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Press Conference of Laurence H. Silberman, Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice; Martin R. Hoffman, General Counsel, Department of Defense, and Byron V. Pepitone, Director, Selective Service
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Press Conference of Laurence H. Silberman, Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice; Martin R. Hoffman, General Counsel, Department of Defense, and Byron V. Pepitone, Director, Selective Service
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Digitized from Box 2 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 16, 1974
UNTIL 11:30 A.M.
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
PRESS CONFERENCE
OF
LAURENCE H. SILBERMAN
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
MARTIN R. HOFFMANN
GENERAL COUNSEL, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
AND
BYRON V. PEPITONE
DIRECTOR, SELECTIVE SERVICE
THE BRIEFING ROOM
10:32 A.M.
EDT
MR. HUSHEN: As you know, the President had
a bipartisan leadership meeting at 9:00 this morning.
It just broke up a few minutes ago, so they met for
approximately 90 minutes.
Attending, in addition to the Congressional
leaders, were the Chairman and ranking Republican
Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committee,
the House and Senate Armed Services Committee, and the
House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.
The subject matter, as you also know, is
the conditional amnesty proposal that the President
will be signing shortly.
In order to help you understand some of the
complexities of this program, we have three individuals
here to brief you today who helped shape it.
They are Laurence H. Silberman, Deputy
Attorney General, Department of Justice; Martin R.
Hoffmann, General Counsel to the Defense Department,
and Byron V. Pepitone, Director of the Selective Service.
In the meeting this morning there was a lot
of give and take, a lot of communication, and I think
the President would describe it as a full and frank
discussion of the program.
Just before the meeting broke up, the President
gave those attending the names of the nine members on the
Clemency Board. I have them here now, but I think the
best thing to do, rather than run through them, I will
Xerox them and have them available at the conclusion of
the briefing.
MORE
OVER)
- 2 -
As you know, everything is embargoed, including
this session, until the President signs the Proclamation.
Q
Jack, one question about the briefing.
If the briefing is still going on when the President
signs the Proclamation --
MR. HUSHEN: The briefing will end when we are
ready to sign the Proclamation.
Q
Will it resume later?
MR. HUSHEN: If there are some specific questions,
we will try to take them for you, but we don't plan to
have it.
Let me quickly run through the names of the
nine people. These are in alphabetical order. I will
just give you the names. We do have biographical stuff
here, too.
Dr. Ralph Adams, James Dougovita, Robert Finch,
Charles Goodell, Father Theodore Hesburg, Vernon Jordan,
James Maye, Mrs. Aida Casanas O'Connor, and General Lewis W.
Walt.
The President described the Board as broad-
gauged.
Gentlemen, this is Mr. Silberman, Mr. Hoffmann,
and Mr. Pepitone.
MR. SILBERMAN: Gentlemen, you have the fact
sheets, and we are available to answer questions, should
you have any.
Q
Who are the people described as being
precluded under certain sections of the U.S. Code?
MR. SILBERMAN: Specifically that refers to
individuals who were precluded entry into this country
under the Immigration and Naturalization Act. That
generally refers to aliens who left the country to
avoid the draft, and by law we could not afford the
benefits of this program to them.
Q
What are some of the mitigating circum-
stances that would cut the term of alternative service?
MR. SILBERMAN: Well, we would look at a number
of factors, both sides of the program. First of all
would be the question of extreme hardship to the family
as measured at the present.
MORE
- 3 -
Secondly, the question of willfulness of the
violation. The draft laws of course are complex, and
if an individual would show that he was legitimately
in some respects confused, that would be taken into
account.
Also, we would take into account what happened
to that individual subsequent to his alleged violation.
Q
And would there be any minimum alternative
service?
MR. SILBERMAN: There is no stated minimum.
Q
What happens to a draft evader who has
been neither convicted or who has not received a punitive
or undesirable discharge, or are there such draft
evaders?
MR. SILBERMAN: I think you have the two
categories mixed there. A draft evader wouldn't have
received any kind of discharge. That would apply to
someone who has gone into the military.
Q
Does a draft evader have to be convicted?
MR. SILBERMAN: The difference with respect
to the operation of the program is as follows: If a
draft evader is under investigation for violation of a
crime or has been indicted, he would come -- assuming
that he accepts the offer the President made -- he would
come to the U.S. Attorney and would sign an agreement
which would constitute a waiver of his rights to speedy
trial to perform alternate service under the auspices of
the Director of the Selective Service.
In the event he completes that service, acceptably
and satisfactorily, then his case would not be prosecuted.
With respect, on the other hand, to the draft
evader who has already been convicted -- and there are
some 8,700 in that category -- his recourse would be to the
Clemency Boards to seek a recommendation for Presidential
pardon.
Q
Is there going to be a discretion on
the part of the United States attorneys around the
country in handling these cases, or will these be
handled under the direct supervision of the Attorney
General?
MR. SILBERMAN: I suppose the answer to that
question is both. There will be central guidelines
which will be issued from Washington, as there always
is with respect to the prosecution of any matter charged
to the U.S. attorneys, a good deal of consulation with
Washington, but by the same token they have a measure of
discretion.
MORE
- 4 -
Q
Don't they, as a matter of course, turn
this case immediately over to the Selective Service?
The fellow comes in, says that he wants clemency, he
signs the paper, agrees to alternative service, and
then he gets sent to the Selective Service.
The U.S. attorney has nothing to do with
selecting the alternative service, does he?
MR. SILBERMAN: The U.S. attorney performs the
function under the direction of the Attorney General
of setting the term of alternate service and considering
whether there are mitigating factors just as we have
just discussed.
The selection of the type of alternate
service will be done by the Director of the Selective
Service and his people.
Q Mr. Silberman, on page 3 of this first
releàse where you speak of the Presidential Clemency Board and
Section (ii) here where you say those who have received
a punitive discharge from the service, the armed forces,
this August 4, 1964 to 1973, are you talking there about
the men who were in Vietnam in the war who got bad
discharges?
MR. SILBERMAN: Let me defer to Marty Hoffmann,
the General Counsel of the Defense Department, to answer
your question.
MR. HOFFMANN: The answer is it includes all
deserters during the period from the Tonkin Gulf Resolution
until March 28, 1973, whether or not Vietnam-related.
Q Well, you say those who have received
a punitive or undesirable discharge from service from
the armed forces during that time?
MR. HOFFMANN: That is correct.
Q
Are you talking about these men who
served in Vietnam who got bad discharges in Vietnam?
MR. HOFFMAN: If the bad discharge was by
reason of an offense that is categorized as desertion,
i.e., being gone from the service for more than 30 days,
the answer is yes.
Q
Who received dishonorable discharges?
MORE
- 5 -
MR. HOFFMANN: Yes, that is correct. We are
only speaking about offenses of absence arising out of
periods of absence from the armed forces.
Q
Then you go ahead and you say, "However,
if any clemency discharge is recommended, such discharge
shall not restore benefits."
Aren't you committing the man there? You are
making the sentence there before you have even heard
whether there were mitigating circumstances or anything?
MR. HOFFMANN: In no case would the upgrading
of a discharge of itself entitle an individual to
veterans' benefits that he was not already entitled
to.
Q
I can see in plenty of cases in some
of these discharges you might hear the evidence there
before this board and you might find there were many of
them given when they shouldn't have been given.
MR. HOFFMANN: This, of course, does not
disturb the processing that goes on ordinarily with
the service boards of review, boards for discharge review,
and of course, an individual could come in under the
provisions of law as pertains to those Boards and get a
review unrelated to the President's program.
Q
But you are saying absolutely before you
even hear the evidence you are not going to let him
have any relief.
MR. HOFFMANN: With respect to the President's
program dealing with absence offenses, that is correct.
Q
Will you find jobs that will not be
competitive with the civilian job markets, and who will
supervise the employment for the returnees?
MR. SILBERMAN: Let me turn that over to
Byron Pepitone, the Director of the Selective Service.
MR. PEPITONE: The type of job that we have
in mind is the type of job that is currently being
performed by people who do two years of alternate
service as a consequence of having been classified a
conscientious objector.
In July of 1972, for instance, there were
about 13,000 people working at these jobs, all of which
under the existing program are not in competition with
the labor market.
MORE
- 6 -
We are talking about jobs with activities and
installations which operate for the general public
welfare and in behalf of national health and safety.
Q
Could you give us some examples of that?
MR. PEPITONE: Yes, I was about to., Forty-one
percent, just by way of example, of the people we
employed at the time we were at maximum employment,
were working in general hospitals and the nature of
their duties ran from attendants to counsellors, to
people working in the mess, and the general lower scale
of jobs which the hospitals and the institutions, such
as homes for the aged and children have difficulty in
filling.
Q
How much is this program going to cost
the Government? Do you have any idea?
MR. SILBERMAN: Probably less than a couple
of million dollars.
Q
What is the standard of pay for those who
are serving or will the jobs vary?
MR. PEPITONE: The jobs will vary as they
do today. They vary on the basis of the ability that the
individual has to offer to the employer. But generally
speaking, they are at the lower range of the wage level.
Q
You mentioned 41 percent.
MR. SILBERMAN: The gentleman down here has a
question.
Q
What about a man who has served his time
in prison for draft evasion and has been discharged
as having fulfilled his obligation to the Department of
Justice?
MR. SILBERMAN: Discharged from prison?
Q
Yes, he has served his time.
MR. SILBERMAN: He could seek a recommendation
for clemency from the Clemency Board.
Q
Does he still have to perform alternate
service for two years despite the fact that he may
have paid his two years alternative service in a
penitentiary?
MORE
- 7 -
MR. SILBERMAN: In the hypothetical you
gave, it is extremely unlikely. It is possible, however,
that an individual may have just been sentenced in
which case the Clemency Board might well recommend
some period of alternate service.
Q
Is it likely that any of these young
men will be coming back without serving any time in
alternative service? Will they come back with no onus
at all?
MR. SILBERMAN: It is not contemplated.
Q
On your answer a moment ago you said
that the time in prison would be considered. In this
it seems to say the time served in the military service
would be considered on a month-to-month basis against
alternate service. Would that also be true of prison
time?
MR. SILBERMAN: Again we are talking about two
different categories. With respect to any individual
who has been convicted of either the civil criminal
process or the military process. his recourse would be
to seek a recommendation for clemency from the Clemency
Board.
Q
Mr. Silberman, is it correct to read this
that the evader does not take an oath but that the
deserter does take an oath?
MR. SILBERMAN: It is correct to read this as
indicating that the deserter takes an oath, and I can
let Marty Hoffmann describe that.
The evader signs an agreement with the U.S.
attorney, which agreement will state specifically that
he acknowledges his allegiance to the United States and
its Constitution as part of his agreement to serve
alternate service.
Q
Mr. Silberman, what proportion of the
draft evaders do you contemplate will serve less than
24 months of alternate service and, specifically, when
will these general guidelines be publicized, given the
fact that the President's spokesmen have said previously
that they wouldn't present a situation in which draft
evaders would be coming back completely uncertain about
what they face?
It appears on the surface that they could
serve anywhere from a couple of months to 24 months, and
they just don't know what they are going to serve.
MORE
- 8 -
MR. SILBERMAN: Let me answer the question
by saying in this fashion, any draft evader would come
back with the expectation that he may well be required
to serve 24 months. That, in effect, is the President's
offer.
Now, if there are some mitigating factors, he
will have to present himself to the U.S. attorney and
express those. But in terms of fairness, those individuals
perceive a 24-month obligation.
Q
What proportion of the draft evaders do
you contemplate will serve less than 24?
MR. SILBERMAN: I don't think I could possibly
answer that question.
Q
Mr. Silberman, does the Government take
a responsibility here for providing the jobs, too, so
that there will be plenty of jobs for everyone?
MR. SILBERMAN: No, we don't think that will
be a problem, as Mr. Pepitone stated a moment ago. In
the administering of the conscientious objectors' programs,
there were sufficient jobs to fill that need. Now that
program has tailed off considerably and, indeed, this
fits from an Administrative point of view quite nicely.
Q
What happens to the deserter and the
evader prior to August 4, 1964?
MR. SILBERMAN: They are not covered by this
program.
Q
Gentlemen, why was this program not
announced last Tuesday?
MR. SILBERMAN: I suppose you would have to
ask the President that.
Q
Was it ready last Tuesday?
MR. SILBERMAN: No, it was not ready last Tuesday.
We have been working on a number of perplexing details
under the President's direction.
Q
One follow-up question. Was there any
connection between the delay in the announcement of the
program and the reaction of the President's pardon of
Mr. Nixon?
MORE
- 9 -
MR. SILBERMAN: I am wholly unaware of any
such connection.
Q
What is to insure uniform treatment of
draft evaders by the various U.S. attorneys?
MR. SILBERMAN: Both the supervision of the
Justice Department plus the guidelines which we will
issue. Indeed it would be very -- since individuals
can present different fact situations -- it would be
impossible to construct a program where there would be
absolute uniformity. But as I indicated before in my
response to the question over here, that the individual
who is a fugitive, who may be abroad, should perceive
the program as a 24-month obligation.
Q I still don't understand this job business.
We have 41 percent working in hospitals. Where would
the other 59 percent work, and who is going to find them
jobs, and who is going to pay for it?
MR. PEPITONE: Let's try to wrap it up in a
complete statement. Many of the young people have found
their own jobs in the past but where they have not, the
Federal Government has found jobs for them, but with
employers other than the Federal Government.
The employer pays the salary. I can give you
an example of some of the other types of jobs. We have
had them working for Goodwill Industries, St. Vincent de Paul,
the Ecology Corps in California doing forestry work, and
this type of thing.
And there is a whole wide range of percentages
and statistics of which I would talk to you later if
you wish.
MORE
Page 10
Q
Mr. Pepitone, do you have some opinion
from the analysis from the Labor Department that re-
assures you that there are jobs for them? The
employment situation has changed since 1972.
MR. PEPITONE: The interesting thing about that
is that the people who currently hold these jobs are
terminating their service. The conscientious objector
program is ending, and as Mr. Silberman said, most of
these people have a continuing requirement for the talents
these people presently deliver. There do not seem to be
people knocking at the door for these type jobs.
Q
So, you would expect most to be working
in hospitals, is that right?
MR. PEPITONE: Almost half, I would think, yes.
Q
You say that a person can find his
own job?
MR. PEPITONE: We are going to permit him
the opportunity to find it. However, that job stands
subject to the approval of the system in keeping with
guidelines, part of which are mentioned in the fact sheet.
Q
Do you think that many employers are going
to give these men jobs?
MR. PEPITONE: They give them to conscientious
objectors and are glad to have them.
Q
How many conscientious objectors were
there who will be stepping out of this labor market?
MR. PEPITONE: Approximately 4000 moving out
right about now. Last December there were about 9000
employed and a little over two years ago there were
over 13,000.
Q
If the boys from Vietnam who have bad
discharges can't get jobs now, I don't see how in the
world you expect private employers to give these fellows
jobs.
MR. PEPITONE: I have a hunch we are talking
about different kinds of jobs. I am talking about
low-paying jobs, that many people don't seek.
Q
They don't get any jobs.
Q
Do you have a figure on how much they are
paid as an average?
MORE
- 11 -
MR. SILBERMAN: I would say they are running
at the low end of the minimum wage, but it does
depend upon the skill they offer. You have some jobs,
for instance, with some of the religuous organizations,
where people do clerical and menial type tasks where they
get $50 to $100 a month and room and board. Now, I am
talking about some of the church groups and those things.
Q
Is the Government going to urge private
employers to give these people jobs?
MR. SILBERMAN: Yes. As a matter of fact, we
are going to help find their jobs for them, as we do for
the conscientious objectors.
Q
Mr. Pepitone, is there a list of these
people, a grand list of all these people who are involved
in that available somewhere? Will you make it public,
the names of all the people?
MR. PEPITONE: The employers?
Q
No, no, the draft evaders, the deserters --
MR. PEPITONE: I will have to turn that over
to my colleagues.
MR. SILBERMAN: With respect to the evaders,
we do have a list of the individuals who fall under the
various categories; that is to say, there are about
8700 that have already been convicted, and that is a
matter of court record, and there are another approximately
4300 who have been indicted, and that is also a matter
of court record. There are about 2500 who are under
investigation, and we certainly would not make that list
available.
Q
Mr. Silberman, will the Justice Department
keep statistics here in Washington on the types of
dispositions of these cases to assure uniformity of
treatment.
MR. SILBERMAN: We shall try to keep statistics
in that respect, and there will be a reporting system.
The fact is that, as with every other matter that is
introduced to the U.S. attorneys, there is some measure
of discretion that is appropriate.
Q
On that point --
MR. SILBERMAN: Yes, Mr. Lisagor?
Q
-- is there a provision whereby an evader
might appeal to the Justice Department' or the U.S. attorneys
judgment in the country?
MORE
- 12 -
MR. SILBERMAN: Not a formal mechanism, nor is
there with respect to any other matters that the U.S.
attorneys are charged with handling. On the other hand,
there are cases that do come up to the Justice Department.
Incidentally, in that respect, there is a question of
procedure.
The evader will be permitted to make a
presentation and will be entitled to the right to counsel
should he wish it when you come in and talk to the U.S.
attorney.
Q
Do you have any idea --
MR. SILBERMAN: I am sorry, she had another
part of the question.
Marty, do you want to answer?
0
What about the list of deserters? Surely
you will make that available, too?
MR. SILBERMAN: I imagine that will be handled
pursuant to the present procedures that obtain in the
Pentagon.
Q
What do you mean by that?
MR. SILBERMAN: I don't know what those are.
Q
In other words, you are going to give us
a list of the evaders and not the deserters?
MR. SILBERMAN: I am sure that to the extent
those lists are made available as a matter of routine,
they would be made available in this case.
Q
That doesn't answer the question at all.
We have a very peculiar situation here now that is not
routine.
MR. SILBERMAN: Well, I can check that for you
ma'am.
MORE
- 13 -
Q
Mr. Hoffmann, there are now as I under-
stand it, 12,500 deserters still at large. Is that
correct?
MR. HOFFMANN: That is correct.
Q
What percentage of that group faces
charges for other crimes besides desertion?
MR. HOFFMANN: The current estimate is about
20 percent.
Q
What was the question?
MR. HOFFMANN: The question was, of the 12,500
fugitive deserters -- that is the number you will find
in your fact sheet -- how many have other charges pending
against them other than an absence offense, and my
answer was about 20 percent is our estimate.
Q Mr. Hoffmann, on that point, the 500,000
figure for the deserters -- now, is what you are saying
that only action out of 500,000 is pending against
12,500?
MR. HOFFMANN: I don't know. There were a
total of 500,000 instances where individuals were absent
from their military post for over 30 days. There are
presently 12,500 fugitives. Those are people who took
off and have not come back, and have not been apprehended.
Q
Is that the only people we are really
talking about as far as the deserters go?
MR. HOFFMANN: No. We are talking about the
fugitive deserters, which is 12,500, and the Clemency
Board, you will see in your fact sheet and the Executive
Order has jurisdiction over those who have committed and
have been court-martialed and discharged for similar
offenses, they will review those records and make
decisions in those cases equivalent to those the services
will be making in the case of the fugitives.
Q
I have two questions, please. One, if
the man does not fulfill what he has pledged that he
would do under that statement, is he subject to a new
liability or merely the original charges against him?
I will have a second question along that same
line.
MR. SILBERMAN: All right. We will keep you
in touch.
MORE
- 14 -
With respect to the draft evader who signs
an agreement with the U.S. attorney to perform alternate
service, if that individual breaks the agreement, he is
subject to prosecution on the underlying charge of draft
evasion.
Q
No other charge?
MR. SILBERMAN: Assuming he commits no other
crime.
Q
Now the second question, supposing he
comes over here and talks to the Attorney General, the
attorney, and does not want to go into the agreement.
Is he going to be arrested and charged or be allowed to
go back where he came from?
MR. SILBERMAN: Let me answer it this way: We
are not affording him an opportunity to come back with
immunity to bargain over that matter. Once he submits
himself to the jurisdiction of the Federal criminal
process, he will, of course, be bound to the impact of
that submission.
Indeed, however, we are making some effort to
make sure that individuals who cross our borders will be
given 15 days' period from the time they cross the
border when they will not be served with warrants of
arrest to get to the appropriate U.S. attorney's office.
Q
I have a question for Mr. Pepitone,
another question about those jobs.
I still don't know, I haven't thoroughly read
this, but I have glanced through it, and I still don't
know what types of jobs and who determines what types
of jobs a person can get to perform his alternate service.
What is to prevent a man from coming back
and becoming Vice President of his father's company?
MR. PEPITONE: As I said earlier, the
determination of the job and its acceptability will match
the guidelines and the handout, and will be subject to
the rules established under the Selective Service System.
His job must be approved.
Q
By who?
MR. PEPITONE: By me.
MORE
- 15 - -
Q Can any of the Action programs be applied,
or are they all ruled out?
MR. PEPITONE: By and large the people we are
talking about don't fit the Action programs. We tried
the Action programs with the conscientious objectors who
were working alternate service and the participation was
absolutely minimal.
Q Does the United States attorney refer
the evader to his local draft board?
MR. PEPITONE: Negative. He refers him to
the State Director of Selective Service in the State
of the man's residence.
Q
Can you go over for us here when the Clemency
Board actually steps in and who decides how long the term
of service? Is it the Federal District Attorney that
decides that?
MR. SILBERMAN: Well, we are talking again about
two different categories, Bob. The U.S. attorney does
set the term of alternate service for the individual who
is under investigation or under indictment, but not the
individual who has already been convicted. His case goes
directly, as an exercise of the President's pardon power,
to the Clemency Board, which makes recommendations.
In certain circumstances, the Clemency Board
might well, as a condition of a recommendation of a
pardon or clemency, require some measure of alternate
service, but it is not as important on that part of the
program as it is with respect to the draft evader prior
to conviction or, indeed, as Mr. Hoffmann can explain,
the deserter part of it.
Q
Sir, let me just follow this up. Suppose
that he doesn't agree with what the District Attorney says,
he thinks that is not a fair term. Does he then appeal
to the Clemency Board?
MR. SILBERMAN: No. What we are dealing with
on the prosecutorial side is a question of prosecutorial
discretion, and indeed we have analogies to this with
respect to pre-trial diversion programs which we have in
operation in some parts of the country in which the States
have done a great deal of pioneering. When an individual
comes into the Federal criminal process and the U.S.
attorney makes a judgment that it would not serve the
interest of justice to have him prosecuted and incarcerated,
he signs a similar type of agreement to perform something
or take training in the community.
MORE
- 16 -
In the event that he finishes that acceptably,
the U.S. attorney has the discretion to not prosecute
the individual.
Q
Aren't you asking these men to take a
bigger chance by coming back under this program than
as a practical matter they take by facing conviction in
court, in view of the sentences that are being handed
down now?
MR. SILBERMAN: I think your question doesn't
touch on what seems to me, as Deputy A torney General,
is the most important aspect of it. One, an individual
who comes back under this program can be guaranteed, if
he is agreeable to performing alternate service; one,
that he will not have a conviction--and that is terribly
important. a felony conviction; and, secondly, that he
won't be incarcerated.
Q
How about the criminal records of those
who have already been convicted? Will that conviction
be expunged from the records?
MR. SILBERMAN: In the event that the Clemency
Board recommends to the President a pardon and then
the President accepts the recommendation and grants
a pardon, as a matter of Federal law that conviction is
eraced.
Q
Are these interviews with the District
Attorney in public? I mean, are they public, and can
the press cover them? Is it a public proceeding like a
trial?
MR. SILBERMAN: No, it isn't really in the nature
of a trial and I have some doubts whether it would be
appropriate to throw it open to press coverage any more
than the normal discussion between a U.S. attorney and
a putative defendant are subject to public scrutiny.
Q
Will all the records be public records,
however? All the records in the matter?
MR. SILBERMAN: The dispositions, the agreements
will be public.
Q
How does this compare with past programs
after World War II and Korea and so forth?
MR. SILBERMAN: I think the answer to that is --
and we have studied it very thoroughly, the defense in
particular has studied it -- after various wars in this
country's history, there have been different techniques
and different arrangements utilized.
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It is very hard to find a common thread, except
for the fact there is often after most wars an attempt
on the part of the President to focus attention to a
reconciliation process.
Q
Is there any barrier here to someone
making an arrangement with a relative or a friend to
have some kind of a plush job?
MR. SILBERMAN: Yes, I think there is a barrier.
It would have to be ---
Q
What would the barrier be?
MR. SILBERMAN: It would have to be approved
by the Director of the Selective Service and, again, as
he has said on several occasions, he has a solid
practical precedent under which he has operated, and that
is the treatment of the conscientious objector.
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Q
Mr. Silberman, you passed over very quickly
the mitigating circumstances that would be taken into
account when setting the term of alternate service.
Particularly, could you elaborate and perhaps give us
some examples of the second one, which is degree of will-
fulness, and third, which was very unclear to me, what
happened subsequently to the alleged offense?
MR. SILBERMAN: What happened, subsequently to
the alleged offense?
Q
Yes; that is, the mitigating factors?
MR. SILBERMAN: Oh, yes, I am sorry. The U.S.
attorney would see how that individual has conducted himself
subsequent to the offense. It may well be, for instance,
that even as a fugitive in this country he has performed in a
public service fashion.
I don't want to mention any names, but we do
have an example that naturally would be something that
could be taken into account. The degree of willfulness is
something that the criminal justice system always looks at
in terms of recommendations of sentences, et cetera, to
judges.
Q
I know a deserter who works in a hospital
in Toronto who has been working there for four years.
Would that be taken into account?
MR. SILBERMAN: Let me turn that over to Marty
Hoffmann. I don't think it should be precluded.
MR. HOFFMANN: Yes, I think it would be taken
generally into account, yes. But again, one would have to
realize that he was serving other than the United States
and again, the degree of willfulness and the degree of
his resolution to come back and submit himself to process
here in the United States, I think in the overall would
be the most operative aspect of it.
Q
Sir, what do you do about the man who is
coming for clemency who doesn't have any money to travel
and he wants to bring witnesses and evidence and he
doesn't have any money. Does the United States provide
that?
MR. SILBERMAN: What individuals are you referring
to?
Q
Say they want to come before the Clemency
Board and they want to come there but don't have the
money to travel and they don't have any money for witnesses.
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MR. SILBERMAN: Well, the Clemency Board will
have to establish its own regulations, but the spirit of
the program is such that I think they would be differential
to those kinds of concerns. They may well divide themselves
up into panels of three.
It is conceivable that they would -- and I
don't mean to speak for them, because you would have to
ask them as they are appointed -- it is even conceivable
that they may hold some proceedings other than in
Washington.
Q
You see the reasons I ask this is because
now these men who come to these boards over at the Defense
Department, they don't get travel pay, and money for
witnesses, these men who come in to get their discharges
upgraded all the time.
MR. SILBERMAN: I think you are talking about
two different groups.
Q No, I am not. I am talking about
citizens of the United States, the same thing. One man is
coming before your Clemency Board and one is going before
the board out here in Rosslyn. This man out in Rosslyn
doesn't get any money for travel or witnesses. Are you
going to let this man over here get some?
MR. SILBERMAN: Just for people from Texas
we will pay their way here.
Q
Now, don't be funny, Mr. Silberman. Come
one, let's answer this.
MR. SILBERMAN: I can't answer it, Mrs. McClendon,
because I don't know what the Clemency Board's regulations
will be.
Q
Isn't anybody telling them what they will
be on that?
MR. SILBERMAN: No, sir, no one is telling them.
They will be an independent body that will operate under
the authority of the President and make recommendations to
the President.
Q
Mr. Silberman, could you tell me what is
to prevent inequalities in the U.S. attorneys from giving
alternate services, one attorney in one district giving
12 months and another attorney in another district giving
24? Is there set guidelines?
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MR. SILBERMAN: There are guidelines, but
it could be particularly appropriate for a U.S. attorney to
treat everybody in the same district two individuals
differently, depending on the facts which justify
mitigation.
Q
That is true, but what is to prevent
two equal cases and two U.S. attorneys treating them
differently in separate districts.
MR. SILBERMAN: We shall try as we can to avoid
that, just as we do with respect to the entire criminal
justice system.
Q
Could you elaborate on the powers of the
Clemency Board in point two here? There are a number of
articles on the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
MR. SILBERMAN: Point two of which document?
Q
It is the Proclamation.
MR. HOFFMANN: I think you are referring to
Articles 85, 86 and 87, is that correct?
Q
Yes, could you elaborate on that?
MR. HOFFMANN: These are the standard absence
offenses under the Code of Military Justice. They
included desertion, absence without official leave
and missing movement, which is missing a movement of your
unit.
Q
What is the nature of the oath that
they will be required to sign when the deserters return?
MR. HOFFMAN: The nature of the oath that we
have suggested and the President has agreed to is
basically a reaffirmation of allegiance. Well, I can read
to you the proposal:
"I" so and so "do hereby solemnly reaffirm my
allegiance to the United States of America, I will support
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies foreign and domestic, and will here-
after bear true faith and allegiance to the same. I
take this obligation freely and without any mental reser-
vation or purpose of evasion, so help me God."
Q
How many people do you think will give
themselves up?
MR. HOFFMAN: There is no way we can --
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Q
What is the maximum?
MR. HOFFMANN: The maximum would be the maximum
number of fugitive deserters that would come in under the
President's program.
Q
How many is that?
MR. HOFFMAN: The maximum number of fugitives
is in your fact sheet. That is 12,500.
Q
How about draft evaders?
MR. HUSHEN: We have to put an end to this
right now because the President expects to sign that
Proclamation. He will read the statement first, which
he will be distributing here shortly, and at the
appropriate point he will be signing it. My guess would
be about 11:22, approximately. You can tell because the
sound will be piped in here.
Q
Will it be on the internal mult, Jack?
MR. HUSHEN: Yes, it will be.
Q
Do you have a list of the members yet?
MR. HUSHEN: We are running that off right now.
THE PRESS: Thank you, gentlemen.
END
(AT 11:10 A.M. EDT)