[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
[March 9, 2006]
[Pages 428-430]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks on Signing the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act
of 2005
March 9, 2006
Welcome. Thanks for the applause. Glad you're here in the people's
house.
I'm going to sign--in a few moments I'll be signing the USA PATRIOT
Improvement and Reauthorization Act. This is a really important piece of
legislation. It is a piece of legislation that's vital to win the war on
terror and to protect the American people.
The law allows our intelligence and law enforcement officials to
continue to share information. It allows them to continue to use tools
against terrorists that they used against--that they use against drug
dealers and other criminals. It will improve our Nation's security,
while we safeguard the civil liberties of our people. The legislation
strengthens the Justice Department so it can better detect and disrupt
terrorist threats. And the bill gives law enforcement new tools to
combat threats to our citizens from international terrorists to local
drug dealers.
It is an important piece of legislation, and I thank those here who
helped get it passed. I particularly want to thank the Attorney General,
Al Gonzales. It's good to see former
Attorney Generals here as well. I appreciate Secretary Mike
Chertoff, Secretary John Snow, Ambassador Negroponte, Bob
Mueller. Thank you all for coming.
John Walters, appreciate you being here.
I particularly want to thank the Members of the Congress who are up
here, starting with the Speaker of the House, Denny Hastert. Mr. Speaker, thanks for your leadership on this
important piece of legislation. I do want to pay special tribute to
Senator
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Arlen Specter and Congressman Jim
Sensenbrenner. These are the
chairmen of the Judiciary Committees that got this legislation to this
desk. Thank you all for your hard work. I appreciate you being here.
I want to thank Pat Roberts, who's
with us; John Boehner, who's majority leader; Roy Blunt, the majority whip. I want to thank all the other Members
of the Congress who have joined us, particularly Peter King, who is the chairman of the House Homeland Security
Committee.
I want to thank all the State and local officials who are here.
Chief Ramsey, it's good to see you.
Appreciate you coming. Always be good to the local police chief.
[Laughter]
America remains a nation at war. The war reached our shores on
September the 11th, 2001. On that morning, we saw clearly the violence
and hatred of a new enemy. We saw the terrorists' destructive vision for
us when they killed nearly 3,000 men, women, and children.
In the face of this ruthless threat, our Nation has made a clear
choice: We will confront this mortal danger; we will stay on the
offensive; and we're not going to wait to be attacked again. Since
September the 11th, 2001, we have taken the fight to the enemy. We've
hunted terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan, cities of Iraq, in
the islands of Southeast Asia, and everywhere else they plot, plan, and
train. Our men and women in uniform have brought down two regimes that
supported terrorism. We liberated 50 million people. We've gained new
allies in the war on terror.
As we wage the war on terror overseas, we're also going after the
terrorists here at home, and one of the most important tools we have
used to protect the American people is the PATRIOT Act. The PATRIOT Act
closed dangerous gaps in America's law enforcement and intelligence
capabilities, gaps the terrorists exploited when they attacked us on
September the 11th.
The PATRIOT Act was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. It
strengthened our national security in two important ways. First, it
authorized law enforcement and intelligence officers to share vital
information. Before the PATRIOT Act, criminal investigators were often
separated from intelligence officers by a legal and bureaucratic wall.
The PATRIOT Act tore down the wall. And as a result, law enforcement and
intelligence officers are sharing information, working together, and
bringing terrorists to justice.
Secondly, the PATRIOT Act has allowed agents to pursue terrorists
with the same tools they use against other criminals. Before the PATRIOT
Act, it was easier to track the phone contacts of a drug dealer than the
phone contacts of an enemy operative. Before the PATRIOT Act, it was
easier to get the credit card receipts of a tax cheater than trace the
financial support of an Al Qaida fundraiser. The PATRIOT Act corrected
these double standards, and the United States is safer as a result.
Over the past 4 years, America's law enforcement and intelligence
personnel have proved that the PATRIOT Act works. Federal, State, and
local law enforcement have used the PATRIOT Act to break up terror cells
in Ohio, New York, Oregon, and Virginia. We've prosecuted terrorist
operatives and supporters in California and Texas, New Jersey, Illinois,
Washington, and North Carolina.
The PATRIOT Act has accomplished exactly what it was designed to do.
It has helped us detect terror cells, disrupt terrorist plots, and save
American lives. The bill I sign today extends these vital provisions. It
also gives our Nation new protections and added defenses.
This legislation creates a new position of Assistant Attorney
General for National Security. This will allow the Justice Department to
bring together its national security, counterterrorism,
counterintelligence, and foreign intelligence surveillance operations
under a single authority. This reorganization fulfills one of the
critical recommendations of the WMD Commission. It will help
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our brave men and women in law enforcement connect the dots before the
terrorists strike.
This bill also will help protect Americans from the growing threat
of methamphetamine. Meth is easy to make. It is highly addictive. It is
ruining too many lives across our country. The bill introduces
commonsense safeguards that would make many of the ingredients used in
manufacturing meth harder to obtain in bulk and easier for law
enforcement to track.
For example, the bill places limits on large-scale purchases of
over-the-counter drugs that are used to manufacture meth. It requires
stores to keep these ingredients behind the counter or in locked display
cases. The bill also increases penalties for smuggling and selling of
meth. Our Nation is committed to protecting our citizens and our young
people from the scourge of methamphetamine.
The PATRIOT Act has served America well, yet we cannot let the fact
that America has not been attacked since September the 11th lull us into
the illusion that the terrorist threat has disappeared. We still face
dangerous enemies. The terrorists haven't lost the will or the ability
to kill innocent folks. Our military, law enforcement, homeland
security, and intelligence professionals are working day and night to
protect us from this threat. We're safer for their efforts, and we'll
continue to give them the tools to get the job done.
And now it's my honor to sign the USA PATRIOT Improvement and
Reauthorization Act of 2005.
Note: The President spoke at 2:46 p.m. in the East Room at the White
House. In his remarks, he referred to Charles H. Ramsey, chief,
Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC. H.R. 3199, approved
March 9, was assigned Public Law No. 109-177. The Office of the Press
Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.