[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 7 (Monday, February 17, 2003)]
[Pages 204-207]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Improving Counterterrorism Intelligence

February 14, 2003

    Thanks for the warm welcome. It's nice to be back to the FBI again. 
The last time I was here was 14 months ago, and our country had just 
realized we were at war. We had just learned that America was a 
battlefield. Since the morning this country was attacked on September 
the 11th, folks in law enforcement all around the country have been 
working under urgent and difficult circumstances. And the first thing I 
want to tell you all is that this Nation is grateful for your hard work.
    Across the world we are tracking and confronting and defeating 
international terror. Within our own country, we're taking unprecedented 
measures to protect the American people against a serious and continuing 
danger. There is no such thing as perfect security against a hidden 
network of coldblooded killers. Yet, abroad and at home, we're not going 
to wait until the worst dangers are upon us. We continue to be in a 
state of war, but we're making progress. And today I want to talk about 
the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, which will help us meet the 
challenges of war, will help us do everything we can to say clearly to 
the American people, ``We're working overtime to protect you. We're 
doing everything in our power to make sure the homeland is secure.''
    The officials who are present here represent thousands of patriotic 
Americans who know that we've been called into action, that this is a 
new era. One of the reasons I express

[[Page 205]]

such confidence in the country is because I understand the character of 
the people who have been called into action. And there's no doubt in my 
mind we will prevail.
    I want to thank Attorney General John Ashcroft for doing such a 
fabulous job at the Department of Justice. He's assembled a fantastic 
team which is representing our country with distinction. I want to thank 
Tom Ridge for becoming the first Cabinet Secretary of the Department of 
Homeland Security. I want to thank Wolfowitz and Armitage, who are up 
here with us--two of the prettiest members of my administration. 
[Laughter] They're doing a fabulous job. Paul works with the Secretary 
of Defense, Don Rumsfeld. Dick works with the Secretary of State, Colin 
Powell. Both these men are incredibly important members of a team that 
is doing everything in our power to protect freedom and secure the 
peace. I appreciate their hard work. I want to thank Bob Mueller for 
transforming the FBI. He's got all my confidence. And so does the 
Director of the CIA, George Tenet. Both these men had incredibly 
important agencies in our war against terror. Both of them have 
responded to the call. America is better off for their service to our 
country.
    I want to thank the Members of Congress who are here. I see Senator 
George Allen is here, Chris Cox, Frank Wolf, Jim Turner, and Jane 
Harman, Members of the Congress, the House, the last four representing 
both political parties. I want to thank you for your dedication to the 
country. It's been a joy to work with you all to better secure our 
homeland, to join together to do everything we can to protect America.
    I also want to thank Chief Ramsey, who is here, and Chief Moose and 
Jim Pasco. I appreciate you all and all the other local law enforcement 
officials who have come today. You play an integral role in the defense 
of our country. You're on the frontline, and for that the American 
people are grateful. When you get back home, I hope you tell the troops 
how much I respect them and what they do, how much America counts on 
them and how grateful we are for their sacrifices on behalf of the 
safety and security of the American people.
    Before September the 11th--if you can remember that far back--we all 
thought oceans could protect us from attack. The Nation thought we were 
secure from any gathering danger that might be occurring somewhere else. 
After all, our history pretty well predicted that we would be safe.
    But everything changed on that morning, and it's important for our 
fellow citizens to understand that everything did change, that we must 
do everything in our power to stop an enemy from coming here to hurt 
us--that's our first task. Last week's decision to raise our national 
terrorist threat is a stark reminder of the new era we're in, that we're 
at war and the war goes on.
    We've got agencies at every level meeting threats. We've got people 
standing watch 24 hours a day. Perseverance is power in this war. 
Determination is essential in this war. We will persevere, and it 
doesn't matter how long it takes. See, that's the nature of the country 
that we live in. We owe it to our citizens to protect us within the 
Constitution that we're all sworn to uphold, and we will do that.
    We're not only doing everything here at home, but we're doing 
everything we can abroad. Let me first tell you this: We're winning the 
war on terror. We've hauled in thousands of terrorists. They're 
captured. They're off the street. They're not a problem. Like number 
were not as lucky, and they're not a problem, either. We're dismantling 
Al Qaida one person at time. There used to be a kind of a brain trust of 
these people. And slowly but surely, we're bringing them to justice. 
We're at war in a different kind of war. It's a war that requires us to 
be on an international manhunt. We're on the hunt. It's a war that 
causes us to need to get the enemy on the run. We got them on the run. 
And it's just a matter of time before we bring them to justice.
    This war requires us to understand that terror is broader than one 
international network, that these terrorist networks have got 
connections, in some cases, to countries run by outlaw dictators. And 
that's the issue with Iraq. When I speak about the war on terror, I not 
only talk about Al Qaida. I talk about Iraq, because, after all, Saddam 
Hussein has got weapons of mass destruction, and he's used them.

[[Page 206]]

    Saddam Hussein is used to deceiving the world, and he continues to 
do so. Saddam Hussein has got ties to terrorist networks. Saddam Hussein 
is a danger, and that's why he will be disarmed--one way or the other.
    All our successes in the war on terror depend on the ability of our 
intelligence and law enforcement agencies to work in common purpose. In 
order to better protect our homeland, our intelligence agencies must 
coexist like they never have before. In order to hunt the terrorists 
down, one by one, our intelligence agencies must cooperate fully with 
agencies overseas.
    Under the leadership of Director Tenet and Mueller, the CIA and the 
FBI have improved their communications and cooperation. These agencies 
are now quicker to share intelligence with each other. And we've 
enhanced an overseas coordination as well. When you read in the 
newspapers that a European country has hauled in parts of a poison 
network, it's important to understand that the reason they were able to 
do so is because we shared intelligence, that we're cooperating, that 
this vast network of freedom-loving countries is intact and real. And 
the message is, either you're with us or with the terrorists, and it 
still stands.
    The increased cooperation of the CIA and FBI counterterrorism 
operations has proven to be one of the greatest advantages in this war 
on terror. Under the leadership of Bob Mueller, the FBI has been 
transforming itself since September the 11th. It has no greater priority 
than preventing terrorist attacks against America.
    The Bureau has assigned more than 1,800 agents to counterterrorism. 
That's a 40-percent increase than prior to September the 11th. In other 
words, this agency now understands that we're at war and the first 
responsibility of an incredibly important agency, the FBI, is to prevent 
the enemy from hitting us and hurting us. The agents that are out 
working in the field are gathering an evaluation--evaluating information 
all the time, which helps us deal with any terrorist threat.
    We're also strengthening the counterterrorism efforts by forming 
partnerships across all levels of the government. It's important for our 
fellow citizens to know that there is great cooperation between the 
Federal Government and the State government and the local governments. 
We form what's called joint terrorism task forces throughout our 
country, which bring together dedicated officials at all levels of 
government.
    Not only is the cooperation better between the CIA and the FBI, not 
only is the cooperation better between intelligence-gathering services 
all around the world, but our cooperation at the Federal, State, and 
local level is unprecedented. And it needs to be, because we fight a 
ruthless enemy.
    The FBI is expanding the terrorist identification system so that 
18,000 State and local law enforcement agencies will be better able to 
identify known or suspected terrorists in near real-time. Local police 
officers will be able to access Federal terrorism information from their 
squad cars. In other words, a guy in Crawford pulls somebody over, he's 
able to call up whether or not the person is on a terrorist list, 
whether or not the person is a suspect. All across our country we'll be 
able to tie our terrorist information to local information banks so that 
the frontline of defeating terror becomes activated and real, and those 
are the local law enforcement officials. We expect them to be a part of 
our effort; we must give them the tools necessary so they can do their 
job.
    We will continue to work with Congress to make sure that the budgets 
reflect the new reality of the 21st century. That's why I requested $500 
million for additional money for training preparedness equipment, 
technical assistance for State and local law enforcement.
    The Terrorist Threat Integration Center marks another crucial 
advance in meeting the threats of this time. This joint effort across 
many Departments of our Government will integrate and analyze all 
terrorist threat information, collected domestically and abroad, in a 
single location. And that's an important advance. The goal is to develop 
a comprehensive picture of terrorist activity. When the center is fully 
operational, it will fully house a database of known and suspected 
terrorists that officials across the country will be able to access and 
act upon.
    I'm pleased that Bob--George Tenet and Bob Mueller will take the 
next important steps in assembling their counterterrorism

[[Page 207]]

resources, both operational and analytical, and locate them in a single 
facility with the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. The new 
Department of Homeland Security will be a full partner in this center. 
The Department will act to identify and reduce our vulnerabilities to 
terrorism and coordinate with the FBI to ensure the threat information 
is quickly disseminated. All of these efforts will formalize a new 
spirit of cooperation that began 15 months ago.
    The American people need to know that we're collecting a lot of 
information and we're going to share it in a way that enables us to do 
our jobs that you expect us to do, that we're going to use the best 
information technologies available to not only make sure information 
flows freely at the Federal level but flows from this databank of 
information to local law enforcement officials. It will enable us to 
make sure that we do everything we can to win the war on terror at home, 
just like we're going to do everything we can by unleashing one of the 
greatest militaries--the greatest military ever assembled abroad.
    We've got fabulous men and women in uniform who are on the hunt. The 
finest, bravest soldiers ever known to mankind are helping us track them 
down, one by one. And if we have to send them into Iraq to make sure 
that that regime is disarmed, we'll use every ounce of our ingenuity and 
technology to protect innocent life of the Iraqi people, at the same 
time, achieve an objective of achieving world peace.
    One of the things this country stands for is freedom. That's what we 
believe. For years the freedom of our people were really never in doubt 
because no one ever thought that the terrorists or anybody could come 
and hurt America. But that changed. As a matter of fact, the more 
threatened we are here at home, the more we love freedom. The more 
there's a chance that somebody might think they can take it away from 
us, the more stubborn we are in our demand for freedom universally.
    As I said in my State of the Union, liberty is not America's gift to 
the world; it is God's gift to each and every human being. So as we 
pursue peace, we also pursue liberty. We care about those who suffer 
under the hands of a dictator in Iraq. We care deeply about those who 
dissent and then are tortured, about those who express an opinion other 
than what the dictator thinks and are raped and mutilated. The condition 
of the Iraqi citizen is on our mind and in our hearts. As we work to 
secure the peace, we'll always hold those values of freedom dear to our 
heart.
    There's no question in my mind that the challenges we face will be 
overcome, because our Nation is full of decent and honorable and strong 
people, many of whom are in this room. Thank you for caring about your 
country. May God bless your work. And may God continue to bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 1:15 p.m. in the Bonaparte Auditorium at 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation Headquarters. In his remarks, he 
referred to Charles H. Ramsey, chief of police, Washington, DC; Charles 
A. Moose, chief of police, Montgomery County, MD; James Pasco, executive 
director, Fraternal Order of Police; and President Saddam Hussein of 
Iraq. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language 
transcript of these remarks.