Powell Phuket, Thailand Diane Sawyer

Interview on ABC's Good Morning America with Diane Sawyer at the Wall of the Disappeared at City Hall Disaster Relief Center

Secretary Colin L. Powell Phuket, Thailand January 4, 2005 (7:02 a.m. EST

powell sawyer

MS. SAWYER: This morning, the Secretary and the President's brother got their firsthand account of the disaster. With the U.S. now giving $350 million in aid, questions persist about the U.S. initial offer, which was small, just 15.

"As you know, there's all kinds of second-guessing going on that America missed a great opportunity, particularly in an intensely Muslim area, to show good faith in the beginning."

SECRETARY POWELL: But, Diane, hang on, hang on, hang on. A little while ago, the Thai Foreign Minister and I gave a press conference, and what he said was the first person to call him, the first person to call the Thai Government, was me, last Sunday night. And I said to him, "What do you need?" And what we've --

MS. SAWYER: "But other countries were giving more."

SECRETARY POWELL: No, Diane, that's not right. We have to get this right because everybody keeps lingering on this story. The Japanese initially gave a fairly modest amount. It was only at the end of the week, when they realized the scale of the disaster, did they go up to 500 million. And so the United States has been in the lead: our ships were launched; our disaster teams were launched; task forces were set up; money started to flow immediately.

MS. SAWYER: And what about delivery of the aid? It could be several days before the remote and hardest hit regions get anything at all. A plane landing at Indonesia's main hub for aids flight crashed after hitting two water buffalo and delayed planes coming in. So far, relief groups have only been able to deliver one-eighth of the 400,000 tons of food flown into Indonesia.

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, this is what I will be looking at when I get to Jakarta and when I get up to Aceh. This is not a simple matter. Everybody thinks you can just magically move aircraft and helicopters and aircraft carriers across an ocean in a day, and why wasn't it done immediately, why didn't we just beam them in? It takes time. It's not just money. It's getting the food and the water and the other things, medical supplies, in place and then retail distribution through trucks, through helicopters, through air drops perhaps, through C-130 on remote landing strips. And so it takes time to generate such an effort.

2005/29 [End] Released on January 4, 2005

DoD Policy Prevention Response Sexual Assault

DoD Announces New Policy on Prevention and Response to Sexual Assault

The Department of Defense announced today that Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness David S.C. Chu delivered the department’s new sexual assault policy to Congress. The policy provides a foundation through which the department will improve prevention of sexual assault, significantly enhance support to victims and increase accountability.

“The department is moving forward to make real changes and to make those changes stick,” Chu said. “Sexual assault is a crime, and is not tolerated.”

Over the past year, the department has been working collaboratively with the services, members of Congress, and national experts to address the crime of sexual assault within the armed forces. As a result, the Joint Task Force for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response was established in October 2004 as the single point of accountability for the department’s sexual assault policy. Its initial task was to develop policy incorporating the criteria set forth in Public Law 108-375, the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2005, which directed the department to have a sexual assault policy in place by Jan. 1, 2005.
The department needs consistent sexual assault prevention education across the services to create a greater understanding of what constitutes a sexual assault, risk factors, and preventive measures. Service implementation of these policies will have a substantial impact on creating a culture of prevention and an environment that protects the health and well being of our uniformed service members. The sexual assault policy will ensure that there is uniformity in the standards of care and the same support systems are standard throughout the services.

The policies reflect recommendations from the department’s Joint Task Force on Care for Victims of Sexual Assault. Core areas include specific guidelines for how to investigate complaints, medical treatment and care for victims, commander’s checklists for response actions, reporting of sexual assault information, and expanding access to care through collaboration between military installations and local community support. To view a summary of the policy click here.

In order to meet the Jan. 1, 2005, requirement from Congress, the department issued directive-type memorandums as the first step of a comprehensive, consistent policy. The department will be working closely with the services to implement the policies in an effective and timely manner. The joint task force will continue to provide oversight of the process.