Clinton Takes His Cabinet Along to Camp David

WASHINGTON —  Visiting the presidential retreat for the first time, President Clinton and his Cabinet officers traveled Saturday to Camp David, Md., where they were to spend most of the weekend discussing strategy for the new Administration.

White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said the occasion marked the first time that a President had invited his entire Cabinet to the retreat.

“They will be talking about the President’s long-term legislative agenda, particularly economic reform, political reform, health care and national service, and working out how best to work together to achieve those objectives,” she said in a statement.

Several Cabinet members boarded a bus that left the White House about 7 a.m. Saturday. They wore casual clothes and carried their own bags. Clinton, also dressed casually, left by helicopter shortly after 8 a.m., following a jog in the city. He was accompanied on the helicopter by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The sessions are expected to end today early enough so that the officials can return home before the Super Bowl kickoff. Clinton is expected to watch the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills in the White House, Myers said.

Myers said Clinton would likely be a frequent visitor to the rustic getaway about 75 miles from the White House. The Camp David compound includes a large central cabin where the President stays and numerous smaller cabins for guests.

The weekend gathering brought to an end Clinton’s first full week in office--a baptism by fire over gays in the military, an issue on which he is widely judged to have lost more than he won in a compromise announced Friday.

The deal provides that the military will immediately stop asking recruits about their sexual orientation. In return, the President agreed to a review of the issue until July 15, when, he said, Defense Secretary Les Aspin will present the draft of a presidential executive order to end the ban and a detailed code of behavior to apply thereafter to all personnel in the armed services.

Responding to news reports that the final arrangement might result in banning gays from combat, sea patrols and other duties in which service personnel live in close quarters, Myers would say only that the President had ruled nothing in or out pending the outcome of the review.