[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 31 (Monday, August 2, 2004)]
[Pages 1379-1380]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

July 24, 2004

    Good morning. This week, the independent Commission on the September 
the 11th attacks issued its final report. I appreciate the hard work of 
the Commission over the past 20 months. They have produced a serious and 
comprehensive report, and I welcome their recommendations.
    Indeed, we have already put into action many of the steps now 
recommended by the Commission, and we will carefully examine all the 
Commission's ideas on how we can improve our ongoing efforts to protect 
America and to prevent another attack.
    The events of September the 11th, 2001, dramatically demonstrated 
the threats of a

[[Page 1380]]

new era. In the nearly 3 years since the attacks, we have waged a 
steady, relentless, determined war on terrorists. We're fighting them in 
foreign lands so we do not have to face them here in America, and we are 
taking unprecedented steps to defend the homeland. Since September 2001, 
America and our allies have captured or killed thousands of terrorists, 
removed terrorist regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, convinced Libya to 
give up its weapons of mass destruction, and put the world's most 
dangerous nuclear trading network out of business. We're chasing down 
terrorist enemies abroad and within our own borders.
    On the homefront, we have dismantled terrorist cells and prosecuted 
terrorist supporters from California to Florida to Massachusetts. As the 
Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, Tom Kean, said this week, ``We are 
safer today than we were on 9/11.'' But as Governor Kean also noted, 
``The danger to America has not passed.'' In a vast, free society such 
as ours, there is no such thing as perfect security. And no matter how 
good our defenses are, a determined enemy can still strike us. Yet all 
Americans can be certain our Government is using every resource and 
technological advantage we have to prevent future attacks.
    We have created a new Department of Homeland Security with a single 
mission, protecting the American people. We have established better 
communications networks to make information on rapidly emerging threats 
available to local officials in real time. We are transforming the FBI 
into an agency whose primary focus is stopping terrorism. And we created 
a new Northern Command in the Department of Defense with the mission of 
defending the American homeland.
    To better protect the country, we have posted Homeland Security 
personnel at foreign ports, beefed up airport and seaport security at 
home, and instituted better visa screening for those entering our 
country. We have placed state-of-the-art equipment in major cities to 
detect biological agents and stockpiled enough smallpox vaccine for 
every American, in case of an emergency. And this week, I signed a new 
law establishing Project BioShield, which will speed the development of 
new vaccines and treatments against biological agents that could be used 
in a terrorist attack.
    On Thursday, I visited with first-responders at the Northeastern 
Illinois Public Safety Training Academy. I thanked them for their 
service and assured them that America will give them the tools they need 
to do their jobs. Since September of 2001, my administration has 
provided more than $13 billion to equip and train more than a half a 
million first-responders across America.
    There's still more to do. As Commander in Chief, it is critical that 
I receive the best intelligence to defend the American people. The 9/11 
Commission's recommendations will help guide our efforts as we work to 
protect the homeland. And we can be confident, although the threats of 
this new century are dangerous, America has the resources, the strength, 
and the resolve to overcome them.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 6:56 a.m. on July 23 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on July 24. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
July 23 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office of 
the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this 
address.