[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book I)]
[February 14, 2003]
[Pages 174-178]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks on Improving Counterterrorism Intelligence
February 14, 2003
Thanks for the warm welcome. It's nice to be back to the FBI again.
The last time I was here was 14 months ago, and our country had just
realized we were at war. We had just learned that America was a
battlefield. Since the morning this country was attacked on September
the 11th, folks in law enforcement all around the country have been
working under urgent and difficult circumstances. And the first thing I
want to tell you all is that this Nation is grateful for your hard work.
Across the world we are tracking and confronting and defeating
international terror. Within our own country, we're taking unprecedented
measures to protect the American people against a serious and continuing
danger. There is no such thing as perfect security against a hidden
network of coldblooded killers. Yet, abroad and at home, we're not going
to wait until the worst dangers are upon us. We continue to be in a
state of war, but we're making progress. And today I want to talk about
the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, which will help us meet the
challenges of war, will help us do everything we can to say clearly to
the American people, ``We're working overtime to protect you. We're
doing everything in our power to make sure the homeland is secure.''
The officials who are present here represent thousands of patriotic
Americans who know that we've been called into action, that this is a
new era. One of the reasons I express such confidence in the country is
because I understand the character of the people who have been called
into action. And there's no doubt in my mind we will prevail.
I want to thank Attorney General John Ashcroft for doing such a fabulous job at the Department of
Justice. He's assembled a fantastic team which is representing our
country with distinction. I want to thank Tom Ridge for becoming the first Cabinet Secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security. I want to thank Wolfowitz and Armitage, who are
up here with us--two
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of the prettiest members of my administration. [Laughter] They're doing
a fabulous job. Paul works with the Secretary of Defense, Don
Rumsfeld. Dick works with the Secretary
of State, Colin Powell. Both these men are
incredibly important members of a team that is doing everything in our
power to protect freedom and security and peace. I appreciate their hard
work. I want to thank Bob Mueller, III
who's transforming the FBI. He's got all my confidence. And so does the
Director of the CIA, George Tenet. Both
these men head incredibly important agencies in our war against terror.
Both of them have responded to the call. America is better off for their
service to our country.
I want to thank the Members of Congress who are here. I see Senator
George Allen is here, Chris Cox, Frank Wolf, Jim
Turner, and Jane Harman,
Members of the Congress--the House, the last four--representing both
political parties. I want to thank you for your dedication to the
country. It's been a joy to work with you all to better secure our
homeland, to join together to do everything we can to protect America.
I also want to thank Chief Ramsey, who
is here, and Chief Moose and Jim Pasco. I appreciate you all and all the other local law
enforcement officials who have come today. You play an integral role in
the defense of our country. You're on the frontline, and for that the
American people are grateful. When you get back home, I hope you tell
the troops how much I respect them and what they do, how much America
counts on them, and how grateful we are for their sacrifices on behalf
of the safety and security of the American people.
Before September the 11th--if you can remember that far back--we all
thought oceans could protect us from attack. The Nation thought we were
secure from any gathering danger that might be occurring somewhere else.
After all, our history pretty well predicted that we would be safe.
But everything changed on that morning, and it's important for our
fellow citizens to understand that everything did change, that we must
do everything in our power to stop an enemy from coming here to hurt
us--that's our first task. Last week's decision to raise our national
terrorist threat is a stark reminder of the new era we're in, that we're
at war and the war goes on.
We've got agencies at every level meeting threats. We've got people
standing watch 24 hours a day. Perseverance is power in this war.
Determination is essential in this war. We will persevere, and it
doesn't matter how long it takes. See, that's the nature of the country
that we live in. We owe it to our citizens to protect us within the
Constitution that we're all sworn to uphold, and we will do that.
We're not only doing everything here at home, but we're doing
everything we can abroad. Let me first tell you this: We're winning the
war on terror. We've hauled in thousands of terrorists. They're
captured. They're off the street. They're not a problem. Like number
were not as lucky, and they're not a problem, either. We're dismantling
Al Qaida one person at time. There used to be a kind of a brain trust of
these people, and slowly but surely, we're bringing them to justice.
We're at war in a different kind of war. It's a war that requires us to
be on an international manhunt. We're on the hunt. It's a war that
causes us to need to get the enemy on the run. We got them on the run.
And it's just a matter of time before we bring them to justice.
This war requires us to understand that terror is broader than one
international network, that these terrorist networks have got
connections, in some cases, to countries run by outlaw dictators. And
that's the issue with Iraq. When I speak about the war on terror, I not
only talk about Al Qaida. I talk about Iraq, because, after all, Saddam
Hussein has got weapons of mass destruction,
and he's used them. Saddam Hussein
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is used to deceiving the world, and he continues to do so. Saddam
Hussein has got ties to terrorist networks. Saddam Hussein is a danger,
and that's why he will be disarmed--one way or the other.
All our successes in the war on terror depend on the ability of our
intelligence and law enforcement agencies to work in common purpose. In
order to better protect our homeland, our intelligence agencies must
coexist like they never have before. In order to hunt the terrorists
down, one by one, our intelligence agencies must cooperate fully with
agencies overseas.
Under the leadership of Director Tenet
and Mueller, III the CIA and the FBI have
improved their communications and cooperation. These agencies are now
quicker to share intelligence with each other. And we've enhanced an
overseas coordination as well. When you read in the newspapers that a
European country has hauled in parts of a poison network, it's important
to understand that the reason they were able to do so is because we
shared intelligence, that we're cooperating, that this vast network of
freedom-loving countries is intact and real. And the message is, either
you're with us or with the terrorists, and it still stands.
The increased cooperation of the CIA and FBI counterterrorism
operations is proving to be one of the greatest advantages in this war
on terror. Under the leadership of Bob Mueller,
III the FBI has been transforming itself since September the
11th. It has no greater priority than preventing terrorist attacks
against America.
The Bureau has assigned more than 1,800 agents to counterterrorism.
That's a 40-percent increase than prior to September the 11th. In other
words, this agency now understands that we're at war and the first
responsibility of an incredibly important agency, the FBI, is to prevent
the enemy from hitting us and hurting us. The agents that are out
working in the field are gathering an evaluation--evaluating information
all the time, which helps us deal with any terrorist threat.
We're also strengthening the counterterrorism efforts by forming
partnerships across all levels of the government. It's important for our
fellow citizens to know that there is great cooperation between the
Federal Government and the State government and the local governments.
We've formed what's called joint terrorism task forces throughout our
country, which bring together dedicated officials at all levels of
government.
Not only is the cooperation better between the CIA and the FBI, not
only is the cooperation better between intelligence-gathering services
all around the world, but our cooperation at the Federal, State, and
local level is unprecedented. And it needs to be, because we fight a
ruthless enemy.
The FBI is expanding the terrorist identification system so that
18,000 State and local law enforcement agencies will be better able to
identify known or suspected terrorists in near real time. Local police
officers will be able to access Federal terrorism information from their
squad cars. In other words, a guy in Crawford pulls somebody over, he's
able to call up whether or not the person is on a terrorist list,
whether or not the person is a suspect. All across our country we'll be
able to tie our terrorist information to local information banks so that
the frontline of defeating terror becomes activated and real, and those
are the local law enforcement officials. We expect them to be a part of
our effort; we must give them the tools necessary so they can do their
job.
We will continue to work with Congress to make sure that the budgets
reflect the new reality of the 21st century. That's why I requested $500
million for additional money for training preparedness equipment,
technical assistance for State and local law enforcement.
The Terrorist Threat Integration Center marks another crucial
advance in meeting
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the threats of this time. This joint effort across many Departments of
our Government will integrate and analyze all terrorist threat
information, collected domestically and abroad, in a single location.
And that's an important advance. The goal is to develop a comprehensive
picture of terrorist activity. When the center is fully operational, it
will fully house a database of known and suspected terrorists that
officials across the country will be able to access and act upon.
I'm pleased that Bob--George Tenet and
Bob Mueller III will take the next
important steps in assembling their counterterrorism resources, both
operational and analytical, and locate them in a single facility with
the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. The new Department of Homeland
Security will be a full partner in this center. The Department will act
to identify and reduce our vulnerabilities to terrorism and coordinate
with the FBI to ensure the threat information is quickly disseminated.
All of these efforts will formalize a new spirit of cooperation that
began 15 months ago.
The American people need to know that we're collecting a lot of
information and we're going to share it in a way that enables us to do
our jobs that you expect us to do, that we're going to use the best
information technologies available to not only make sure information
flows freely at the Federal level but flows from this databank of
information to local law enforcement officials. It will enable us to
make sure that we do everything we can to win the war on terror at home,
just like we're going to do everything we can by unleashing one of the
greatest militaries--the greatest military ever assembled abroad.
We've got fabulous men and women in uniform who are on the hunt. The
finest, bravest soldiers ever known to mankind are helping us track them
down, one by one. And if we have to send them into Iraq to make sure
that that regime is disarmed, we'll use every ounce of our ingenuity and
technology to protect innocent life of the Iraqi people, at the same
time achieve an objective of achieving world peace.
One of the things this country stands for is freedom. That's what we
believe. For years the freedom of our people were really never in doubt
because no one ever thought that the terrorists or anybody could come
and hurt America. But that changed. As a matter of fact, the more
threatened we are here at home, the more we love freedom. The more
there's a chance that somebody might think they can take it away from
us, the more stubborn we are in our demand for freedom universally.
As I said in my State of the Union, liberty is not America's gift to
the world; it is God's gift to each and every human being. So as we
pursue peace, we also pursue liberty. We care about those who suffer
under the hands of a dictator in Iraq. We
care deeply about those who dissent and then are tortured, about those
who express an opinion other than what the dictator thinks and are raped
and mutilated. The condition of the Iraqi citizen is on our mind and in
our hearts. As we work to secure the peace, we'll always hold those
values of freedom dear to our heart.
There's no question in my mind that the challenges we face will be
overcome, because our Nation is full of decent and honorable and strong
people, many of whom are in this room. Thank you for caring about your
country. May God bless your work. And may God continue to bless America.
Note: The President spoke at 1:15 p.m. in the Bonaparte Auditorium at
the Federal Bureau of Investigation Headquarters. In his remarks, he
referred to Charles H. Ramsey, chief of police, Washington, DC; Charles
A. Moose, chief of police, Montgomery County, MD; James O. Pasco, Jr.,
executive director, Fraternal Order of Police; and President Saddam
Hussein of Iraq. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a
Spanish language transcript of these remarks.
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