[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 17 (Monday, April 26, 2004)]
[Pages 622-623]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

April 17, 2004

    Good morning. For the past year, the September the 11th Commission 
has met to examine the facts surrounding the terrorist attack on our 
Nation. I look forward to the Commission's report, and I expect it to 
contain important recommendations for preventing future attacks.
    One lesson our Nation has already learned is that law enforcement 
and intelligence personnel must be allowed to share more information, so 
that we can better pursue terrorists inside the United States. In the 
weeks after September the 11th, Congress made essential reforms by 
passing the USA PATRIOT Act. That vital legislation gained overwhelming 
bipartisan support in the House of Representatives and passed the Senate 
by a vote of 98 to one.
    The PATRIOT Act tore down the artificial wall between the FBI and 
CIA and enhanced their ability to share the information needed to hunt 
terrorists. The PATRIOT Act also marked a major shift in law enforcement 
priorities. We're no longer emphasizing only the investigation of past 
crimes but also the prevention of future attacks. Because we passed the 
PATRIOT Act, FBI agents can better conduct electronic surveillance and 
wiretaps

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on suspected terrorists. And they now can apply other essential tools--
many of which have long been used to investigate white-collar criminals 
and drug traffickers--to stop terrorist attacks on our homeland.
    Our Government's first duty is to protect the American people. The 
PATRIOT Act fulfills that duty in a way that is fully consistent with 
constitutional protections. In making America safer, it has helped us 
defend our liberty. Since I signed the PATRIOT Act into law, Federal 
investigators have disrupted terror cells in at least six American 
cities. And since September the 11th, the Department of Justice has 
charged over 300 persons in terrorism-related investigations. So far, 
more than half of those individuals have been convicted or pled guilty.
    Key elements of the PATRIOT Act are set to expire next year. Some 
politicians in Washington act as if the threat to America will also 
expire on that schedule. Yet we have seen what the terrorists intend for 
us, in deadly attacks from Bali to Mombassa to Madrid. And we will not 
forget the lessons of September the 11th. To abandon the PATRIOT Act 
would deprive law enforcement and intelligence officers of needed tools 
in the war on terror and demonstrate willful blindness to a continuing 
threat.
    Next week, I will travel to Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Buffalo, New 
York, to meet with the law enforcement officers who see the importance 
of the PATRIOT Act in their daily duties. They know we must not let down 
our guard. The war on terror will be won on the offensive, so Congress 
must renew the PATRIOT Act.
    Every hour of the day, America depends on the work of vigilant law 
enforcement and intelligence personnel. These men and women have 
difficult and dangerous jobs, and they are performing superbly. In their 
mission of security, they are joined by members of the Armed Forces who 
are taking the fight to our enemies overseas. The American people are 
grateful to all who defend us, and we will continue to give them every 
tool and resource they need to keep America safe.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 2:31 p.m. on April 16 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on April 17. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
April 16 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office 
of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of 
this address.