Title: DEFENSE SECRETARY FORESEES CONTINUING ROLE FOR NELLIS
Sub-title: William Perry talks about U.S. troops in Bosnia and Groom    
	     Lake safety during a stopover in Las Vegas.
Type: Newspaper article
Publication: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Date: Jan. 28, 1996
Author: Warren Bates

Defense Secretary William Perry said Saturday if harm were to come to 
U.S. troops in Bosnia, it would have happened already.

"We always had to be concerned we would meet organized resistance," 
Perry said while visiting Nellis Air Force Base, a stopover on a tour of 
southwestern military installations. "We have been there one month and
have not met such resistance.

"But we're still concerned as long as we're deployed of dissident 
individuals or dissident gangs harassing our forces basically terrorist 
activities." 

Perry said he does not think the United States is  or should be the 
police of the world," and he said the military must be "very selective" 
about sending troops into world conflicts.  In a short news conference, 
Perry also touched on Groom Lake litigation, in which former government 
workers at the Lincoln County military facility allege they were exposed 
to hazardous waste.
	
He declined to comment specifically on the federal lawsuit but said, "We 
feel very deeply the responsibility for maintaining an adequate environ-
ment at that facility and all U.S. facilities."
	
He also said training operations at Nellis are "in our plans and in our 
programs as far as I can see," adding the budget cuts that have affected 
the base and other military installations over the past few years are 
stabilizing.
	
Perry's arrival at Nellis was part of an itinerary that also included 
visits to military facilities in Twentynine Palms, Calif., and San 
Antonio.
	
Maj. Andy Bourland, a Nellis spokesman, said the nation's highest 
ranking military officer wanted to "get a closer look and broader 
understanding of the operations" at the base.
	
"While he's here he's going to meet with a lot of the enlisted folks as 
well as senior staff," Bourland said last week. "He'll also attend a 
mass debriefing on the Red Flag mission.
	
"I think you could pretty honestly say the base is seriously looking 
forward to showcasing a very important aspect of the Air Force and the 
Department of Defense", Bourland said.  "We hope to leave him with a
better understanding of the capabilities and spirit and attitude of the 
men and women of the base."
	
Perry has taken recent trips to Germany to visit troops of the Army's 
1st Armored Division, which has been training as the U.S. element of the 
NATO peace force for Bosnia. He also visited NATO military command 
headquarters in Belgium.

Perry recently said the U.S. government intends to begin rearming the 
Bosnian army as early as next summer if international armscontrol 
efforts fail to bring a balance of power between the warring factions.
	
Earlier this month, the secretary said the United States also will 
expand on its already massive military presence in the Persian Gulf to 
deter the long-term threat of aggression.

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