    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
    [February 23, 2008]
    [Pages 259-260]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    February 23, 2008

        Good morning. This Thursday, Laura and I
    returned from an inspiring visit to Africa. In Benin and Tanzania, we
    met leaders who are fighting HIV/AIDS and malaria and people whose lives
    have been saved by the generosity of the American people. In Rwanda, we
    saw a nation overcoming the pain of genocide with courage and grace and
    hope. In Ghana, we met entrepreneurs who are exporting their products
    and building a more prosperous future. And in Liberia, we saw a nation
    that is recovering from civil war, led by the first democratically
    elected woman President on the
    continent. Laura and I returned to Washington impressed by the energy,
    optimism, and potential of the African people.
        Members of Congress will soon be returning to Washington as well,
    and they have urgent business to attend to. They left town on a 10-day
    recess without passing vital legislation giving our intelligence
    professionals the tools they need to quickly and effectively monitor
    foreign terrorist communications. Congress's failure to pass this
    legislation was irresponsible. It will leave our Nation increasingly
    vulnerable to attack, and Congress must fix this damage to our national
    security immediately.
        The way ahead is clear. The Senate has already passed a good bill by
    an overwhelming bipartisan majority. This bill has strong bipartisan
    support in the House of Representatives and would pass if given an up-
    or-down vote. But House leaders are blocking this legislation, and the
    reason can be summed up in three words: class-action lawsuits.
        The Senate bill would prevent plaintiffs' attorneys from suing
    companies believed to have helped defend America after the
    9/11 attacks. More than 40 of these lawsuits have been filed, seeking
    hundreds of billions of dollars in damages from these companies. It is
    unfair and unjust to threaten these companies with financial ruin only
    because they are believed to have done the right thing and helped their
    country.
        But the highest cost of all is to our national security. Without
    protection from lawsuits, private companies will be increasingly
    unwilling to take the risk of helping us with vital intelligence
    activities. After the Congress failed to act last week, one
    telecommunications company executive was

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    asked by the Wall Street Journal how his company would respond to a
    request for help. He answered that because of the threat of lawsuits,
    quote: ``I'm not doing it. I'm not going to do something voluntarily.''
    In other words, the House's refusal to act is undermining our ability to
    get cooperation from private companies, and that undermines our efforts
    to protect us from terrorist attack.
        Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell recently explained that the vast majority of the
    communications infrastructure we rely on in the United States is owned
    and operated by the private sector. Because of the failure to provide
    liability protection, he says, private companies who have ``willingly
    helped us in the past are now saying, `You can't protect me. Why should
    I help you?''' Senator Jay Rockefeller, the Democratic chairman of the Senate
    Intelligence Committee, puts it this way: ``The fact is, if we lose
    cooperation from these or other private companies, our national security
    will suffer.''
        When Congress reconvenes on Monday, Members of the House have a
    choice to make: They can empower the trial bar, or they can empower the
    intelligence community. They can help class-action trial lawyers sue for
    billions of dollars, or they can help our intelligence officials protect
    millions of lives. They can put our national security in the hands of
    plaintiffs' lawyers, or they can entrust it to the men and women of our
    Government who work day and night to keep us safe.
        As they make their choice, Members of Congress must never forget:
    Somewhere in the world, at this very moment, terrorists are planning the
    next attack on America. And to protect America from such attacks, we
    must protect our telecommunications companies from abusive lawsuits.
        Thank you for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 10 a.m. on February 22 in the Cabinet
    Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on February 23. The
    transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    February 22, but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. In his
    address, the President referred to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of
    Liberia. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish
    language transcript of this address.