07/30/96 FACT SHEET: AMERICAN LEADERSHIP IN COMBATING TERRORISM (Clinton has led the campaign to combat terrorism) (670) Paris -- A Fact Sheet from the July 30 ministerial meeting of the P-8 (the industrialized nations of the world plus Russia) notes that President Clinton for three years has led an international campaign to combat terrorism in concert with the P-8 as well as with allies in the Middle East and elsewhere. Following is the official text of the Fact Sheet: (Begin text) For three years, President Clinton has led an international campaign to combat terrorism in concert with other leaders of the member countries of the Eight (the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia), as well as with allies in the Middle East and elsewhere. The president has directed that U.S. counter-terrorism policy be based on three tenets. First, the United States will make no deals with terrorists or submit to blackmail. Second, we will treat terrorists as criminals. Third, we will work to prevent terrorist acts by bringing maximum pressure on states that sponsor terrorists through sanctions, by urging other states to do the same, and by creating a robust anti-terrorism capability. At home: -- President Clinton has introduced significant new domestic counter-terrorism legislation. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act -- enacted in April -- strengthens our ability to prevent terrorist acts, identify those who commit such acts, and bring them to justice. This year, President Clinton renewed an executive order blocking assets in the United States of terrorist groups, making it more difficult for them to finance terrorism. -- The president announced on July 25 increased security measures at U.S. airports with a special focus on international flights. Steps being taken immediately include more intensive passenger screening on international flights, and more intensive screening of carry-on baggage on international and domestic flights. The Federal Aviation Administration will implement a number of additional steps, among them the deployment of state-of-the-art explosives detection systems in some airports. At the United Nations: Last October, at the 50th U.N. General Assembly, President Clinton called on all nations to join in the fight against the threats to their citizens' security posed by terrorism, crime, narcotics trafficking, illicit arms trafficking, and the smuggling of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The following steps already have been taken in response to President Clinton's call: -- In June, the U.N. Crime Commission passed a U.S. co-sponsored "International Declaration on Crime and Public Security." The president proposed this declaration in his speech before the U.N. General Assembly last October. If adopted at the U.N. General Assembly this fall, this declaration would extend world-wide the goals of regionally-adopted anti-crime and counter-terrorism measures. -- Regional efforts, which are already bringing results, were launched at meetings such as the Summit of the Americas (Miami, December 1994) and the U.S.-EU New Transatlantic Agenda (Madrid, December 1995). With Other States: -- President Clinton imposed an embargo against Iran in May 1995, depriving it of the benefits of trade and investment with the United States until it changes its unacceptable behavior. The administration continues to work to convince our allies to adopt similar policies, which will deny Tehran the revenues it needs to finance its support for terrorism. Congress has approved Iran/Libya sanctions legislation, which President Clinton will sign into law shortly. -- Twenty-nine delegations, including Israel, most Arab countries, and our European and Japanese allies, pledged support against terrorism at the "Summit of the Peacemakers" co-hosted by President Clinton and President Mubarak at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in March. -- Following the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, President Clinton and then-Israeli Prime Minister Peres signed an agreement in which our two nations agreed to cooperate on a range of counter-terrorism efforts. That agreement called for the formation of a joint counter-terrorism group, which will bring together policymakers and experts to consider practical steps to formalize cooperation. (End text) NNNN