    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
    [July 20, 2005]
    [Pages 1249-1256]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the PATRIOT Act in Baltimore, Maryland
    July 20, 2005

        Thanks for the warm welcome. It's good to be back in Baltimore, home
    of the mighty Orioles and my friend Rafael Palmeiro. I had the honor of calling--I call him Raffy--the other
    day to congratulate him on his 500 home run, 3,000 hit club membership.
    And I know you're proud of him here. He's a--as you can tell, I'm a
    baseball guy. And one of the things about Baltimore is you're great
    baseball fans, and I think we're all thrilled that our friend Rafael
    Palmeiro is such a great player.
        It's also an honor to be here at the Port of Baltimore. It's an
    impressive place to chopper over. There is a lot of action here in
    Baltimore. And I want to thank you all for giving me a chance to come by
    to talk about how to secure this port, other ports, the borders, and our
    country. That's the task at hand. And for those of you involved with
    protecting our homeland, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart
    for your hard work.
        I want to thank the Governor for
    welcoming me, and I appreciate the first lady

    [[Page 1250]]

    coming as well. The Governor asked how my mountain bike is going. It's
    not going well when you fall. [Laughter] It seems like it's happening
    quite often these days. Congratulations on a billion-dollar surplus.
        I want to thank the Attorney General, Al Gonzales, for joining me. Al has been a longtime friend of mine. He
    is a superb lawyer. He's been my counselor, as Governor of Texas and in
    the White House. He is now the Attorney General of the United States of
    America, and I'm proud of the job he's doing for our country.
        And I appreciate my friend Mike Chertoff for agreeing to become the Secretary of the
    Department of Homeland Security. He has got a mighty task, to make sure
    that old ways are abandoned for new ways, that we work closely together,
    that the kind of giant bureaucracy that has been created out of other
    bureaucracies functions smoothly. And he's doing a very good job of
    leading this important agency in the right direction. Mike, thanks for
    serving; thanks for your leadership; thanks for your clear vision about
    the job that you need to do.
        I want to thank Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger for being here. Dutch, it's good to see you. I
    appreciate you coming. You're a good man to take time out of your
    schedule to be here.
        I want to thank the mayor for joining us. Mr. Mayor, proud you're here. Thanks for taking time out of your
    schedule to come by to say hello.
        I want to thank Brooks Royster,
    the executive director, for hosting this event. It is not easy to host a
    President. It turns out the entourages are quite large these days. But I
    want to thank you for making this an important event. I want to thank
    all of you who are here. Once again, I want to thank those who wear the
    uniform for joining us.
        Last night I announced my nomination of a good and highly qualified
    man to the Supreme Court, Judge John Roberts. He's somebody Americans will be proud to have seated on
    that bench. He has the qualities that our country expects in a judge,
    experience, wisdom, fairness, and civility. He has profound respect for
    the rule of law. He has respect for the liberties guaranteed to every
    single citizen. He will strictly apply the Constitution and laws. He
    will not legislate from the bench. I urge the Senate to rise to the
    occasion, to provide a fair and civil process, and to have Judge Roberts
    in place before the next Court session begins on October the 3d.
        I not only have the duty to nominate good people to the bench, I
    have the duty to work with you all to protect this country. That's our
    most solemn duty.
        I'm going to talk about securing the homeland. But I want you to
    remember, as we work to secure the homeland, we have to be right 100
    percent of the time, and the enemy only has to be right one time. And so
    therefore, the best way to protect the homeland is to go on the offense,
    is to find these people in foreign lands and bring them to justice
    before they come here to hurt us.
        And that's exactly what we're doing. We're pursuing a two-pronged
    strategy. We're sharing intelligence with our allies. We're working with
    people around the world. We're on the hunt, and we will stay on the
    hunt. If your most important duty is to protect the homeland, it's
    important not to lose our nerve, our will, and our focus. And the United
    States will not do so. We'll continue to lead, to bring people to
    justice all around the world.
        We're facing coldblooded killers who have an ideology that is the
    opposite of ours. These people believe that there should be no dissent,
    no freedom, no rights for women, that there only ought to be one
    religion--which is a misinterpretation of the great religion of Islam.
    That's what they believe. And they have designs; they have goals. And
    what are those goals? Well, they want to topple nations. They want to
    drive the United States and freedom-loving countries out of parts of the
    world so their

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    ideology can take hold. That's what they want, and they want to shake
    our will and weaken our determination.
        See, the only real weapon they have is the capacity to kill innocent
    people and to shake our conscience, to get us to withdraw. That's what
    they want. And there's a reason why they want us to withdraw from the
    world, because they want to impose their vision, their dark vision on
    people.
        The only way to defeat an ideology of hatred is with an ideology of
    hope. And so our strategy is not only, stay on the offense and to bring
    these people to justice; our strategy is to spread the ideology of hope
    found in democracy and freedom. History has proven that democracies are
    peaceful countries. History has proven that democracy and freedom have
    the capability of converting enemies into allies. The best way to secure
    the future for our children and grandchildren is to spread democracy and
    hope and freedom to parts of the world that simmer in resentment and
    anger and hatred.
        And that's precisely what the United States of America is doing and
    will continue to do. These terrorists will not shake our will. They will
    not cause us to retreat. I believe strongly we have a duty not only to
    defend our homeland today; we have a duty to lay the foundation of peace
    for generations to come, which is precisely what we're doing.
        As we work to defend the country overseas--first of all, for those
    of you who have got relatives in the service, for those of you who wear
    the uniform, I want to thank you for what you're doing. And tell your
    loved one--and if you're in contact with a loved one in Iraq or in
    Afghanistan, you can tell them this: The citizens of this great country,
    the citizens of the United States of America stand squarely with those
    who wear the uniform of the United States military.
        I found an interesting contrast that when I was in Scotland a while
    ago, that we were there to talk about how to end poverty and disease,
    how to help women, how to educate young girls on the continent of
    Africa. That's what we were there to discuss. We were there to discuss
    how nations that have been blessed with riches can do our part to save
    lives. I don't know if you know this or not, but the United States of
    America is, by far, the most generous nation in the world when it comes
    to feeding the hungry or providing help for those who are suffering from
    HIV/AIDS. I believe that to whom much is given, much is required.
        And in the midst of those discussions, terrorists murdered in cold
    blood people from all walks of life, innocent people. It's an
    interesting contrast, isn't it? It should be a vivid reminder about the
    world in which we live. We will not let down our guard. And therefore,
    at home, we're doing everything we can to protect the American people.
        There are a lot of people who are working hard, and you're some of
    them. And I want to thank you for what you're doing. Oftentimes, you
    don't get recognized enough by the citizens. We take your work for
    granted often. But I know how hard you're working, and I want to thank
    you for that. And the Federal Government has a responsibility to help
    you in your work.
        We're taking four key steps to protect the homeland. The first thing
    is to make sure that we spend resources necessary to protect the
    Nation--spend the money, and spend it wisely, by the way; make sure that
    we spend it on areas that need the help. And we're spending
    unprecedented resources to protect our Nation. We have more than tripled
    funding for homeland security since September the 11th. I want to thank
    the Members of Congress for working on that. Dutch, thanks.
        We're developing innovative programs to defend this country against
    a biological, chemical, or nuclear attack. In other words, one of the
    biggest dangers we face is if a biological, chemical, or nuclear device

    [[Page 1252]]

    gets in the hands of terrorists. Listen, they will use them. By the way,
    you can't negotiate with these people or reason with them. That's what
    you've got to understand. These are not the kind of people you sit down
    and send a counselor over and hope to convince them to change their
    ways. These are coldblooded ideologues who will kill, and therefore,
    we've got to plan for the worst.
        We provided--since that fateful attack on our country, we provided
    more than 14 billion to train, equip State and local first-responders.
    That makes sense, doesn't it? Those who are going to be responsible for
    responding to an attack are at the local level, the Federal Government
    ought to help, as part of the homeland security strategy, help train
    people. And we're spending money to do so. We've increased Federal
    homeland security funding by more than tenfold for firefighters and
    police officers and other responders. I mean, if we're asking you to be
    on the frontline, we ought to help you. And that's what we've done at
    the Federal level.
        Secondly, we're strengthening the defenses at our most important and
    vulnerable locations. In other words, part of the strategy is to try to
    figure out where the enemy may attack. You assess your weaknesses, and
    you build on those--and you strengthen your weaknesses. Remember, this
    is a war. This isn't a--maybe a law enforcement adventure. We're at war
    with these people. And therefore, during a time of war, you've got to do
    everything you can to strengthen your defenses. And so we'll continue to
    enhance protection at our borders and coastlines and airports and
    bridges and nuclear powerplants and water treatment facilities and other
    critical sites, including transportation infrastructure.
        Since September the 11th, we've provided more than $350 million to
    help State and local authorities improve security on mass transit. I'm
    sure you can figure out why I'm trying to explain what we've done about
    mass transit. That's what the enemy hit the other day on one of our
    strong allies. They used their mass transit system to try to shake our
    will.
        The city of Baltimore and other cities around the country have
    received $2.4 billion in urban security grants, which they have the
    choice to use for mass transit security. I think that makes sense to say
    to a mayor, ``If you've got a problem with your mass transit, here's a
    grant, and if you feel that's the best use of the money, use it there.''
        My budget for the next year proposes a 64-percent increase in
    infrastructure protection grants--in other words, grants that will go
    specifically for infrastructure, to safeguard subway, light rail, city
    buses, and other critical systems. And we're going to continue to work
    closely with State and local leaders to make other vital improvements in
    mass transit security.
        First of all, we're constantly monitoring intelligence reports. And
    part of our job is to collect intelligence, look at it, analyze it, and
    if it's a problem that relates to a security system at a local level,
    we'll let you know as quickly as possible.
        We take extra precautions at times of heightened risks. That's what
    Mike Chertoff recommended to me after the
    London bombings. In other words, he took a look at the situation and
    said, ``Let's enhance our security at infrastructure points,'' and he
    raised the threat level. We're widening the use of explosive detection
    teams and nearly doubling the number of rail security inspectors. We're
    targeting assets and resources to our infrastructure. We're accelerating
    the development and deployment of new technologies to rapidly detect
    biological, radiological, and chemical attacks. That's what Mike
    announced last week. We're going to continue to make sure that we assess
    our weaknesses and strengthen our transportation systems.
        Our seaports are another critical element of our national
    infrastructure. We've done a lot of work at our seaports, and I want to
    thank those of you here who have

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    helped. In the Port of Baltimore, ships from around the world arrive
    with products ranging from lumber to fuel to electronics and
    automobiles, and you've got a lot of it coming in, which is good news.
    Commerce at this port generates more than a billion dollars of revenue
    and sustains thousands of Maryland jobs. This port is important for your
    economy, in other words.
        This is a gateway for foreign markets, which provides an opportunity
    and an important challenge for us. And we recognized that early. We've
    made dramatic advancements in port security since September the 11th.
    We've established strict new safety rules for both domestic and
    international shipping, and we have taken new steps to identify and
    inspect high-risk cargo. And that's important for our citizens to
    understand.
        We launched what we call the Container Security Initiative to screen
    American-bound containers at more than 35 foreign ports so we can
    identify dangerous cargo before it reaches our shore. Doesn't that make
    sense? It seems like it does to me. In other words, we're stationing
    Customs folks overseas, and we're working with places that ship goods to
    us, to inspect cargo there so we don't burden our ports. Since September
    the 11th, we've provided more than $700 million in Federal grants to
    close off the vulnerabilities at individual ports, including 15 million
    for this port right here.
        The success of all these efforts depends on the vigilance of the men
    and women protecting the ports. And you're taking critical steps here in
    Baltimore. And I want the citizens of this city to understand what
    you're doing. You've upgraded cargo inspection technology from
    clipboards to keyboards. I just saw some of your new cargo inspection
    technology. It's sophisticated. It enables a person to do a lot of
    inspections relatively easy. You're employing advanced screening
    devices, such as new radiation detectors and x-ray equipment that can
    penetrate steel containers. That's what I saw. I mean, you can look
    inside the truck; you don't even have to get in it. That's called
    technology, and it's working. It makes a big difference. You're
    patrolling the waters around the port.
        I want to thank all of you who are working hard here. I want to
    thank members of the Coast Guard and Border Patrol and the Baltimore
    Port Authority.
        At a major international port like this, there's a lot to do to
    safeguard the people. And so we're committed to help you build on the
    progress. The budget for next year proposes 2.3 billion in port security
    funding, 10 times higher than the funding since September the 11th. The
    budget increases the Coast Guard budget by more than 11 percent,
    including new funding for patrol boats. The budget boosts support for
    cutting-edge cargo screening technologies. I mean, we're really good at
    technology, and we might as well be using that technology to protect the
    American people.
        What I'm telling you is, is that we're focused here in--and I want
    to thank again, thank Congress for staying focused with us. When you're
    at war, you can't lose sight of the fact that you're at war. And if your
    most important priority is to protect the people, you've got to work
    together to do so.
        Thirdly, to protect this homeland we're making our security
    operations more unified and more effective. More than 180,000 men and
    women from 22 different agencies are working together at the Department
    of Homeland Security. That's a lot of folks with a lot of agencies. So
    Chertoff's job is to make sure everybody heads in the same direction.
    And we're making good progress, changing cultures, streamlining
    cultures, and getting people to work under a unified Department.
        The FBI is changing its mission. Its primary mission is to prevent a
    terrorist attack. Of course, we want the FBI agents to find people and
    to bring them to justice when they break the law. We want them to be a
    part of the preventative aspect of this

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    war on terror too. We've reformed the intelligence community to stay a
    step ahead of our enemies. We created a new Director of National
    Intelligence to help integrate our intelligence. We want our
    intelligence folks sharing information and talking better.
        I went to the National Counterterrorism Center the other day. It's
    an impressive place. It's a place where people from different agencies
    in our Government sit side by side to share information. This is a new
    kind of war. We're dealing with people who hide in the shadows of our
    cities. They kind of lay low, and then they show up with deadly devices.
    And therefore, the best way to stop them is to share intelligence. And
    so we're constantly working to make sure our intelligence is as good as
    possible.
        And to strengthen the security, we've got to strengthen our
    partnership with State and local officials. It doesn't do any good if we
    can figure something out and we don't share it with people at the local
    level. In this State, the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center,
    known as MCAC, brings together more than 20 Federal, State, and local
    agencies. You're doing a good thing in the State and for the local level
    to coordinate information. I want to tell you a story about MCAC's
    success.
        Last summer, Baltimore County Police officers spotted a suspicious
    person videotaping the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. First of all, you have
    somebody who is alert on the ground. It was odd looking; somebody is
    videotaping the bridge. Maybe that happens a lot; maybe it doesn't.
    Anyway, this person was wise. He saw something suspicious. So they
    alerted the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, which then
    notified MCAC. When the personnel team there learned that the man was
    part of a Federal terrorism investigation in Illinois, they secured a
    warrant and arrested the guy within
    hours.
        Think about what you just heard. You got a local man sees somebody
    doing something suspicious; he immediately makes a call; it goes to
    MCAC. Because we have information-sharing from State to State and from
    Federal Government to State, information popped up that this person was
    more than suspicious; he was wanted.
        Today I got to see Gary McLhinney. I
    appreciate you being here, Gary. He is the chief of the Maryland
    Transportation Authority Police. I don't know who gets the credit in
    your organization, but whoever did acted wisely. Let me tell you what he
    said. He said, ``Our officers would not have been successful in
    detaining and subsequently arresting the individual without the MCAC.
    This is how it's supposed to work.'' You're right: This is how it's
    supposed to work. Congratulations on setting up a smooth system here in
    the State of Maryland to better protect the people. You're serving as a
    model.
        And see, that's what's taking place all around the homeland. People
    have got to understand, we're changing the old ways so people can better
    talk. We're all in this deal together. We all have a responsibility to
    protect our local citizens. And therefore, it makes sense to have a
    seamless capacity to talk to each other in a real-time basis, and it's
    working--it's working.
        Fourth, to protect the homeland, we've got to give our law
    enforcement better tools to track and stop terrorists before they
    strike. And one of the most important tools is the USA PATRIOT Act. The
    PATRIOT Act closed dangerous gaps in America's law enforcement and
    intelligence capabilities, gaps that terrorists exploited when they
    attacked us on September the 11th.
        Both Houses of Congress passed the PATRIOT Act by overwhelming
    bipartisan majorities, and I was proud to sign this law. And it's
    working. The PATRIOT Act authorized better sharing of information
    between law enforcement and intelligence. Before the PATRIOT Act,
    criminal investigators were separated from intelligence officers by a
    legal and bureaucratic wall. Imagine that. You get somebody
    investigating a problem and somebody collecting

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    intelligence, and they couldn't share information. And so the PATRIOT
    Act broke down that wall. How in the heck can people expect us to
    protect our country when you can't share intelligence with people who
    are investigating? The PATRIOT Act helped tear down the wall so that
    people can share information better and work as a team and break up
    terror networks.
        Listen, finding our enemies in the war on terror is tough enough.
    Law enforcement should not be denied vital information their own
    colleagues already have. And so, for the sake of our security, the
    United States Congress must not rebuild the wall that prevents law
    enforcement from doing its job.
        The PATRIOT Act allowed investigators to pursue terrorists with the
    same tools they use against other criminals. Think about that statement.
    We had people that could use certain tools against drug dealers, but
    couldn't against terrorists. Before the PATRIOT Act, it was easier to
    track the phone contacts of a drug dealer than the phone contacts of a
    terrorist. Before the PATRIOT Act, it was easier to get the credit card
    receipts of a tax cheat than that of an Al Qaida bank-roller. Before the
    PATRIOT Act, agents could use wiretaps to investigate a person
    committing mail fraud but not specifically to investigate a foreign
    terrorist carrying deadly weapons. Before the PATRIOT Act, investigators
    could follow the calls of mobsters who switched cell phones but not
    terrorists who switched cell phones. That didn't make any sense. The
    PATRIOT Act ended all these double standards.
        The theory is straightforward, and it makes sense to me,
    Dutch, and I know it does to a
    lot of your colleagues. If we have good tools to fight street crime and
    fraud, then our law enforcement ought to have the same tools to fight
    terrorism. The PATRIOT Act also has updated the law to meet high-tech
    threats like computer espionage and cyber-terrorism. For example, before
    the PATRIOT Act, Internet providers who notified Federal authorities
    about threatening e-mails ran the risk of getting sued. Needless to say,
    that stopped some people from sharing threatening e-mails. Nobody likes
    to get sued. It happens too often in our society, by the way. The
    PATRIOT Act modernized the law to protect Internet companies who
    voluntarily disclose information to save American lives.
        Terrorists are using every advantage of the 21st century technology,
    and we've got to make sure our law enforcement has got the tools to
    fight off that advantage. The PATRIOT Act helps us defeat our enemies
    while safeguarding civil liberties for all Americans. The judicial
    branch has a strong oversight role in the application of the PATRIOT
    Act. Law enforcement officers need a Federal judge's permission to
    wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone or to track his calls or to search
    his property. Officers must meet strict standards to use any of the
    tools we're talking about, and they are fully consistent with the
    Constitution of the United States.
        Congress also oversees the use of the PATRIOT Act. Our Attorney
    General, Al Gonzales, delivers regular
    reports on the PATRIOT Act to the House and the Senate. The Department
    of Justice has answered hundreds of questions from Members of the
    Congress. In other words, there is a strong oversight role.
        I want you to hear what Senator Dianne Feinstein of California said the other day. She said, ``We have
    scrubbed the area and have no reported abuses.'' She was speaking about
    the PATRIOT Act. I want you to remember that the next time you hear
    someone make an unfair criticism of this important, good law. The
    PATRIOT Act hasn't diminished American liberties. It has helped to
    defend American liberties.
        Over the past 3\1/2\ years, our law enforcement and intelligence
    personnel have put the PATRIOT Act to effective use. In other words,
    it's working, because we've got good people using the tools within the
    PATRIOT

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    Act. They've used the law to break up terrorist cells in New York and
    Oregon and Virginia and Florida. We prosecuted terrorist operatives and
    supporters from California to Texas and New Jersey to Illinois, North
    Carolina, and Ohio. In other words, we're making progress. It's one
    thing to have the tools. It's another thing to use them effectively
    within the guidelines of the United States Constitution.
        The PATRIOT Act has accomplished exactly what it was designed to do.
    The problem is, at the end of this year, 16 critical provisions of the
    PATRIOT Act are scheduled to expire. All 16 provisions are practical,
    effective, and constitutional, and they are vital to defending our
    freedom.
        This week, the House of Representatives will vote on legislation to
    renew the PATRIOT Act. As we saw in London, the terrorists are still
    active, and they are still plotting to take innocent life. So my message
    to the Congress is clear: This is no time to let our guard down and no
    time to roll back good laws. The PATRIOT Act is expected to expire, but
    the terrorist threats will not expire. I expect, and the American people
    expect, the United States Congress and the United States Senate to renew
    the PATRIOT Act without weakening our ability to fight terror, and they
    need to get that bill to my desk soon.
        I appreciate you letting me come by to talk to you about the war on
    terror. This is going to be a long war, but freedom is going to prevail.
    This Nation of ours has always handled duties brought to us--history has
    always brought us challenges and problems. We've always handled them.
    We'll handle this one too.
        See, the enemy doesn't understand the nature of the American people.
    We're not going to be blackmailed. We're not going to be threatened.
    We'll stay strong. When history has called us to action in the past,
    we've responded. And history is calling us now. It's the great struggle
    of the 21st century, and we're going to stay in the fight until it's
    won. We're going to make this country safer. And as importantly, for the
    moms and dads out there and grandfolks, we're laying the foundation of
    peace for your children and grandchildren.
        It is such an honor to be involved with good men and women like you
    all who are--we're all joined together in this solemn duty to protect
    this great country.
        I want to thank you for your hard work. I want to thank you for your
    dedication. May God bless you and your families, and may God continue to
    bless our country.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:02 a.m. at the Port of Baltimore. In his
    remarks, he referred to Rafael Palmeiro, infielder, Baltimore Orioles;
    Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., of Maryland and his wife, Kendel; Mayor
    Martin O'Malley of Baltimore, MD; and F. Brooks Royster III, executive
    director, Maryland Port Administration.