    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2001, Book II)]
    [December 11, 2001]
    [Pages 1500-1505]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina
    December 11, 2001

        Thank you all very much. Please be seated. Thank you for that warm
    welcome. I'm glad to be back here at the Citadel.
        I have come to talk about the future security of our country, in a
    place where I took up this subject 2 years ago as candidate for
    President. In September 1999 I said here at the Citadel that America was
    entering a period of consequences that would be defined by the threat of
    terror

    [[Page 1501]]

    and that we faced a challenge of military transformation. That threat
    has now revealed itself, and that challenge is now the military and
    moral necessity of our time. So today I will set forth the commitments
    essential to victory in our war against terror.
        I want to thank Major General John Grinalds for his hospitality. I want to thank the Citadel Board of
    Visitors, the staff, and the faculty. I understand the Governor is here. And I know my friends the Lieutenant
    Governor, the speaker, and the attorney general are
    here, and it was great to have seen them at the airport. I thank my
    friend Adjutant General Stan Spears for
    being here.
        I'm grateful that Senator Hollings
    and members of the South Carolina congressional delegation flew down on
    Air Force One. I only wish that the senior Senator was on the airplane so I could have wished him a happy
    99th birthday.
        But most of all--most of all--I want to say how much I appreciate
    being in the presence of some of America's finest, the South Carolina
    Corps of Cadets of Citadel.
        Four days ago, I joined the men and women of the U.S.S. Enterprise
    to mark the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. December 7th, 1941, was a
    decisive day that changed our Nation forever. In a single moment,
    America's ``splendid isolation'' was ended. And the 4 years that
    followed transformed the American way of war. The age of battleships
    gave way to the offensive capability of aircraft carriers. The tank,
    once used only to protect infantry, now served to cut through enemy
    lines. At Guadalcanal and Normandy and Iwo Jima, amphibious warfare
    proved its worth. And by war's end, no one would ever again doubt the
    value of strategic air power.
        Even more importantly, an American President and his successors
    shaped a world beyond a war. They rebuilt Europe with the Marshall plan,
    formed a great alliance for freedom in NATO, and expressed the hope of
    collective security in the United Nations. America took the lead,
    becoming freedom's defender and assuming responsibilities that only we
    could bear.
        September the 11th, 2001--3 months and a long time ago--set another
    dividing line in our lives and in the life of our Nation. An illusion of
    immunity was shattered. A faraway evil became a present danger. And a
    great cause became clear: We will fight terror and those who sponsor it,
    to save our children from a future of fear.
        To win this war, we have to think differently. The enemy who
    appeared on September the 11th seeks to evade our strength and
    constantly searches for our weaknesses. So America is required once
    again to change the way our military thinks and fights. And starting on
    October 7th, the enemy in Afghanistan got the first glimpses of a new
    American military that cannot and will not be evaded.
        When I committed U.S. forces to this battle, I had every confidence
    that they would be up to the task, and they have proven me right. The
    Taliban and the terrorists set out to dominate a country and intimidate
    the world. Today, from their caves, it's all looking a little different.
    And no cave is deep enough to escape the patient justice of the United
    States of America.
        We are also beginning to see the possibilities of a world beyond the
    war on terror. We have a chance, if we take it, to write a hopeful
    chapter in human history. All at once, a new threat to civilization is
    erasing old lines of rivalry and resentment between nations. Russia and
    America are building a new cooperative relationship. India and the
    United States are increasingly aligned across a range of issues, even as
    we work closely with Pakistan. Germany and Japan are assuming new
    military roles appropriate to their status as great democracies. The
    vast majority of countries are now on the same side of a moral and
    ideological divide. We're making common cause with every

    [[Page 1502]]

    nation that chooses lawful change over chaotic violence, every nation
    that values peace and safety and innocent life.
        Staring across this divide are bands of murderers supported by
    outlaw regimes. They are a movement defined by their hatreds. They hate
    progress and freedom and choice and culture and music and laughter and
    women and Christians and Jews and all Muslims who reject their distorted
    doctrines. They love only one thing: They love power, and when they have
    it, they use it without mercy.
        The great threat to civilization is not that the terrorists will
    inspire millions; only the terrorists themselves would want to live in
    their brutal and joyless world. The great threat to civilization is that
    a few evil men will multiply their murders and gain the means to kill on
    a scale equal to their hatred. We know they have this mad intent, and
    we're determined to stop them. Our lives, our way of life, and our every
    hope for the world depend on a single commitment: The authors of mass
    murder must be defeated and never allowed to gain or use the weapons of
    mass destruction.
        America and our friends will meet this threat with every method at
    our disposal. We will discover and destroy sleeper cells. We will track
    terrorist movements, trace their communications, disrupt their funding,
    and take their network apart piece by piece.
        Above all, we're acting to end the state sponsorship of terror.
    Rogue states are clearly the most likely sources of chemical and
    biological and nuclear weapons for terrorists. Every nation now knows
    that we cannot accept--and we will not accept--states that harbor,
    finance, train, or equip the agents of terror. Those nations that
    violate this principle will be regarded as hostile regimes. They have
    been warned. They are being watched, and they will be held to account.
        Preventing mass terror will be the responsibilities of Presidents
    far into the future. And this obligation sets three urgent and enduring
    priorities for America. The first priority is to speed the
    transformation of our military.
        When the cold war ended, some predicted that the era of direct
    threats to our Nation was over. Some thought our military would be used
    overseas--not to win wars but mainly to police and pacify, to control
    crowds and contain ethnic conflict. They were wrong.
        While the threats to America have changed, the need for victory has
    not. We are fighting shadowy, entrenched enemies, enemies using the
    tools of terror and guerrilla war. Yet we are finding new tactics and
    new weapons to attack and defeat them. This revolution in our military
    is only beginning, and it promises to change the face of battle.
        Afghanistan has been a proving ground for this new approach. These
    past 2 months have shown that an innovative doctrine and high-tech
    weaponry can shape and then dominate an unconventional conflict. The
    brave men and women of our military are rewriting the rules of war with
    new technologies and old values like courage and honor, and they have
    made this Nation proud.
        Our commanders are gaining a real-time picture of the entire
    battlefield and are able to get targeting information from sensor to
    shooter almost instantly. Our intelligence professionals and special
    forces have cooperated in battle-friendly--with battle-friendly Afghan
    forces, fighters who know the terrain, who know the Taliban, and who
    understand the local culture. And our special forces have the technology
    to call in precision airstrikes, along with the flexibility to direct
    those strikes from horseback, in the first cavalry charge of the 21st
    century.
        This combination--real-time intelligence, local allied forces,
    special forces, and precision air power--has really never been used
    before. The conflict in Afghanistan has taught us more about the future
    of our military than a decade of blue ribbon panels and think-tank
    symposiums.

    [[Page 1503]]

        The Predator is a good example. This unmanned aerial vehicle is able
    to circle over enemy forces, gather intelligence, transmit information
    instantly back to commanders, then fire on targets with extreme
    accuracy. Before the war, the Predator had skeptics because it did not
    fit the old ways. Now it is clear the military does not have enough
    unmanned vehicles. We're entering an era in which unmanned vehicles of
    all kinds will take on greater importance in space, on land, in the air,
    and at sea.
        Precision-guided munitions also offer great promise. In the Gulf
    war, these weapons were the exception; while in Afghanistan, they have
    been the majority of the munitions we have used. We're striking with
    greater effectiveness, at greater range, with fewer civilian casualties.
    More and more, our weapons can hit moving targets. When all of our
    military can continuously locate and track moving targets with
    surveillance from air and space, warfare will be truly revolutionized.
        The need for military transformation was clear before the conflict
    in Afghanistan and before September the 11th. Here at the Citadel in
    1999, I spoke of keeping the peace by redefining war on our terms. The
    same recommendation was made in the strategic review that Secretary
    Rumsfeld briefed me on last August, a
    review that I fully endorse. What's different today is our sense of
    urgency, the need to build this future force while fighting a present
    war. It's like overhauling an engine while you're going at 80 miles an
    hour. Yet we have no other choice.
        Our military has a new and essential mission. For states that
    support terror, it's not enough that the consequences be costly; they
    must be devastating. The more credible this reality, the more likely
    that regimes will change their behavior, making it less likely that
    America and our friends will need to use overwhelming force against
    them.
        To build our future force, the armed services must continue to
    attract America's best people with good pay and good living conditions.
    Our military culture must reward new thinking, innovation, and
    experimentation. Congress must give defense leaders the freedom to
    innovate, instead of micromanaging the Defense Department. And every
    service and every constituency of our military must be willing to
    sacrifice some of their own pet projects. Our war on terror cannot be
    used to justify obsolete bases, obsolete programs, or obsolete weapon
    systems. Every dollar of defense spending must meet a single test: It
    must help us build the decisive power we will need to win the wars of
    the future.
        Our country is united in supporting a great cause and in supporting
    those who fight for it. We will give our men and women in uniform every
    resource, every weapon, every tool they need to win the long battle that
    lies ahead.
        America's next priority to prevent mass terror is to protect against
    the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the means to
    deliver them. I wish I could report to the American people that this
    threat does not exist, that our enemy is content with car bombs and box
    cutters, but I cannot.
        One former Al Qaida member has testified in court that he was
    involved in an effort 10 years ago to obtain nuclear materials. And the
    leader of Al Qaida calls that effort a religious duty. Abandoned Al
    Qaida houses in Kabul contained diagrams for crude weapons of mass
    destruction. And as we all know, terrorists have put anthrax into the
    U.S. mail and used sarin gas in a Tokyo subway.
        And almost every state that actively sponsors terror is known to be
    seeking weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them at
    longer and longer ranges. Their hope is to blackmail the United States
    into abandoning our war on terror and forsaking our friends and allies
    and security commitments around the world. Our enemies are bound for
    disappointment. America will never be blackmailed, and we

    [[Page 1504]]

    will never forsake our commitment to liberty.
        To meet our new threats, I have directed my National Security
    Adviser and my Homeland Security
    Director to develop a comprehensive strategy on
    proliferation. Working with other countries, we will strengthen
    nonproliferation treaties and toughen export controls. Together, we must
    keep the world's most dangerous technologies out of the hands of the
    world's most dangerous people.
        A crucial partner in this effort is Russia, a nation we are helping
    to dismantle strategic weapons, reduce nuclear material, and increase
    security at nuclear sites. Our two countries will expand efforts to
    provide peaceful employment for scientists who formerly worked in Soviet
    weapons facilities. The United States will also work with Russia to
    build a facility to destroy tons of nerve agent. I'll request an overall
    increase in funding to support this vital mission.
        Even as we fight to prevent proliferation, we must prepare for every
    possibility. At home, we must be better prepared to detect, protect
    against, and respond to the potential use of weapons of mass
    destruction. Abroad, our military forces must have the ability to fight
    and win against enemies who would use such weapons against us.
        Biodefense has become a major initiative of ours. This year we've
    already requested nearly $3 billion additional dollars for biodefense,
    more than doubling the level of funding prior to September the 11th.
        The attacks on our Nation made it even more clear that we need to
    build limited and effective defenses against a missile attack. Our
    enemies seek every chance and every means to do harm to our country, our
    forces, and our friends, and we will not permit it.
        Suppose the Taliban and the terrorists had been able to strike
    America or important allies with a ballistic missile. Our coalition
    would have become fragile, the stakes in our war much, much higher. We
    must protect Americans and our friends against all forms of terror,
    including the terror that could arrive on a missile.
        Last week we conducted another promising test of our missile defense
    technology. For the good of peace, we're moving forward with an active
    program to determine what works and what does not work. In order to do
    so, we must move beyond the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, a treaty
    that was written in a different era for a different enemy. America and
    our allies must not be bound to the past. We must be able to build the
    defenses we need against the enemies of the 21st century.
        Our third and final priority in the fight against mass terror is to
    strengthen the advantage that good intelligence gives our country. Every
    day I make decisions influenced by the intelligence briefing of that
    morning. To reach decisions, a President needs more than data and
    information; a President needs real and current knowledge and analysis
    of the plans, intentions, and capabilities of our enemies.
        The last several months have shown that there is no substitute for
    good intelligence officers, people on the ground. These are the people
    who find the targets, follow our enemies, and help us disrupt their evil
    plans. The United States must rebuild our network of human intelligence.
    And we will apply the best new technology to gather intelligence on the
    new threats. Sophisticated systems like Global Hawk, an unmanned
    surveillance plane, are transforming our intelligence capabilities. Our
    technological strengths produce great advantages, and we will build on
    them.
        Our intelligence services and Federal law enforcement agencies must
    work more closely together and share timely information with our State
    and local authorities. The more we know, the more terrorist plans we can
    prevent and disrupt, and the better we'll be able to protect the
    American people.
        And in all they do, our intelligence agencies must attract the best
    people, the best

    [[Page 1505]]

    collectors, the best analysts, the best linguists. We will give them the
    training they need and the compensation they deserve.
        There have been times here in America when our intelligence services
    were held in suspicion and even contempt. Now, when we face this new
    war, we know how much we need them. And for their dedication and for
    their service, America is grateful.
        We're also grateful to you, the students of the Citadel. Your
    uniforms symbolize a tradition of honor and sacrifice, renewed in your
    own lives. Many of you will enter our military, taking your place in the
    war against terror. That struggle may continue for many years, and it
    may bring great costs. But you will have chosen a great calling at a
    crucial hour for our Nation.
        The course we follow is a matter of profound consequence to many
    nations. If America wavers, the world will lose heart. If America leads,
    the world will show its courage. America will never waver; America will
    lead the world to peace. Our cause is necessary; our cause is just. And
    no matter how long it takes, we will defeat the enemies of freedom.
        In all that is to come, I know the graduates of the Citadel will
    bring credit to America, to the military, and to this great institution.
    In the words of your school song, you will go where you've always gone:
    ``in the paths our fathers showed us . . . . Peace and Honor, God and
    Country, we will fight for thee.''
        God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:54 p.m. in McAlister Field House. In his
    remarks, he referred to Maj. Gen. John S. Grinalds, USMC (Ret.),
    president, the Citadel; and Gov. Jim H. Hodges, Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler,
    Attorney General Charlie Condon, Adj. Gen. Stanhope S. Spears, and
    Speaker of the House of Representatives David H. Wilkins of South
    Carolina. He also referred to his September 23, 1999, Presidential
    campaign speech at the Citadel, entitled ``A Period of Consequences.''