    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [May 13, 2006]
    [Pages 924-926]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    May 13, 2006

        Good morning. This week I nominated General Mike Hayden to be the next Director of the Central
    Intelligence Agency. The work of the CIA is essential to the security of
    the American people. The enemies who struck our Nation on September the
    11th, 2001, intend to attack us again. And to defeat them, we must have
    the best possible intelligence. In Mike Hayden, the men and women of the
    CIA will have a strong leader who will support them as they work to
    disrupt terrorist attacks, penetrate closed societies, and gain
    information that is vital to protecting our Nation.
        General Hayden is supremely qualified
    to lead the CIA. For the last year, he's been our Nation's first Deputy
    Director of

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    National Intelligence and has played a critical role in our efforts to
    reform America's intelligence capabilities to meet the threats of a new
    century. He has more than 20 years of experience in the intelligence
    field. He served for 6 years as Director of the National Security Agency
    and has a track record of success in leading and transforming that large
    intelligence agency. He also has held senior positions at the Pentagon
    and the National Security Council, and he served behind the Iron Curtain
    in our Embassy in Bulgaria during the cold war.
        Mike knows our intelligence community
    from the ground up. He's been both a producer and a consumer of
    intelligence and has overseen both human and technical intelligence
    activities, as well as the all-source analysis derived from those
    activities. Mike was unanimously confirmed by the Senate last year for
    his current post, and this week members of both parties have praised his
    nomination. I urge the Senate to confirm him promptly as the next
    Director of the CIA.
        During General Hayden's tenure at the
    NSA, he helped establish and run one of our most vital intelligence
    efforts in the war on terror, the terrorist surveillance program. As the
    9/11 Commission and others have noted, our Government failed to connect
    the dots in the years before the attacks of September the 11th. We now
    know that two of the hijackers in the United States made phone calls to
    Al Qaida operatives overseas, but we did not know about their plans
    until it was too late.
        So to prevent another attack, I authorized the National Security
    Agency--consistent with the Constitution and laws--to intercept
    international communications in which one party has known links to Al
    Qaida and related terrorist groups. This terrorist surveillance program
    makes it more likely that killers like the 9/11 hijackers will be
    identified and located in time. It has helped prevent possible terrorist
    attacks in the United States and abroad, and it remains essential to the
    security of America. If there are people inside our country who are
    talking with Al Qaida, we want to know about it. We will not sit back
    and wait to be attacked again.
        This week new claims have been made about other ways we are tracking
    down Al Qaida--prevent attacks on America. It is important for Americans
    to understand that our activities strictly target Al Qaida and its known
    affiliates. Al Qaida is our enemy, and we want to know their plans. The
    intelligence activities I have authorized are lawful and have been
    briefed to appropriate Members of Congress, both Republican and
    Democrat. The privacy of all Americans is fiercely protected in all our
    activities. The Government does not listen to domestic phone calls
    without court approval. We are not trolling through the personal lives
    of millions of innocent Americans. Our efforts are focused on links to
    Al Qaida terrorists and its affiliates who want to harm the American
    people.
        Americans expect their Government to do everything in its power
    under our laws and Constitution to protect them and their civil
    liberties. That is exactly what we are doing. And so far, we have been
    successful in preventing another attack on our soil. The men and women
    of the CIA are working around the clock to make our Nation more secure.
    I am confident that General Hayden will
    strengthen the CIA and integrate its vital work with our other
    intelligence agencies, so we can defeat the terrorists of the 21st
    century.
        Thank you for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 7:50 a.m. on May 12 in the Cabinet
    Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on May 13. The
    transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    May 12 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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