PUERTO RICO HERALD: DOD Briefings

DOD BRIEFING - April 19, 2001

SPEAKER: REAR ADMIRAL CRAIG QUIGLEY, DEPUTY ASSISTANT

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, PUBLIC AFFAIRS

April 19, 2001
Political Transcripts by Federal Document Clearing House
Copyright © 2001 Federal Document Clearing House, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

QUESTION: OK. On Vieques ? Yesterday the attorney general of Puerto Rico presented legislation, (inaudible) legislation. The objectives are to prevent the Navy from training, and if the Navy decides to proceed with this training scheduled for next week, to take the Navy to court, issue an injunction.

At that press conference where the attorney general presented this draft legislation, and the Puerto Rico legislature had said that they were going to, you know, proceed with quick, prompt hearings and probably enact it at the beginning of the week, she said that the legislation does not violate the presidential directive, but once again, she reiterated the governor's position that the agreement does not exist because in essence when Congress adopted the law, the defense authorization bill, it changed the agreement. What's the department's position on that?

Until there is legislation, we cannot really understand what a possible impact there might be.

QUIGLEY: It's our longstanding practice not to comment on draft legislation because it changes so often between the time it's introduced and the time that it ultimately is approved, if ever approved, by a legislature or one of the houses of Congress.

I would have to do a comparison of the agreement that was signed by the president and the governor and compare that to the language in the authorization bill, which became law, to see if there are any differences between the two, but I'm not aware of any.

I think the law was specifically crafted to be in compliance with the agreement, so I'm not aware of any differences.

QUESTION: When she mentions the differences or how Congress changed it, it was the specific mention of the transfer of the land. The acreage that will be transferred to Puerto Rico is not as much as it originally was planned. Part of it is going to Interior, Fish and Wildlife Services versus GSA. And it's going to the municipality versus the government.

So those were minor or major changes depending upon whose perspective, and that's why she is saying: Well, that changed the agreement, the agreement doesn't exist.

QUIGLEY: You got me. I'm sorry, we'd have to have our attorneys take a close look at that and try to discern the difference between the two. I don't know.

QUESTION: And as a follow-up to that, the Navy has issued a report to members of the Armed Services -- Senate Arms and House Armed Services -- detailing the incidence of violence on the range, trespassing, et cetera. Six men and women have been reported to have been injured. There has even been one bomb threat and other incidents, while the government of Puerto Rico claims there has only been one minor incident. Does the department believe that this is a major or minor incident?

And as a follow-up to that, does the department feel that the government of Puerto Rico is complying with their part of the deal, agreement or directive by providing or not providing adequate security for the range?

QUIGLEY: I think that the instances -- let me try to remember your question -- the instances of the disparity and the numbers of events that the Puerto Rican law enforcement authorities and Navy security forces have come up with, we're trying to provide those --and I don't know if we've done that yet -- to the Puerto Rican law enforcement authorities to make sure that we're on the same page there.

But there are several more instances that the Navy, at least, considers significant in that either people were injured or certainly they were threatened with injury of rocks and bottles and things of that sort during the course of these events.

QUIGLEY: And so, I guess I'd put it, we're comparing notes to make sure that we're talking about the same events on the same dates in the same locations. And if they're not aware of that, then we'll be glad to provide the knowledge as we understand it of the particulars of those incidents on those dates.

And again, I am not aware of anything, to date at least, that says that the agreement does not remain in force. And it is our sincere desire that the agreement be the foundation for the way ahead, both in the conduct and frequency of training, turnover of land, turnover of money. That, we think, was painstakingly worked out over many months and is a very good foundation on which to build and move ahead. And we would hope that the governor and the commonwealth government would stay in the terms of the agreement and we could move ahead.

QUESTION: But in light of the number of incidents, whether we have to, you know, be on the same page, but in light of the number of incidents do you feel that the government of Puerto Rico has been providing the adequate security to prevent these incidents, or at least in spirit of the agreement?

QUIGLEY: Well, I think that's all going to be part of that same process of sharing information with the Puerto Rican law enforcement authorities to make sure that they have the information that we have. And maybe records locally differ from those held in San Juan, or I don't know.

But that's all a part of this information sharing that we're going to try to make sure that we're on the same page and that they understand this event happened at this place at this time. Do you have that? Well, here are the particulars. And so that we understand that we're talking about the same frame of reference here.

QUESTION: Is the department considering beefing up security for the upcoming training scheduled for next week?

QUIGLEY: I can't discuss any security preparations that might be considered. I'm sorry.

QUESTION: In that vein, the department, as I understand it, sent a group of people -- I'm not sure if it was the Defense Department or the Navy Department -- sent a group of people to Vieques or to Puerto Rico early this week to discuss the security situation. Can you update us on what the result of those discussions were? Are you now satisfied that the local authorities are going to provide security? QUIGLEY: I don't know. I believe they went down two days ago, but it was done under the Navy Department auspices.

QUESTION: And a related question, the land transfer is now scheduled for May 1, or by May 1, I think, is the way the agreement is worded. Does the department intend to continue with that, on that schedule at this point?

QUIGLEY: Yes, indeed, as long as the agreement remains in force, we plan on complying with it.

QUESTION: Well, would the mere introduction, not necessarily the passage, but the introduction of anti-noise legislation violate the agreement, or does it have to be passed?

DOD BRIEFING - April 24, 2001

SPEAKER: REAR ADMIRAL CRAIG QUIGLEY, DEPUTY ASSISTANT

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, PUBLIC AFFAIRS

QUESTION: Yes, on Vieques , the legislature of Puerto Rico adopted noise control legislation designed to prevent Navy training in Vieques , particularly the Enterprise battle group scheduled to train this weekend. The governor' set to sign it. And also the attorney general of Puerto Rico has the injunction already drafted, so as soon as the governor signs it, they'll go to court to issue the injunction to prevent Navy training.

Do you still believe that the legislation and the injunction are in the spirit of the agreement? Or will, in effect, this be able to delay training?

QUIGLEY: I don't know. We'll have to see what the final language of the legislation says and have our lawyers take a look at it and see what their advice is on the way ahead.

QUESTION: OK. Last week from this podium you confirmed that a Navy team had gone down to Puerto Rico for talks with the security personnel in Puerto Rico to make sure everybody was on the same page, agreeing on the measures to be taken. There have been increased threats by protesters that they are going to try to trespass on the range to prevent training.

QUESTION: Has a plan been agreed upon? Are they considering blockading the island, or at least the inner range of Vieques?

QUIGLEY: A plan has been agreed upon. I think it's a good plan. I think it meets all the anticipated security needs of the training that is scheduled to start as early as Friday.

QUESTION: OK. Another follow-up: Because of the legislation and the steps that the government of Puerto Rico has been taking in the last couple of days and weeks, Senator Inhofe, Congressman Stump, Congressman Hansen have stated publicly that they don't believe that the land transfer scheduled for May 1 will take place because of Puerto Rico 's actions in violation of the agreement. Does the department still intend to proceed with the land transfer of the western part of Vieques?

QUESTION: Just to back up your answer a minute ago about the security arrangement, does that still call for a role by the local authorities in terms of maintaining the perimeter, et cetera?

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Defense Department Regular News Briefing - 4/19/01

Defense Department Regular News Briefing - 4/24/01

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DOD BRIEFING - April 19, 2001

SPEAKER: REAR ADMIRAL CRAIG QUIGLEY, DEPUTY ASSISTANT

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, PUBLIC AFFAIRS

DOD BRIEFING - April 24, 2001

SPEAKER: REAR ADMIRAL CRAIG QUIGLEY, DEPUTY ASSISTANT

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, PUBLIC AFFAIRS