[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 51 (Monday, December 20, 2004)]
[Pages 2985-2987]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act 
of 2004

December 17, 2004

    Good morning. In a few minutes, I will sign into law the most 
dramatic reform of our Nation's intelligence capabilities since 
President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947.
    Under this new law, our vast intelligence enterprise will become 
more unified, coordinated, and effective. It will enable us to better do 
our duty, which is to protect the American people.
    I want to thank the Members of Congress who have worked hard on this 
legislation. I particularly want to thank the leader of the Senate, Bill 
Frist, Speaker of the House Denny Hastert, and their counterparts in 
both bodies. I appreciate Senator Susan Collins from Maine and Senator 
Joe Lieberman from Connecticut for steering this legislation through the 
United States Senate. I appreciate Congressman Pete Hoekstra and 
Congresswoman Jane Harman for their leadership on this important issue 
as well. Welcome.

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    I want to thank all the Members of Congress who have joined us today 
for your good work on this legislation. I appreciate the members of my 
administration who helped, and that would be Director Porter Goss, 
Director Bob Mueller, Condi Rice, and Fran Townsend. I particularly want 
to thank the 9/11 Commission, ably led by Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton. I 
want to thank the Commission members who are here as well.
    I pay my respects and offer our gratitude to the family members of 
the victims of September the 11th. Thank you for working hard on this 
issue. Thank you for remembering your loved one.
    Nearly six decades ago, our Nation and our allies faced a new--the 
new world of the cold war and the dangers of a new enemy. To defend the 
free world from an armed empire bent on conquest, visionary leaders 
created new institutions such as the NATO Alliance. The NATO Alliance 
was begun by treaty in this very room. President Truman also implemented 
a sweeping reorganization of the Federal Government. He established the 
Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National 
Security Council.
    America, in this new century, again faces new threats. Instead of 
massed armies, we face stateless networks. We face killers who hide in 
our own cities. We must confront deadly technologies. To inflict great 
harm on our country, America's enemies need to be only right once. Our 
intelligence and law enforcement professionals in our Government must be 
right every single time. Our Government is adapting to confront and 
defeat these threats. We're staying on the offensive against the enemy. 
We'll take the fight to the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face 
them here at home.
    And here at home, we're strengthening our homeland defenses. We 
created the Department of Homeland Security. We have made the prevention 
of terror attacks the highest priority of the Department of Justice and 
the FBI. We'll continue to work with Congress to make sure they've got 
the resources necessary to do their jobs. We established the National 
Counterterrorism Center, where all the available intelligence on 
terrorist threats is brought together in one place and where joint 
action against the terrorists is planned.
    We have strengthened the security of our Nation's borders and ports 
of entry and transportation systems. The bill I sign today continues the 
essential reorganization of our Government. Those charged with 
protecting America must have the best possible intelligence information, 
and that information must be closely integrated to form the clearest 
possible picture of the threats to our country.
    A key lesson of September the 11th, 2001, is that America's 
intelligence agencies must work together as a single, unified 
enterprise. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 
creates the position of Director of National Intelligence, or DNI, to be 
appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate.
    The Director will lead a unified intelligence community and will 
serve as the principle adviser to the President on intelligence matters. 
The DNI will have the authority to order the collection of new 
intelligence to ensure the sharing of information among agencies and to 
establish common standards for the intelligence community's personnel. 
It will be the DNI's responsibility to determine the annual budgets for 
all national intelligence agencies and offices and to direct how these 
funds are spent. These authorities, vested in a single official who 
reports directly to me, will make all our intelligence efforts better 
coordinated, more efficient, and more effective.
    The Director of the CIA will report to the DNI. The CIA will retain 
its core of responsibilities for collecting human intelligence, 
analyzing intelligence from all sources, and supporting American 
interests abroad at the direction of the President.
    The new law will preserve the existing chain of command and leave 
all our intelligence agencies, organizations, and offices in their 
current Departments. Our military commanders will continue to have quick 
access to the intelligence they need to achieve victory on the 
battlefield. And the law supports our efforts to ensure greater 
information sharing among Federal Departments and Agencies and also with 
appropriate State and local authorities.

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    The many reforms in this act have a single goal, to ensure that the 
people in Government responsible for defending America have the best 
possible information to make the best possible decisions. The men and 
women of our intelligence community give America their very best every 
day, and in return, we owe them our full support. As we continue to 
reform and strengthen the intelligence community, we will do all that is 
necessary to defend its people and the Nation we serve.
    I'm now pleased and honored to sign into law the Intelligence Reform 
and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.

Note: The President spoke at 9:59 a.m. at the Andrew W. Mellon 
Auditorium. In his remarks, he referred to the National Commission on 
Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission). S. 2845, 
approved December 17, was assigned Public Law No. 108-458. The Office of 
the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these 
remarks.