[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 17 (Monday, April 26, 2004)]
[Pages 638-645]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Discussion on the PATRIOT Act in Buffalo, New York

April 20, 2004

    The President. Thanks for coming. I think you're going to find this 
to be a really interesting discussion about how Federal, State, and 
local authorities are working hard to prevent a terrorist attack. That's 
what we're here to talk about--and why it's important for those of us in 
positions of authority to give Federal, State, and local authorities all 
the tools necessary to do the job we expect of them. That's what we're 
here to talk about, but I've got some things I want to say before we 
start talking about it.
    First, I am glad to be at the home of the mighty Buffalo Bills. I 
traveled today with Congressman Quinn and Congressman Reynolds, two fine 
Members of the United States Congress from this area, who assured me 
this is the year. [Laughter] I want to thank Jack and Tom for coming 
today. Thank you for your strong leadership. Thanks for caring a lot 
about the people of the Buffalo, New York, area. Thanks for your 
steadfast concern about the security of our country. I appreciate your 
service.
    I also appreciate the service of the really fine Governor of the 
State of New York, George Pataki. Thanks for coming.
    I know we've got State and local authorities who are here. I 
appreciate your service. For the local authorities, my only advice is 
make sure you fill the potholes--[laughter]--empty the garbage--
[laughter]--answer the phone calls. But thanks for coming today. This 
message today is aimed as much at you as it is anybody else.
    Today we have got an interesting--a lot of families with us, but one 
that struck me as worthy of note, and that's the Conroy family. Where's 
Peggy Conroy? Somewhere. There she is. Good. Hi, Peggy. Thanks. The 
reason I brought up Peggy is, I want you to know that Peggy's husband is 
a staff sergeant in the National Guard, the 105th Military Police Unit 
in Karbala, Iraq. She represents many of the families of this area and 
the country who are sacrificing to see to it that the world is more free 
and more peaceful.
    I appreciate so very much your steadfast love for your husband. You 
honor us with your presence today, and I'm really glad you brought Billy 
and Jeff and Tyler. Billy and Jeff really represent the greatest spirit 
of our country. Not only do they love their dad and pray for their dad, 
but they're collecting school supplies for the Iraqi children. In other 
words, they're going to their own schoolmates and saying, ``How best can 
we not only help secure Iraq so it can become a free country, how best 
can we show the compassion of America?'' And I want to thank you guys 
for honoring your dad and honoring our country.
    I also met a fellow named Frank Brusino. Where are you, Frank? There 
he is. Frank is an interesting character. [Laughter] He is a retired 
brigadier general in the Army Reserves, a paratrooper, who is now very 
much involved with the Senior Corps, the Citizen Corps Council. In other 
words, their job is to help provide law enforcement with additional 
volunteers so law enforcement can better do its job. For the first-
responders who are here, I think you know the valuable addition that 
Citizen Corps Councils have made, so you can do your work better.
    The reason I bring up Frank is, you know, a lot of times they talk 
about the strength of America as being in our military. That's part of 
our strength, and we're going to keep the military strong, by the way, 
so the world will be more peaceful. They talk about the strength of our 
country being the fact that we're a prosperous nation, and we need to 
make sure we continue to expand prosperity so people can find work. But 
the true strength of the country lies in the hearts and

[[Page 639]]

souls of our citizens. See, Frank represents the strength of America 
because he volunteers to make the community in which he lives a better 
place. He sets such a great example for other citizens in this area. 
That's why I wanted to herald Frank's accomplishments. He is a soldier 
in the army of compassion. He takes time out of his life to see what he 
can do to make the Buffalo area more secure.
    My call to people in this area is, see what you can do to make 
Buffalo a more compassionate, decent place. See, societies change one 
conscience, one soul a time. All it takes is for citizens to hear that 
universal call to love a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved 
yourself and mentor a child or feed the hungry or provide shelter for 
the homeless or love the lonely. And by doing so, you serve our Nation, 
and you really show the world the true compassion of a great nation.
    Thank you for your service, sir. I'm proud that you're here. Thanks 
for coming.
    September the 11th was a horrible day for our Nation, and we must 
never forget the lessons of September the 11th. I appreciate so very 
much the Governor's steadfast determination and compassion during those 
difficult times for the citizens of New York City and New York State and 
New Jersey and Connecticut. It's a time that really changed our 
perspective about the world. See, we never really thought America would 
be a battlefield. We thought oceans would protect us. That was kind of 
the conventional wisdom of the time, and therefore, our defenses were 
aligned that way, our offenses were aligned that way.
    As Larry mentioned, there were threats, but most of those threats 
were overseas, and they attacked us overseas. But never did we dream 
that they would use our own airplanes as weapons to fly and mercilessly 
kill thousands of our citizens. From that day forward, we have changed 
our attitude, and we've got to make sure the laws reflect the realities 
of the generation--of the new generation, of the generation of those of 
us involved with being responsible for the security of the country.
    See, we're now facing the first war of the 21st century. It's a 
different kind of war. Frank was a paratrooper. In those days you could 
measure the enemy by the number of battalions and number of tanks and 
number of airplanes. Now the enemy hides in caves. They lurk * in the 
shadows of the world. They will strike and kill innocent citizens 
without any conscience, because they have no conscience.
    * White House correction.
    So the fundamental charge before us all in positions of 
responsibility is, how do we deal with the threat? First thing we do is 
we stay on the offense. First thing we do is we find killers before they 
kill us. We rally the world, which we have done and will continue to do, 
to cut off money, to share intelligence, to put brave troops and 
security personnel after these people, to find them, to rout them out. 
The message should be clear to them, there is no cave or hole deep 
enough to hide from the justice of the United States of America and our 
coalition partners. It's essential.
    September the 11th--when the President says something, he better 
mean it. See, in order to make the world more peaceful, it's essential 
that those of us in positions of high responsibility speak clearly and 
mean what we say. And so when I said, ``If you harbor a terrorist, 
you're just as guilty as a terrorist,'' I meant it. And we acted upon 
that, in order to make the world more peaceful and more secure.
    The Taliban found out what we meant. Remember, those were the 
leaders in Afghanistan that provided safe haven and training camps for 
Al Qaida. And fortunately, thanks to our coalition, thanks to brave 
soldiers from America and others, the Taliban no longer is in power. We 
enforced the doctrine. The world is more peaceful because the Taliban is 
gone. And at the same time, please remember, the women and children in 
Afghanistan have a much brighter future because we removed a barbaric 
regime that refused to even educate young girls.
    When the President speaks, he better mean it. When I went in front 
of the United Nations Security Council in the fall of 2002, I said, 
``Listen, we all have seen a threat. One of the lessons of September the 
11th was when you see a threat overseas, you must act before it 
materializes. September the

[[Page 640]]

11th said we can't wait and hope on the good intentions of terrorists 
who will kill innocent men and women. We've got to act. We can't hope 
for the best anymore.'' The United States must use our prestige and 
influence and diplomatic power and military power to protect us and 
others who love freedom.
    I went in front of the United Nations Security Council, having 
looked at intelligence that said Saddam Hussein was a threat. The 
Congress looked at the same intelligence, by the way, and concluded 
Saddam was a threat. The United Nations Security Council looked at the 
intelligence and said Saddam was a threat. No wonder we thought he was a 
threat. After all, he had used weapons of mass destruction on his own 
people. Not only did the intelligence lead us to believe that, but his 
actions led us to believe it. He paid for suiciders. He harbored 
terrorists. He was paying for terrorists to kill. And so we saw a 
threat.
    September the 11th changed the equation. So I was given a choice: 
Either trust the word of a madman, hope for the best with somebody who 
was a tyrant, or take action to defend our country. Given that choice, I 
will defend America every time.
    It's hard work to go from a system where there was torture and rape 
rooms and mass graves to freedom. That's hard work, but it is necessary 
work. That's why I want to herald the work and sacrifice of your 
husband. It's important work for our future. Free societies are peaceful 
societies. The way to defeat terror in the long run is to provide hope, 
to provide hope for families, to provide hope for children, to say there 
is a bright future for you. That won't happen so long as there's tyranny 
in a part of the world that tends to breed hatred. It will happen when 
societies become democratic and free.
    And so what we're doing right now is we're defeating the enemy there 
so we won't have to fight them here. But as well, we're working for 
freedom in the heart of a part of the world that needs freedom. You 
know, I can't tell you how strongly I believe that--about the power of 
freedom. After all, it's been a part of our national soul. We have 
proven how powerful freedom can be. We bring people from diverse 
backgrounds together under the mantel of a free society. We're such a 
beacon.
    I believe freedom is not America's gift to the world. I believe 
freedom is the almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this world. 
And therefore, as we work to not only make the homeland more secure, we 
work to spread freedom, which will make the world more peaceful. The 
enemy can't stand the thought of free societies. That's why they 
attacked us, see, and we're not going to change. That's what they don't 
understand. There's nothing they can do to intimidate us, to make us 
change our deepest belief.
    They're trying to kill to shake our will. We're too tough, too 
strong, too resolute, and too determined to ever have our will shaken by 
thugs and terrorists.
    We live in historic times. We face a different kind of war, and one 
of the key victories in this battle against terror is going to be the 
spread of freedom throughout the greater Middle East. And we'll succeed. 
We'll succeed because deep in the heart of every human being is the deep 
desire to be free.
    At home, we've got a lot of work to do. We've got a lot of work to 
do. We're a free nation. We're a big nation. People come and go. And we 
needed to change the whole attitude about how we protect the homeland. 
We'll do everything we can to stay on the offensive. But just remember, 
we've got to be right 100 percent of the time, and the enemy has only 
got to be right once. And so we've got a tough job.
    It means we've got to coordinate between the Federal Government and 
the State Government and the local government like never before. We've 
got to share information on a real-time basis so first-responders and 
police chiefs can move as quickly as possible. We're going to talk about 
that communication today.
    We created the Department of Homeland Security which would allow us 
to better coordinate between agencies. It's kind of--what happens in 
bureaucracies is you get what they call stovepipes--in other words, 
people don't talk to each other, they kind of stay in their own lane, 
and they don't share information across the lanes. And therefore, vital 
information may show up, but it's not widely disseminated, so there's 
not real-time action on, say, a threat.

[[Page 641]]

    Part of the problem we faced was that there was laws and 
bureaucratic mindsets that prevented the sharing of information. And so, 
besides setting up the Homeland Security Department and beefing up our 
air travel security and making sure that we now fingerprint at the 
borders and take those fingerprints, by the way, and compare them to a 
master log of fingerprints of terrorists and known criminals, to make 
sure people coming into our country are the right people coming into our 
country. I mean, we're doing a lot of things. But we changed law as well 
to allow the FBI and--to be able to share information within the FBI.
    Incredibly enough, because of--which Larry and others will 
describe--see, I'm not a lawyer, so it's kind of hard for me to kind of 
get bogged down in the law. I'm not going to play like one, either. 
[Laughter] The way I viewed it, if I can just put it in simple terms, is 
that one part of the FBI couldn't tell the other part of the FBI vital 
information because of law. And the CIA and the FBI couldn't talk. Now, 
these are people charged with gathering information about threats to the 
country, yet they couldn't share the information.
    And right after September the 11th, the Congress wisely acted, said, 
``This doesn't make any sense. If we can't get people talking, how can 
we act? We're charged with the security of the country, first-responders 
are charged with the security of the country, and if we can't share 
information between vital agencies, we're not going to be able to do our 
job.'' And they acted.
    So the first thing I want you to think about is, when you hear 
PATRIOT Act, is that we changed the law and bureaucratic mindset to 
allow for the sharing of information. It's vital, and others will 
describe what that means.
    Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, 
any time you hear the United States Government talking about wiretap, it 
requires--a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the 
way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking 
about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our 
fellow citizens to understand, when you think PATRIOT Act, 
constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is 
necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.
    But a roving wiretap means--it was primarily used for drug lords. A 
guy, a pretty intelligent drug lord would have a phone, and in old days 
they could just get a tap on that phone. So guess what he'd do? He'd get 
him another phone, particularly with the advent of the cell phones. And 
so he'd start changing cell phones, which made it hard for our DEA types 
to listen, to run down these guys polluting our streets, and that 
changed. The law changed on--roving wiretaps were available for chasing 
down drug lords. They weren't available for chasing down terrorists, 
see? That didn't make any sense in the post-9/11 era. If we couldn't use 
a tool that we're using against mobsters on terrorists, something needed 
to happen.
    The PATRIOT Act changed that. So with court order, law enforcement 
officials can now use what's called roving wiretaps, which will prevent 
a terrorist from switching cell phones in order to get a message out to 
one of his buddies.
    Thirdly, to give you an example of what we're talking about, there's 
something called delayed notification warrants. Those are very 
important. I see some people, first-responders, nodding their heads 
about what they mean. These are a common tool used to catch mobsters. In 
other words, it allows people to collect data before everybody is aware 
of what's going on. It requires court order. It requires protection 
under the law. We couldn't use these against terrorists, but we could 
use against gangs.
    We had real problems chasing paper--following paper trails of 
people. The law was just such that we could run down a problem for a 
crooked businessman. We couldn't use the same tools necessary to chase 
down a terrorist. That doesn't make any sense, and sometimes the use of 
paper trails and paper will lead local first-responders and local 
officials to a potential terrorist. We've got to have every tool, is 
what I'm telling you, available for our people who I expect to do their 
jobs and you expect to do their jobs.
    We had tough penalties for drug traffickers. We didn't have as tough 
a penalty for terrorists. That didn't make any sense.

[[Page 642]]

The true threat to the 21st century is the fact somebody is trying to 
come back into our country and hurt us. And we ought to be able to at 
least send a signal through law that says we're going to treat you 
equally as tough as we do mobsters and drug lords.
    There's other things we need to do. We need administrative subpoenas 
in the law. This was not a part of the recent PATRIOT Act. By the way, 
the reason I bring up the PATRIOT Act, it's set to expire next year. I'm 
starting a campaign to make it clear to Members of Congress, it 
shouldn't expire. It shouldn't expire, for the security of our country.
    Administrative subpoenas means it is--speeds up the process whereby 
people can gain information to go after terrorists. Administrative 
subpoenas I guess is kind of an ominous-sounding word, but it is, to put 
everybody's mind at ease about administrative subpoenas--we use them to 
catch crooked doctors today. It's a tool for people to chase down 
medical fraud. And it certainly seems to makes sense to me that if we're 
using it as a tool to chase medical fraud cases, we certainly ought to 
use it as a tool to chase potential terrorists.
    I'll tell you another interesting part of the law that needs to be 
changed. Judges need greater authority to deny bail to terrorists. 
Judges have that authority in many cases like--again, I keep citing drug 
offenses, but the Congress got tough on drug offenders a while ago and 
gave judges leeway to deny bail. They don't have that same authority to 
deny bail to terrorists now. I've got to tell you, it doesn't make any 
sense to me that it is very conceivable that we haul in somebody who is 
dangerous to America, and then they are able to spring bail, and out 
they go.
    It's hard to assure the American people that we've given tools to 
law enforcement that they need if somebody has gone through all the work 
to chase down a potential terrorist, and they haul them in front of a 
court, and they pay bail, and it's adios. It just doesn't make any 
sense.
    The PATRIOT Act needs to be renewed, and the PATRIOT Act needs to be 
enhanced. That's what we're talking about, and it's better for others to 
explain to you how this PATRIOT Act works. After all, they're charged 
with protecting our citizens. They're on the frontline. You see, I try 
to pick the best I can at the Federal Government and say, ``Here's our 
mission. Our mission is to protect our country.'' I say that to the 
Defense Department, ``Our mission is to protect the country.'' I say it 
to the Justice Department and to the FBI. After 9/11, I said to the 
Justice Department and the FBI, ``Your job, your primary focus now is to 
prevent attack. Listen, I still want you chasing down the criminals. 
That's what's expected of you. But there's a new mindset, and that is, 
because of what happened on 9/11, we've got to change the way we think, 
and therefore, your job now is to prevent attack.''
    And one of the first persons I told that to was Thompson. See, when 
they say ``Deputy Attorney General,'' it means he's the number two guy 
at the Justice Department. He's the chief--he was the chief operating 
officer of the Justice Department. He was there when he heard the 
command given that we're at war. ``I want everybody at home doing 
everything we can to protect us, and you're job now is to prevent. Do 
what you can do.''
    And so--Larry, we miss you over there, and don't get too 
comfortable. He's living in Atlanta. He's living in Atlanta, Georgia. 
Actually, when he left he said, ``You know, I've got some kids to 
raise.'' I love that spirit, by the way. I love the fact that a dad puts 
his family first. And that's a vital part of life, isn't it? And so, he 
did a heck of a good job. He's also doing a very good job as his most 
important responsibility, which is being a loving dad.
    But I appreciate you coming up. Why don't you just say what you want 
to say--now that you're no longer in Government. [Laughter]

[Larry Thompson, former Deputy Attorney General of the United States, 
made brief remarks and introduced Michael Battle, U.S. Attorney, Western 
District of New York, who also made brief remarks.]

    The President. Let me stop you right there. I hope the average 
citizen sees the dilemma. You've got people working on the criminal 
case, moving along, and they say, ``We've got a problem with these 
guys.'' And

[[Page 643]]

all of a sudden, the other side of the building says, ``They may be 
involved with a plot related to terrorism,'' and yet, they can't talk?
    Go ahead. [Laughter] They could talk about Buffalo Bills football, 
but they couldn't talk about securing the homeland.
    Michael Battle. I couldn't have said it better myself. [Laughter]
    The President. Now, let me ask you something, Mike. First of all, 
congratulations.
    Mr. Battle. Thank you.
    The President. We put you in there because we want you to get them 
and lock them up if they're harmful to America. [Laughter] But let me 
ask you something; talk about the--you did a good job. We're about to go 
to Pete Ahearn of the FBI, but I want to ask you a question on the bail 
proceedings. Do you have any thoughts--it's kind of a leading question, 
of course--[laughter]--I'm not even a lawyer. Anyway--[laughter]--tell 
me about the bail proceedings with those that you arrested.

[Mr. Battle made further remarks.]

    The President. I appreciate you, Mike. Good job.
    Mr. Battle. Thank you, Mr. President.
    The President. Pete Ahearn is with us, with the FBI. Pete, why don't 
you share with us what it was like not to talk to somebody? No. 
[Laughter]
    Let me say something about the FBI. Pete's boss is Bob Mueller. He's 
now the Director of the FBI. Mueller is doing a fabulous job. He is a--
he comes to my office nearly every morning. He sits down and brings me 
up to date on what the FBI is doing. What's really interesting is to 
follow some of the cases--we followed this case--to see how hard our 
agents are working, how close the coordination is. And I really want to 
thank you for being on the frontline of doing really incredibly 
important work to protect the American people.
    Peter Ahearn. It's an honor, Mr. President. Thank you. First off, 
Mr. President, people have to realize--and it's not just with the FBI or 
our Joint Terrorism Task Force but so many in this room have sworn to 
uphold and defend the Constitution of this country. The PATRIOT Act is a 
law. The PATRIOT Act has the judicial oversight. The rules are there. We 
follow the rules. The last time I checked, the terrorists don't have the 
rules that we have and don't have to play by them.
    So when you're dealing with a situation like this and you have all 
the pieces of the puzzle and parts of the puzzle in one room, parts in 
another--we were, at the time, probably one of the first FBI offices 
applying the new PATRIOT Act during the outset of this investigation.
    The other issue, the information that we received--and it wasn't 
just issues with the six individuals in Lackawanna; it was the 
information we were able to glean that we were able to pass to our 
counterparts, for example in the CIA. It's just not--it did not just 
deal with here. It was incumbent on us to take that information and 
everything we had, not just maybe some phone numbers that we got from 
the criminal side of the case or phone numbers that we got from the 
intelligence side of the case.
    Even after the Lackawanna case, the PATRIOT Act provisions helped 
us. We were able to share the intelligence from the proffers 
intelligence from the grand jury, the information that we had there and 
pass it to the intel community that led to many other things that were 
part of this investigation that were overseas. So it was not just the 
cell right here----
    The President. Right. Some of the people in the cell here actually 
were traveling overseas, as I recall. As a matter of fact, we got a 
couple of them overseas, isn't that right?
    Agent Ahearn. Yes, sir. Yes, we did.
    The President. Maybe I'm not supposed to say that. [Laughter]
    Mr. Battle. As far as I'm concerned, Mr. President----
    The President. Thank you, Attorney. [Laughter] He said I didn't 
break any rules. [Laughter]
    The point is, is that--what he's telling you is, is that we needed 
to share this information throughout our Government, which we couldn't 
do before. And it just doesn't make any sense. We got people working 
hard overseas that are collecting information to better help us protect 
ourselves. And what 9/11 was, is that--said is that a threat overseas 
now must be taken seriously here at home. It's

[[Page 644]]

one thing to protect our Embassies, and we work hard to do so. But now a 
threat overseas could end up being a threat to the homeland. And in 
order to protect the homeland, these good people have got to be able to 
share information.
    Those who criticize the PATRIOT Act must listen to those folks on 
the frontline of defending America. The PATRIOT Act defends our liberty, 
is what it does, under the Constitution of the United States.
    Agent Ahearn. Prior to the PATRIOT Act, it is true, and no pun 
intended, but we were fighting with one arm tied behind our back. It was 
clear. [Laughter]
    The President. Yes, it looks like you still are. [Laughter]

[Agent Ahearn made further remarks.]

    The President. Joint Terrorism Task Force--you might tell the folks 
what that means.
    Agent Ahearn. Well, clearly, the JTTF is an acronym, obviously, for 
the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Prior to 9/11 there were about 28 of 
them in the United States. We, here in Buffalo, had already established 
and put the paperwork in for one prior to 9/11. It was the first one 
approved. And it brings to the table more resources that I can, as the 
FBI Director here--to put into the battle in the war on terrorism.
    The President. And who sits around the table--Joint Terrorism Task 
Force? FBI agents, U.S. attorneys, local?
    Agent Ahearn. I'm sure you're going to hear more about that with the 
gentlemen here, but they all sit around and----
    The President. Okay, good. That's what I'm leading into. See, it's 
kind of a----
    Agent Ahearn. No, it was a good segue. [Laughter] There are no 
secrets. I mean, everybody that is cleared and is part of the 
investigation, they see it all.
    The President. Right. This is a good segue, as we say, to Federal, 
State, and local cooperation. It is--in order for us to do our jobs, 
we've got to make sure that the Federal Government shares information 
with the State Government, and vice versa, and that the State and 
Federal Government share information with the local government, vice 
versa. So that everybody is knitted up, as we say. And that wasn't the 
case before September the 11th in a lot of communities.
    One of the knitter-uppers is Jim McMahon, who was appointed by the 
Governor. I appreciate your service. Let her go.

[James McMahon, Director, Office of Public Security, State of New York, 
made brief remarks.]

    The President. I appreciate that. What dawned on me when Jim was 
talking is that we do the same thing, by the way, for Federal emergency 
response. We've done a better job of coordinating FEMA, for example, 
which is--means Federal Emergency Management Association. But it's now 
part of the Homeland Security Department. And we better coordinate with 
State and local authorities. So not only are we doing--coordinating 
activities when it comes to fighting terrorists, but we're doing so when 
it comes to responding to emergencies as well.
    I appreciate the first-responders who are here. I know New York has 
got fantastic first-responders. Obviously, those who rushed into burning 
towers set the highest of high standards for courage and bravery and 
really serve as great inspiration for others who wear the uniform as 
well as those of us who appreciate those who wear the uniform.
    Speaking about wearing a uniform, one man wore one today, and that 
would be Chief Moslow. Thank you for coming, sir. We're honored you're 
here.

[John Moslow, chief of police, Amherst, New York, made brief remarks.]

    The President. Yes, that's good. See, Thompson whispered, he said, 
``We've only got 13,000 FBI agents.'' That is--when you think about it--
across the country, that's not a lot of FBI agents, is it? So, 
therefore, there needs to be cooperation.
    I appreciate you, Chief. You represent those on the frontline, what 
we call the first-responders. The Federal Government is spending some 
money to help. The key is to make sure we get it to you so it doesn't 
get stuck in different bureaucracies, which is one of the challenges 
those of us in Government face, which is not getting stuck in 
bureaucracies. But I want to thank you, and I want to thank the men and 
women from

[[Page 645]]

this area who are on the frontlines, for doing everything in your power 
to uphold the oath to which you swore when you became a uniformed 
officer.
    Here's what I think. I think that the world is going to be more 
peaceful and free. I think America is now more secure, and we're working 
to make it even more secure. There is no doubt in my mind that this 
country can * achieve any objective we put our mind to. It's essential 
we remain steadfast and strong and courageous and determined. History 
has called us to this moment of time, and history has called the right 
nation to lead. And the reason I can say that with certainty is because 
I understand the character and the courage of the American people.
    * White House correction.
    It's an honor to have been here today. I hope, as a result of this 
discussion, our fellow citizens have a better understanding of the 
importance of the PATRIOT Act and why it needs to be renewed and 
expanded--the importance of the PATRIOT Act when it comes to defending 
America, our liberties, and at the same time, that it still protects our 
liberties under the Constitution.
    But more importantly, I hope our fellow citizens recognize that 
there are hundreds of their fellow citizens working on a daily basis to 
do their duty to make this country as secure as possible. And for your 
work, I say thank you, and may God continue to bless you.
    Thank you for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 9:49 a.m. at the Kleinshans Music Hall. In 
his remarks, he referred to Gov. George E. Pataki of New York; former 
President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; and Peter Ahearn, special agent in 
charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Buffalo, NY.