weapons threat. The President has a longstanding interest in these issues. This roundtable discussion will provide him with an opportunity to talk with some of the country's leading experts about both the opportunities and the national security challenges posed by genetic engineering and biotechnology. In his State of the Union address, the President underscored the importance of preventing the use of disease as a weapon of war or terror by strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention with a new international inspection system to detect and deter cheating. This is one of the issues which will be addressed, along with domestic and military efforts to respond to biological warfare threats. Participants in the roundtable include: Administration Participants: President Secretary of Defense William Cohen Attorney General Janet Reno Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet National Security Advisor Sandy Berger Deputy Chief of Staff John Podesta Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre Under Secretary of State John Holum General Joseph Ralston, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Deputy National Security Advisor Jim Steinberg Major General Don Kerrick, Deputy National Security Advisor Kerri-Ann Jones, Acting Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy Outside Experts: RADM Frank Young Former Head of the Office of Emergency Preparedness, Public Health Service Former Commissioner, FDA Craig Venter President, Institute for Genomic Research Joshua Lederberg Nobel Laureate President Emeritus, Rockefeller University Thomas Monath Vice President, Oravax Former Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases Official Lucille Shapiro Professor of Genetics and Chairman of the Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine Jerome Hauer Director, Mayor's Office of Emergency Management for the City of New York Barbara Rosenberg Director of Chemical and Biological Projects, Federation of American Scientists Research Professor of Environmental Science, State University of New York (end text)