    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book II)]
    [August 2, 2004]
    [Pages 1460-1467]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Intelligence Reform and an Exchange with Reporters
    August 2, 2004

        The President. Thanks for coming. I appreciate the members of my
    administration joining me. Thank you all for being here.
        My most solemn duty is to protect our country. It's our most solemn
    duty as well. In the 3 years since our country was attacked, we've taken
    steps to overcome new threats. We will continue to do everything in our
    power to defeat the terrorist enemy and to protect the American people.
        Recently, the Commission on the Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
    States came to a conclusion that I share, that our country is safer than
    it was on September the 11th, 2001, yet we're still not safe. The
    Commission members have worked hard and served our country well. I speak
    for all Americans in thanking them for their fine work.
        Their recommendations are thoughtful and valuable. My administration
    has already taken numerous actions consistent with the Commission's
    recommendations. Today we're taking additional steps.
        Our Government's actions against the terrorist threat accelerated
    dramatically after the attacks on the country. Across the world, we've
    aggressively pursued Al Qaida terrorists, destroyed their training
    camps, and ended their sanctuaries. We're working

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    closely with other countries to gather intelligence and make arrests and
    to cut off the terrorists' finances.
        We've created a new unified Department of Homeland Security and gave
    it resources and the authority to defend America. We're employing the
    latest equipment and know-how to secure our borders, our air and sea
    ports, and infrastructure. We're bringing the best technologies to bear
    against the threat of chemical and biological warfare. Project BioShield
    will fund cutting-edge drugs and other defenses against a biological,
    chemical, nuclear, or radiological attack.
        To track terrorists and disrupt their cells and seize their assets,
    we're using the tools of the PATRIOT Act. Congress needs to extend this
    important law. Congress needs to make sure law enforcement have the
    tools necessary to defend the country. We've transformed the FBI to
    focus on the prevention of terrorist attacks. We're continuing to expand
    and strengthen the capabilities of the Central Intelligence Agency. We
    established the Terrorist Threat Integration Center to merge and
    analyze, in a single place, foreign and domestic intelligence on global
    terror.
        Yet, the work of securing this vast Nation is not done. The
    elevation of the threat level in New York and New Jersey and Washington,
    DC, is a serious reminder, a solemn reminder, of the threat we continue
    to face. All the institutions of our Government must be fully prepared
    for a struggle against terror that will last into the future. Our goal
    is an integrated, unified national intelligence effort. Therefore, my
    administration will continue moving forward with additional changes to
    the structure and organization of our intelligence agencies.
        Many of these changes are specific recommendations of the 9/11
    Commission. Others will go further than the proposal of the Commission's
    report. All these reforms have a single goal: We will ensure that the
    people in Government responsible for defending America and countering
    terrorism have the best possible information to make the best decisions.
        Today I'm asking Congress to create the position of a National
    Intelligence Director. That person--the person in that office will be
    appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate,
    and will serve at the pleasure of the President. The National
    Intelligence Director will serve as the President's principal
    intelligence adviser and will oversee and coordinate the foreign and
    domestic activities of the intelligence community. Under this
    reorganization, the CIA will be managed by a separate Director. The
    National Intelligence Director will assume the broader responsibility of
    leading the intelligence community across our Government.
        I want, and every President must have, the best, unbiased,
    unvarnished assessment of America's intelligence professionals. Creating
    the position of the National Intelligence Director will require a
    substantial revision of the 1947 National Security Act. I look forward
    to working with the Members of Congress to move ahead on this important
    reform.
        The 9/11 Commission also made several recommendations about
    Congress, itself. I strongly agree with the Commission's recommendation
    that oversight and intelligence--oversight of intelligence and of the
    homeland security must be restructured and made more effective. There
    are too many committees with overlapping jurisdiction, which wastes time
    and makes it difficult for meaningful oversight and reform.
        Today I also announce that we will establish a National
    Counterterrorism Center. This new center will build on the analytical
    work--the really good analytical work--of the Terrorist Threat
    Integration Center and will become our Government's knowledge bank for
    information about known and suspected terrorists. The new center will
    coordinate and monitor counterterrorism plans and activities of all
    Government agencies and departments to ensure effective joint action and
    that our efforts are unified

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    in priority and purpose. The center will also be responsible for
    preparing the daily terrorism threat report for the President and senior
    officials.
        The Director of the National Counterterrorism Center will report to
    the National Intelligence Director, once that position is created. Until
    then, the center will report to the Director of the CIA.
        Given the growing threat of weapons and missile proliferation in our
    world, it may also be necessary to create a similar center in our
    Government to bring together our intelligence analysis, planning, and
    operations to track and prevent the spread of weapons of mass
    destruction. I asked the Commission headed by Judge Laurence
    Silberman and Senator Chuck Robb to determine the merits of creating such a center.
    This Nation must do everything we can to keep the world's most
    destructive weapons out of the world's most dangerous hands.
        Finally, we will act on other recommendations made by the
    Commission. In coming days, I'll issue a series of directives to various
    departments to underscore and further outline essential steps for the
    U.S. Government on the war on terror. All relevant agencies must
    complete the task of adopting common databases and procedures so that
    intelligence and homeland security information can be shared and
    searched effectively, consistent with privacy and civil liberties.
        At the same time, the FBI Director will continue his restructuring of the Bureau to create a
    specialized workforce for collecting, analyzing domestic intelligence on
    terrorism. The Acting CIA Director will
    continue to increase efforts already underway to strengthen human
    intelligence and analytical capabilities.
        The dedicated, hard-working men and women of our intelligence
    community are laboring every day to keep our country safe. I'm proud of
    their work--and so should our American citizens. We're in their debt.
    We're grateful for them. And the changes we're making are designed to
    help the professionals carry out their essential missions as best as
    they possibly can. I'll work closely with the Congress to ensure that
    reform does not disrupt their daily work. We've got good people working
    hard to protect America. We don't want these efforts to get in the way
    of their efforts to protect our fellow citizens.
        We are a nation in danger. We're doing everything we can in our
    power to confront the danger. We're making good progress in protecting
    our people and bringing our enemies to account. But one thing is for
    certain: We'll keep our focus, and we'll keep our resolve. We will do
    our duty to best secure our country.
        I'll answer a couple of questions today. Scott [Scott Lindlaw,
    Associated Press], have you got one?

    Congressional Action on Intelligence Reform

        Q. First, I'd like to ask you what the level of urgency is here on
    those actions that require congressional approval. They're out on recess
    until Labor Day. Can you envision calling them back into special
    session? And also, you've got a terror warning, as you said, in three
    cities. How do you react without tipping the bad guys off and without
    turning the country into a fortress?
        The President. Yes. Well, the first question is--listen, the
    Congress has been thinking about some of these ideas. They can think
    about them over August and come back and act on them in September. We
    look forward to working with them--not only in the creation of the
    National Intelligence Director, how to do it the right way, but also the
    9/11 Commission had some very constructive suggestions for congressional
    reform. I think Tom told me one time he--how many
    different committees have you testified in front of?
        Secretary Homeland Security Tom Ridge. Well,
    140 times our leadership was up there last year.

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        The President. He testified 140 different
    times.
        Secretary Ridge. Leadership.
        The President. And----
        Secretary Ridge. The leadership--Under
    Secretaries----
        The President. Yes. I mean, it's a lot of--he's got a lot of jurisdictions up there, and so he goes
    committee, subcommittee, this committee, that committee. I mean, it
    seems like it's one thing to testify and, therefore, to be oversight;
    it's another thing to make sure that the people who are engaged in
    protecting America don't spend all their time testifying. And so there's
    going to be some important reforms. We look forward to working with
    Congress on the reforms.
        The second part of your two-part question?

    Intelligence Information Sharing

        Q. In a situation like this, where you have this new terror alert,
    how do you react without tipping off the terrorists and having them move
    to different targets, and how do you avoid turning the country into a
    fortress?
        The President. Well, I appreciate that. I think we have an
    obligation to inform the people involved with protecting New York City,
    in this case, or parts of Jersey or parts of DC about what we know. We
    have an obligation. When we find out something, we've got to share it.
    What we're talking about here is a very serious matter based upon sound
    intelligence. And I would hope the people affected in New York realize
    that by sharing intelligence, we can better prepare in case something
    were to happen.
        In other words, if we were just silent on the subject, I think
    people would be a lot more nervous. They would say, ``What is Government
    withholding? Why weren't they sharing stuff with the people responsible,
    Commissioner Kelly or Mayor
    Bloomberg?'' So our attitude is, we try
    to be as transparent as possible with the affected sites so that people
    can then take responses necessary to better protect the people.
        But it's serious business. I mean, we wouldn't be contacting
    authorities at the local level unless something was real. And what this
    points up to is that there's an enemy which hates what we stand for. And
    it's a different kind of war. And it's one that we're just going to have
    to continue to work on--and will--do the very best we can to protect the
    country.
        Adam [Adam Entous, Reuters].

    Proposed Director of National Intelligence

        Q. Mr. President, some of your own advisers oppose creation of a
    National Intelligence Director. Why did you override their objections?
    And will you give the new Director sweeping budget authority?
        The President. Because I thought it was the right thing to do, Adam.
    And the good thing about having an administration full of competent,
    capable intelligence people is that I get all different kinds of
    opinions. The best decisionmaking process is one where people have
    different opinions, and they bring them to me in a forthright way, and
    then I make the decision about what I think is best. And I think that
    the new National Intelligence Director ought to be able to coordinate
    budgets. I certainly hope Congress reforms its budget process too, so
    that it's a seamless process.
        Secondly, the National Intelligence Director will work with the
    respective agencies to set priorities. But let me make it also very
    clear that when it comes to operations, the chain of command will be
    intact. When the Defense Department is
    conducting operations to secure the homeland, there'll be nothing in
    between the Secretary of Defense and me. I believe this system will
    serve our country well as we head into the depths of the 21st century.
    As I said in my remarks here--that this struggle against these thugs
    will go on for a while, and therefore we've just got to

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    do everything we can to be better prepared.
        Gregory [David Gregory, NBC News].

    War on Terror

        Q. Mr. President, thank you. All of this, as you know, is coming in
    the context of the Presidential election campaign. Your opponent has
    made a couple of charges that I would like your response to: One,
    essentially saying that 3 years after the 9/11 attacks, to go about the
    business of rehauling the intelligence community, is too long; second,
    there's been a suggestion from the Kerry camp today that this
    administration is actually responsible for fueling the recruitment of Al
    Qaida through some of its policies, particularly--they didn't say this
    directly--but the war in Iraq. Your response?
        The President. Yes, that's a misunderstanding of the war on terror.
    Obviously, we have a difference of opinion--a clear difference of
    opinion--about the stakes that face America. These people we face are
    coldblooded, committed killers. They're interested in destroying our way
    of life. They were interested in destroying our way of life before I
    arrived in office. The only way to deal with these people is to bring
    them to justice.
        See, evidently some must think that you can negotiate with them, you
    can talk sense to them, you can hope that they change. That's not what I
    know. I know in order to deal with these people, we must bring them to
    justice before they hurt us again. And so we're on the offense. We will
    stay--the best way to protect the American homeland is to stay on the
    offense. It is a ridiculous notion to assert that because the United
    States is on the offense, more people want to hurt us. We are on the
    offense because people do want to hurt us.
        The other part of your question was what, sir?

    Counterterrorism Efforts

        Q. Why wait 3 years after the 9/11 attacks to call for this kind of
    reform? Senator Kerry has said that's too long.
        The President. Yes. We have implemented significant reforms since 9/
    11. The FBI is reformed, and Director Mueller has done a fabulous job. The communications between the
    FBI and the CIA have been enhanced by the creation of what's called
    TTIC, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. We moved quickly to make
    sure that there is a seamless spread of information throughout our
    Government. We called for and worked with Congress to create the
    Department of Homeland Security. Not everybody in Congress agreed with
    how that Department ought to be set up. But we got it set up, and not
    only that, under Secretary Ridge, we have
    implemented the integration of multiple agencies to better protect the
    homeland. We've done a lot since September the 11th.
        Let's see here. Jay Newton-Small [Bloomberg News]. How are you?
        Q. Good, and you?
        The President. I'm fine.

    Proposed Director of National Intelligence

        Q. Mr. President, the 9/11 Commission originally recommended that
    the National Intelligence Director be part of the Executive Office, part
    of the executive branch. Why the change? Why make it part of--with
    congressional oversight?
        The President. Well, I don't think that person ought to be a member
    of my Cabinet. I will hire the person, and I can fire the person, which
    is--any President would like. That's how you have accountability in
    Government. I don't think that the office ought to be in the White
    House, however. I think it ought to be a stand-alone group to better
    coordinate, particularly between foreign intelligence and domestic
    intelligence matters. I think it's going to be one of the most useful
    aspects of the National Intelligence Director.

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        Let's see. John--or Mike [Mike Allen, Washington Post], why don't
    you, and then John Cochran [ABC News].

    Situation in Afghanistan/Iran

        Q. Thank you, Mr. President. You saw that Doctors Without Borders
    pulled out of Afghanistan because it was too dangerous. You've seen
    reports about the re-formed Taliban. Why is the security situation there
    so poor? What do you see as the trajectory of it? And Mr. President, do
    you worry that you should have given more attention to Iran earlier?
        The President. First, let me address Afghanistan. I did see that the
    Doctors Without Borders left, and I'm sorry they did, because they were
    providing a important function for the people who want to live in a free
    society. I also saw, at the same time, that there's over--I think it's 9
    million Afghan citizens have registered to vote. That's an unbelievable
    statement, isn't it? Do you remember when we were here--I can't
    remember, at one of my press conferences--we had a discussion about
    this, but there was some concern that, well, maybe they're not going to
    get even the 3 million people registered to vote in Afghanistan. Or
    maybe it was--some minimal threshold. I think we're over 9 million now?
        Secretary Ridge. Yes, just about 9 million.
        The President. Nine million people have said to the world, ``We love
    freedom, and we're going to vote.'' Now, the Taliban still roams in
    parts of the country, and we're working with the Afghan Government to
    bring them to justice. These are similar to the killers in Iraq; they'll
    lurk in shadows and come out and kill indiscriminately. Do you remember
    they pulled the women off the bus? They got the bus; they stopped and
    said, ``Everybody--the women with voter registration cards step up,''
    and they killed them. Nevertheless, the Afghan people refuse to be
    intimidated. They're showing up in droves to vote. A free society is
    emerging in that part of the world.
        In Iran, we are paying very close attention to Iran. We have ever
    since I've been in office here. We are working with our friends to keep
    the pressure on the mullahs to listen to the demands of the free world.
    And we're working with the--hold on a second, please. Excuse me. We're
    working with the IAEA to keep the pressure on Iran, and the Secretary is
    working very closely with the foreign ministers of France, Great
    Britain, and Germany, who are taking it upon themselves to make it clear
    that the demands of Europe are also equal to--the same as the demands of
    the United States, that we expect for there to be full disclosure, full
    transparency of their nuclear weapons programs.
        Yes, Suzanne [Suzanne Malveaux, Cable News Network]. Suzanne.
        Q. Do you think the intelligence was----
        The President. Suzanne.

    Response to Terrorism Threats

        Q. Mr. President, your opponent, John Kerry, has called for a
    complete endorsement of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations. How do
    your actions today differ from his own in ensuring national security?
    And what can the American people see in the days to come, either feel or
    see, to know that they are better protected?
        The President. Well, when we put out a threat alert like we did
    yesterday and then work with folks at the local jurisdictions to
    respond, the American people need to know that, one, our intelligence
    gathering is doing its job--the intelligence gatherers are doing their
    job. And secondly, the response mechanism is fast. And they need to know
    their Government--there are thousands of people working overtime to not
    only find data but analyze data and then take the steps necessary to
    protect, as best as we possibly can. This is a big country. We're a free
    country. And as I've said many times, we've got to be 100 percent
    correct; they've got to be correct once.

    [[Page 1466]]

    But the people need to know that we're taking action on actionable
    intelligence.
        First part of the--the 9/11--listen, my job is to take a look at
    what I think is right and to build on that which we've already done.
    We've already done a lot. Take a good look at what has taken place since
    9/11, and I think you'll be, as a citizen concerned about your own
    safety, I think you'll be pleased. And the question is, how do we do
    more? We're more than happy to do more.
        Last question. Deans [Bob Deans, Cox Newspapers].

    Proposed Director of National Intelligence/Decisionmaking on Iraq

        Q. Yes, sir. Mr. President, can you say what you regard as the model
    for this National Intelligence Director? Is it the Fed? Would it be the
    Joint Chiefs of Staff?
        The President. Yes.
        Q. And in what way would this new structure prevent the kind of
    intelligence failings that preceded the war in Iraq with respect to
    weapons, difficulty of the opposition faced, and those sorts of things?
        The President. Not like the Fed. More like the Joint Chiefs, because
    the Joint Chiefs have got a--even though not a part of the chain of
    command, they are affected by the chain of command.
        And the second part of the--oh, why would this--listen, let me talk
    about the intelligence in Iraq. First of all, we all thought we would
    find stockpiles of weapons. We may still find weapons. We haven't found
    them yet. Every person standing up here would say, gosh, we thought it
    was going to be different, as did the Congress, by the way, members of
    both parties, and the United Nations. But what we do know is that Saddam
    Hussein had the capability of making weapons.
        And let me just say this to you: Knowing what I know today, we still
    would have gone on into Iraq. We still would have gone to make our
    country more secure. He had the capability of
    making weapons. He had terrorist ties. The decision I made was the right
    decision. The world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power. And I
    find it interesting, in the political process, that some say, ``Well, I
    voted for the intelligence,'' and now they won't say whether or not it
    was the right decision to take Saddam Hussein out. It's the right
    decision, and the world is better off for it.
        Listen, thank you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:33 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Acting CIA Director John E.
    McLaughlin; and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Mayor Michael
    R. Bloomberg of New York City. The President also referred to the
    National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11
    Commission); and the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the
    United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction (Silberman/Robb
    Commission). The related Executive orders of August 27 on the
    President's Board on Safeguarding Americans' Civil Liberties, the
    National Counterterrorism Center, management of the intelligence
    community, and sharing of terrorism information are listed in Appendix D
    at the end of this volume.

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