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A. I think the FBI director has got to be more directly responsible to the Attorney General. I would like to see a top person in the Department of Justice responsible for the control of crime, maybe the Deputy Attorney General, or some other top official, coordinating the efforts of the FBI, the LEAA [Law Enforcement Assistance Administration] program, the U.S. Attorneys around the nation, and perhaps a crime division. I'd like to pursue aggressively the control of crime. I'd like to remove the FBI completely from politics, maximize its professional status.
Q. That amounts to a war on crime, doesn't it?
A. That's right. The control of crime now is divided up under too many different entities. I would like to bring more of a responsibility for drug control, for instance, under the FBI than there has been in the past. These responsibilities have been scattered around the Government and are not nearly so effective as they would be if they fell under a comprehensive and enlightened and aggressive leader.
Q. Turning to foreign affairs: many leaders around the world have been asking what you mean by morality in foreign policy. Can you describe your feelings about your foreign policy?
A. I'd like to go out of office with people being able to say that I always told the truth. I'd like to continue to play a leading role in the search for an enhancement of human rights. I'd like to do everything I can as President to ensure world peace, a reduction in the arms race. I don't mean to preach to other countries. I'm not going to try to set a standard on the type of government the other nations should have.
Q. Do you expect to travel widely?
A. No, not as a main thing. I hope that I can speak in such a way that the rest of the world will know that I accurately speak for the American people. I think it's important that during this next year I meet and get to know personally the leaders of many nations around the world. I can't say that I'll not travel at all, but I'd like to hold it to a minimum. I would certainly welcome an opportunity to have other foreign leaders come to this country to meet with me. The order of sequence of my meeting with foreign leaders is something on which [Secretary of State-designate] Cy Vance has been doing a great deal of work.
Q. What do you hope to get done first?
A. I think the Panama treaty ought to be resolved quite rapidly. That's almost uniquely our responsibility. In the Rhodesia question, I would like to see Britain retain the leadership role there. I want to establish a feeling within South Korea and within Japan that we won't do anything abrupt that will disturb them or upset their belief that we are still going to play a legitimate role in the western Pacific. I've spent long hours talking to Cyrus Vance about our general approach [on Turkey, Greece and Cyprus].
Q. What about the Soviet Union? Do you give high priority to the SALT agreements?