    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [February 14, 2004]
    [Pages 219-221]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    February 14, 2004

        Good morning. On September the 11th, 2001, America and the world saw
    the great harm that terrorists could inflict upon our country, armed
    with box cutters, mace, and 19 airline tickets.
        Those attacks also raised the prospect of even worse dangers, of
    terrorists armed with chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear
    weapons. The possibility of secret and sudden attack with weapons of
    mass destruction is the greatest threat before humanity today.
        America is confronting this danger with open eyes and unbending
    purpose. America faces the possibility of catastrophic attack from
    ballistic missiles armed with weapons of mass destruction, so we are
    developing and deploying missile defenses to guard our people. The best
    intelligence is necessary to win the war on terror and to stop
    proliferation, so we are improving and adapting our intelligence
    capabilities for new and emerging threats. We are using every means of
    diplomacy to confront the regimes that develop deadly weapons. We are
    cooperating with more than a dozen nations under the Proliferation
    Security Initiative to interdict lethal materials transported by land,
    sea, or air. And we have shown our willingness to use force when force
    is

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    required. No one can now doubt the determination of America to oppose
    and to end these threats to our security.
        We are aggressively pursuing another dangerous source of
    proliferation, black-market operatives who sell equipment and expertise
    related to weapons of mass destruction. The world recently learned of
    the network led by A.Q. Khan, the former
    head of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. Khan and his associates sold
    nuclear technology and know-how to rogue regimes around the world, such
    as Iran and North Korea. Thanks to the tireless work of intelligence
    officers from the United States and the United Kingdom and other
    nations, the Khan network is being dismantled.
        This week, I proposed a series of new, ambitious steps to build on
    our recent success against proliferation. We must expand the
    international cooperation of law enforcement organizations to act
    against proliferation networks, to shut down their labs, to seize their
    materials, to freeze their assets, and to bring their members to
    justice.
        We must strengthen laws and international controls that fight
    proliferation. Last fall at the United Nations, I proposed a new
    Security Council resolution requiring all states to criminalize
    proliferation, enact strict export controls, and secure all sensitive
    materials within their borders. I urge the Council to pass these
    measures quickly.
        The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, one of the most important
    tools for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, is undermined by a
    loophole that allows countries to seek nuclear weapons under the cover
    of civilian nuclear power programs. I propose that the world's leading
    nuclear exporters close that loophole. The Nuclear Suppliers Group
    should refuse to sell enrichment and reprocessing equipment and
    technologies to any state that does not already possess full scale,
    functioning enrichment and reprocessing plants.
        For international rules and laws to be effective, they must be
    enforced. We must ensure that the International Atomic Energy Agency is
    fully capable of exposing and reporting banned nuclear activity. Every
    nation should sign what is called the Additional Protocol, which would
    allow the IAEA to make broader inspections of nuclear sites. We should
    also establish a special IAEA committee to focus on safeguards and
    verification. And no nation under investigation for proliferation
    violations should be able to serve on this committee or on the governing
    board of the IAEA. Governments breaking the rules should not be trusted
    with enforcing the rules.
        Terrorists and terrorist states are in a race for weapons of mass
    murder, a race they must lose. They are resourceful. We must be more
    resourceful. They are determined. We must be more determined. We will
    never lose focus or resolve. We will be unrelenting in the defense of
    free nations and rise to the hard demands of our dangerous time.
        Thank you for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 10:55 a.m. on February 13 in the
    Cabinet Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on February
    14. The transcript was made available by the Office of the Press
    Secretary on February 13 but was embargoed for release until the
    broadcast. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish
    language transcript of this address.

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