[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 9 (Monday, March 7, 2005)]
[Pages 355-358]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Central Intelligence Agency and an Exchange With 
Reporters in Langley, Virginia

March 3, 2005

    The President. I want to thank Director Goss for his hospitality. It 
was such a pleasure to come out and see hundreds of folks who work here 
at the Central Intelligence Agency.
    I came for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to assure the people 
here that their contribution was incredibly vital to the security of the 
United States and that, together, we've achieved a lot in securing this 
country. There's a lot of really incredibly bright, capable, hard-
working, dedicated Americans who work in this building. So my first 
mission was to thank them.
    And the second thing was to explain that the reforms that we'll be 
implementing through the good graces of Ambassador

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Negroponte, if confirmed by the Senate, will actually help the CIA do 
its job better.
    And I got a great reception. I want to thank you, again, Director, 
for your hospitality. We're making progress in the war on terror. The 
world is changing. And this country of ours will continue to do our 
duty, which is to find terrorists, bring them to justice through good 
intelligence and hard work and some brave souls, and at the same time, 
work to spread freedom and liberty around the world.
    I'll answer a couple of questions. Tom [Tom Raum, Associated Press].

Implementing Intelligence Reform

    Q. Mr. President, your CIA Director, Mr. Goss, said yesterday that 
he has to wear five hats now and that he was concerned there were some 
ambiguities in the new arrangement about his relationship with Mr. 
Negroponte and Secretary Rumsfeld. Do you feel there are such 
ambiguities, and will you move to--if there are, will you move to clear 
them up? And will this prevent--will this present a problem for the flow 
of intelligence in this time, this transition period?
    The President. That's an excellent question. Porter and I have 
discussed this, of course, because I don't want there to be any 
interruption of intelligence coming to the White House, and there won't 
be. As a matter of fact, Porter Goss comes every morning with the CIA 
briefer to deliver the briefing. And that, of course, will go on. And 
it's--secondly, we don't even have Ambassador Negroponte confirmed yet. 
In other words, it's hard to implement reforms without somebody to be 
the reformer. And so the process is ongoing. Obviously, when his name 
gets up to the Senate, we hope there's a speedy confirmation.
    But one of the purposes of the whole process, Tom, is to make sure 
that information flows are smooth and that efforts are coordinated. The 
CIA is the Central Intelligence Agency; it's the center of the 
intelligence community. But there's a lot of other intelligence-
gathering operations around Government. And the job of Ambassador 
Negroponte is to be--to take the information and make sure it is 
coordinated in its distribution to not only the White House but to key 
players in my administration. And so I'm confident that the process will 
work.
    Obviously, one of the reasons I came here is because I know there's 
some uncertainty about what this reform means to the people of the CIA, 
and I wanted to assure them that the reforms will strengthen their 
efforts and make it easier for them to do their job, not harder. I'm 
glad I came out.
    Terry [Terry Moran, ABC News].

Social Security Reform

    Q. Mr. President, on Social Security reform, what's your judgment 
about where this process stands right now, with polls showing the public 
skeptical; some Republicans, like Senator Grassley, are seeming to back 
away from your proposal; and Democrats wanting to declare it dead.
    The President. I would say this: I am--know we're at the early 
stages of the process. I've only had nine trips around the country so 
far--or nine States on my trips. I've got a lot more work to do. Now, I 
do believe we're making progress on the first stage of getting anything 
complicated and difficult done in Washington, and that is to explain the 
problem. And the surveys I have seen, at least, say that the American 
people understand we have a problem. And I'm going to continue going out 
to explain that to people, the nature of the problem. And the problem 
is, in 2018, the system starts losing money. In 2027, it's 200 billion 
in the hole, and it gets bigger every year thereafter. In other words, 
we can't pay for the promises we've made. That's the problem.
    And my second phase of this explanation to the American people is to 
say to seniors who have retired or people near retirement, you don't 
have anything to worry about; you're going to get your check. I've got a 
lot of work to do on that, and I understand that. But we're making 
progress. People are beginning to say, ``We have a problem.'' The next 
phase, when people say we have a problem, is going to be, ``What are you 
going to do about it?'' And I'm willing to put out some ideas about what 
to do about it. In my judgment, ultimately, I think politicians need to 
be worried about not being a part of the solution.

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    And so I'm looking forward to continue to make the case. As you 
know, Terry--you have followed me a lot--I like to get out amongst the 
people. I get energized--I get energized by being with people, and I get 
energized when I think about taking on big problems, because that's why 
we got elected. The American people expect people to come together to 
solve problems. And I'm looking forward to listening to Republicans and 
Democrats. I said, ``Put your ideas out there. There will be no 
political third rail when it comes to Social Security.'' Now is the time 
for good people of good will to come together and get the problem fixed.

Tax Reform

    Q. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said today that a consumption tax, 
maybe even a national sales tax, might spur greater economic growth. 
What do you think about that?
    The President. I think that I'm going to wait until the tax 
commission I put together, the reform commission headed by former 
Senator John Breaux, Democrat of Louisiana, former Senator Connie Mack, 
Republican of Florida, comes forward with some ideas. I told the 
American people I want to work to simplify the Tax Code and make it 
easier to understand, so people are spending less time filing paper, and 
I believe a simplified Tax Code will spur entrepreneurial activity. And 
so I'm looking forward to what the commission has to say.

War on Terror

    Q. You mentioned Usama bin Laden earlier this morning, and you've 
said several times that there's progress being made on the war on 
terrorism. But more than 3 years after September 11th, you still don't 
know where he is. How would you assess the adequacy of the intelligence 
you're getting on bin Laden, and do you expect that he's going to be 
found anytime soon, even within your second term?
    The President. If Al Qaida was structured like corporate America, 
you'd have a chairman of the board still in office, but many of the key 
operators would no longer be around. In other words, the executive vice 
presidents, the operating officers, the people responsible for certain 
aspects of the organization have been brought to justice--a lot of them 
have been. And we are--spend every day gathering information to locate 
Usama bin Laden and Zawahiri, obviously people like Zarqawi. We're not 
resting on our laurels. We've had great successes, and--but that doesn't 
mean that we should stop.
    And one of the reasons I came out here was to remind people that 
we've had great successes. I appreciate their successes--Khalid Sheik 
Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh. I can go down the list. But there's more 
work to be done. And it's a matter of time. As far as I'm concerned and 
as far as the CIA is concerned, it's a matter of time before we bring 
these people to justice. And I can't thank the intelligence gatherers, 
the analysts, and the operators--I can't thank them enough for the 
sacrifices they're making.
    Last question.

Iran/Syria

    Q. Mr. President, on Iran, you spoke to Condoleezza Rice yesterday, 
we were told. What can you tell us about the pros and cons that you're 
weighing now as you reach a decision on going forward with the EU?
    The President. Yes, let me just tell you how I see the state of 
action here. First, I am most appreciative that our friends in Europe 
agree with the United States that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, 
period--no ands, ifs, or buts. And I thought that was a very important 
statement from the leaders I met with. And by the way, Mr. Putin feels 
the same way. And to me that is a very--a positive start for achieving 
our common objective. First, you got to agree to the goal, and the goal 
is no weapon.
    Secondly, I have told our European friends who are handling the 
negotiations on behalf of the rest of the world that we want to help 
make sure the process goes forward. And we're looking at ways to help 
move the process forward.
    The guilty party is Iran. They're the ones who are not living up to 
international accords. They're the people that the whole world is 
saying, ``Don't develop a weapon.'' And so we are working with our 
friends to make sure not only the world hears that but

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that the negotiating strategy achieves the objective of pointing out 
where guilt needs to be as well as achieving the objective of no nuclear 
weapon. And I felt good about our visits.
    I did visit with Condi yesterday, and I'm about to go visit with her 
again in the Oval Office to discuss not only this issue but other key 
issues, including Lebanon, where the message is loud and clear from the 
United States and France and many other nations that Syria must withdraw 
not only her troops but her secret service forces out of Lebanon now. 
And I look forward to talking to Condi about getting an amplification on 
her visit with our allies overseas. I look forward to not only hear 
their words; I want to hear about their body language. I want to hear 
about their enthusiasm for the project. I think I'm going to find it was 
quite high because the people now understand that if you believe in 
democracy, why not let the democracy in Lebanon flourish and grow? And 
the United States of America strongly supports democracy all around the 
world, including Lebanon. And it cannot flourish so long as Syrian 
troops are there. It's time for Syria to get out.
    Listen, thank you all. I appreciate seeing you.

Note: The President spoke at 3:11 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to 
John D. Negroponte, nominee to be Director of National Intelligence; 
former Senators Connie Mack, Chairman, and John B. Breaux, Vice 
Chairman, President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform; Usama bin 
Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization; Ayman Al-Zawahiri, 
founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and senior Al Qaida associate; 
senior Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi; Khalid Sheik Mohammed, 
senior Al Qaida leader responsible for planning the September 11, 2001, 
terrorist attack, who was captured in Pakistan on March 1, 2003; Ramzi 
bin al-Shibh, an Al Qaida operative suspected of helping to plan the 
September 11, 2001, terrorist attack, who was captured in Karachi, 
Pakistan, on September 11, 2002; and President Vladimir Putin of Russia.