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Rumor Mill News comment:

In case you haven't seen the article about the secret meeting the President had with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I have included it. Please note that it was held in a windowless high-security room at Fort McNair. If this was simply a meeting to discuss military preparedness, why wasn't it held in the Oval office? Other military meetings have been held in the Oval office.

Could the Generals have known that the Oval office is bugged?

Also note that the President appeared to give a synopsis of the meeting "before the reporters were ushered away." In other words, a prescripted cover story was given to the reporters to explain why this meeting was taking place in the high security room of Fort McNair.

Rumor Mill News stands by its statement that the meeting took place so that the combined military chiefs could deliver a message to the President and his Secretary of Defense. Rumor Mill News was told by sources within military intelligence that the President was told not to create any "distractions" like "Wag the Dog" to get himself out of the mess he is in.

Rumor Mill News could not persuade our Source to confirm that the "football" had been taken away from the President. The "football" is a briefcase which contains the launch codes for the nuclear weapons.

According to knowledgeable military men who went through Watergate, the "football" was removed from President Nixon at about this same time.

Tuesday September 15 1998 7:01 PM EDT

Clinton Pledges To Keep U.S. Military Strong

Laurence McQuillan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton discussed military readiness and funding with the nation's top generals and admirals Tuesday and vowed to ensure that U.S. armed forces will ``dominate the battlefields of the future.'

Facing concerns that military budget restraints have gone too far, Clinton met in a windowless high-security room at Fort McNair in Washington with the commanders-in-chief (CINCs) of U.S. forces around the world and heard their concerns.

``Readiness must be our number one priority,'' Clinton said at the beginning of the session, before reporters were ushered away.

With Defense Secretary William Cohen and Gen. Henry Shelton, chairman of the joint chiefs, beside him, Clinton said U.S. forces overseas facing potential combat situations were ``highly ready'' and that ``our overall force is fully capable of carrying out our national military strategy.'

``I'm determined that we don't relax our vigilance to keep our forces ready to protect our security today and well into the 21st century,'' Clinton said.

Defending post-Cold-War-era spending cuts, Clinton said: ''We struck a prudent balance between short-term readiness and longer-term modernization, so that our fighting forces will have the cutting-edge technology they need ... to dominate the battlefields of the future.'

Debate has intensified over military spending limits imposed last year in the balanced budget agreement between the White House and Congress.

That accord, which prevents any real growth in annual defense spending, has drawn criticism for failing to provide adequate support for the nation's military needs.

Critics, including influential Republican members of Congress, contend that cuts in defense budgets over the past decade have already weakened the military and fear the current cap on higher spending may make the situation worse.

Pentagon officials have stressed that the U.S. military is still the most powerful in the world by far and that front-line units such as those based in South Korea, Bosnia, the Gulf and elsewhere are well armed and prepared.

Senior officials concede there is growing ``anecdotal evidence'' that some back-up units are not at full strength and that the costs of daily operations are threatening development of new arms in an era of budget restraint.

Clinton said he will deal with growing problems in recruiting and retaining personnel for the all-volunteer armed forces. The Navy and Air Force have had serious problems, particularly in keeping trained personnel like pilots.

Clinton praised the services for working ``tirelessly ... to improve the quality of life for our men and women in uniform, and to recruit and retain a new generation of Americans for our all volunteer forces.'

``I am well aware that we're going to have to do more in this area,'' Clinton told the commanders. White House officials said the issue was a major concern of the commanders at the meeting.

That approach was criticized, however, by Republican Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, who complained that the military budget has been so squeezed by ``quality of life'' funding for military personnel that missile defense has become the ''step-child of the Pentagon.''

``We are not going to be prepared to meet the threats at the turn of the century,'' he said.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich said the United States needs to put more money into development of a defense system to counter threats of missile attacks and accused the Clinton administration of neglecting this aspect of U.S. military.

``Every American needs to realize that we are not today capable of defeating one missile fired by one country. We literally do not have any defense to save cities,'' he said.