[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 47 (Monday, November 25, 2002)]
[Pages 2045-2046]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

November 16, 2002

    Good morning. This was a productive week in the war against terror, 
both at home and abroad. Congress returned to Washington with renewed 
energy and a commitment to make progress on key issues. Members of the 
House and Senate reached a crucial agreement to create a new Department 
of Homeland Security. With Congress' vote on the final legislation, 
America will have a single agency with the full-time duty of protecting 
our people against attack.
    This new Department will focus and unify responsibilities that are 
now spread among dozens of Government agencies. The Customs Service, the 
INS, the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the 
Transportation Security Administration, and many others will report to 
the new Secretary of Homeland Security.
    The Department will significantly improve our ability to protect our 
borders, our coasts, and our communities. It will pool together the best 
intelligence information and coordinate our response. The new Department 
will help develop the technology America needs to detect and defeat 
chemical, biological, and nuclear threats. And under the agreement 
reached this week, I will have the authority and flexibility to move 
people and resources to where they are needed without bureaucratic rules 
and lengthy labor negotiations.
    This compromise is the result of months of hard work and 
negotiation, and it will take additional time to put the agreement into 
place. The threat of terror will be with us

[[Page 2046]]

for years to come, and we remain resolved to see this conflict through 
to its end.
    In the Department of Homeland Security, we'll have good people, 
well-organized and well-equipped, working day and night to oppose the 
serious dangers of our time. Now that we have reached broad agreement on 
a homeland security bill, I look forward to signing it into law as soon 
as possible.
    We're committed to defending the Nation. Yet wars are not won on the 
defensive. The best way to keep America safe from terrorism is to go 
after terrorists where they plan and hide. And that work goes on around 
the world.
    The United States is working with more than 90 countries to disrupt 
and defeat terror networks. So far we have frozen more than $113 million 
in terrorist assets, denying them the means to finance their murder. 
We've cracked down on charities that were exploiting American compassion 
to fund terrorists. We have captured and interrogated thousands of 
terrorists, while others have met their fate in caves and mountains in 
Afghanistan. We've deployed troops to train forces in the Philippines 
and Yemen, the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, and other nations 
where terrorists have gathered. We're sending a clear message to the 
enemies of freedom: No terrorist will escape the patient justice of 
America.
    To win the war on terror, we're also opposing the growing threat of 
weapons of mass destruction in the hands of outlaw regimes. This week, 
the dictator of Iraq told the U.N. he would give weapons inspectors 
unrestricted access to his country. We've heard such pledges before, and 
they have been uniformly betrayed. America and the world are now 
watching Saddam Hussein closely. Any act of defiance or delay will 
indicate that he is taking the path of deception once again, and this 
time the consequences would be severe.
    Our goal is not merely the return of inspectors to Iraq; our goal is 
the disarmament of Iraq. The dictator of Iraq will give up his weapons 
of mass destruction, or the United States will lead a coalition to 
disarm him.
    Our war against terrorists and their supporters is advancing on all 
fronts. We're moving aggressively to protect our people and to oppose a 
great threat to the peace of the world.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 10:10 a.m. on November 15 in the 
Cabinet Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on November 
16. The transcript was made available by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on November 15 but was embargoed for release until the 
broadcast. In his remarks, the President referred to President Saddam 
Hussein of Iraq. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a 
Spanish language transcript of this address.