    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book II)]
    [July 24, 2004]
    [Pages 1416-1417]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    July 24, 2004

        Good morning. This week, the independent Commission on the September
    the 11th attacks issued its final report. I appreciate the hard work of
    the Commission over the past 20 months. They have produced a serious and
    comprehensive report, and I welcome their recommendations.
        Indeed, we have already put into action many of the steps now
    recommended by the Commission, and we will carefully examine all the
    Commission's ideas on how we can improve our ongoing efforts to protect
    America and to prevent another attack.
        The events of September the 11th, 2001, dramatically demonstrated
    the threats of a new era. In the nearly 3 years since the attacks, we
    have waged a steady, relentless, determined war on terrorists. We're
    fighting them in foreign lands so we do not have to face them here in
    America, and we are taking unprecedented steps to defend the homeland.
    Since September 2001, America and our allies have captured or killed
    thousands of terrorists, removed terrorist regimes in Afghanistan and
    Iraq, convinced Libya to give up its weapons of mass destruction, and
    put the world's most dangerous nuclear trading network out of business.
    We're chasing down terrorist enemies abroad and within our own borders.
        On the homefront, we have dismantled terrorist cells and prosecuted
    terrorist supporters from California to Florida to Massachusetts. As the
    Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, Tom Kean,
    said this week, ``We are safer today than we were on 9/11.'' But as
    Governor Kean also noted, ``The danger to America has not passed.'' In a
    vast, free society such as ours, there is no such thing as perfect
    security. And no matter how good our defenses are, a determined enemy
    can still strike us. Yet all Americans can be certain our Government is
    using every resource and technological advantage we have to prevent
    future attacks.
        We have created a new Department of Homeland Security with a single
    mission,

    [[Page 1417]]

    protecting the American people. We have established better
    communications networks to make information on rapidly emerging threats
    available to local officials in real time. We are transforming the FBI
    into an agency whose primary focus is stopping terrorism. And we created
    a new Northern Command in the Department of Defense with the mission of
    defending the American homeland.
        To better protect the country, we have posted Homeland Security
    personnel at foreign ports, beefed up airport and seaport security at
    home, and instituted better visa screening for those entering our
    country. We have placed state-of-the-art equipment in major cities to
    detect biological agents and stockpiled enough smallpox vaccine for
    every American, in case of an emergency. And this week, I signed a new
    law establishing Project BioShield, which will speed the development of
    new vaccines and treatments against biological agents that could be used
    in a terrorist attack.
        On Thursday, I visited with first-responders at the Northeastern
    Illinois Public Safety Training Academy. I thanked them for their
    service and assured them that America will give them the tools they need
    to do their jobs. Since September of 2001, my administration has
    provided more than $13 billion to equip and train more than a half a
    million first-responders across America.
        There's still more to do. As Commander in Chief, it is critical that
    I receive the best intelligence to defend the American people. The 9/11
    Commission's recommendations will help guide our efforts as we work to
    protect the homeland. And we can be confident, although the threats of
    this new century are dangerous, America has the resources, the strength,
    and the resolve to overcome them.
        Thank you for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 6:56 a.m. on July 23 in the Cabinet
    Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on July 24. The
    transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    July 23 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office of
    the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this
    address.