[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 29 (Monday, July 25, 2005)]
[Pages 1194-1200]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the PATRIOT Act in Baltimore, Maryland

July 20, 2005

    Thanks for the warm welcome. It's good to be back in Baltimore, home 
of the mighty Orioles and my friend Rafael Palmiero. I had the honor of 
calling--I call him Raffy--the other day to congratulate him on his 500 
home run, 3,000 hit club membership. And I know you're proud of him 
here. He's a--as you can tell, I'm a baseball guy. And one of the things 
about Baltimore is you're great baseball fans, and I think we're all 
thrilled that our friend Rafael Palmiero is such a great player.
    It's also an honor to be here at the Port of Baltimore. It's an 
impressive place to chopper over. There is a lot of action here in 
Baltimore. And I want to thank you all for giving me a chance to come by 
to talk about how to secure this port, other ports, the borders, and our 
country. That's the task at hand. And for those of you involved with 
protecting our homeland, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart 
for your hard work.
    I want to thank the Governor for welcoming me, and I appreciate the 
first lady coming as well. The Governor asked how my mountain bike is 
going. It's not going well when you fall. [Laughter] It seems like it's 
happening quite often these days. Congratulations on a billion-dollar 
surplus.
    I want to thank the Attorney General, Al Gonzales, for joining me. 
Al has been a longtime friend of mine. He is a superb lawyer. He's been 
my counselor, as Governor of Texas and in the White House. He is now the 
Attorney General of the United States of America, and I'm proud of the 
job he's doing for our country.
    And I appreciate my friend Mike Chertoff for agreeing to become the 
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. He has got a mighty 
task, to make sure that old ways are abandoned for new ways, that we 
work closely together, that the kind of giant bureaucracy that has been 
created out of other bureaucracies functions smoothly. And he's doing a 
very good job of leading this important agency in the right direction. 
Mike, thanks for serving; thanks for your leadership; thanks for your 
clear vision about the job that you need to do.
    I want to thank Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger for being here. 
Dutch, it's good to see you. I appreciate you coming. You're a good man 
to take time out of your schedule to be here.
    I want to thank the mayor for joining us. Mr. Mayor, proud you're 
here. Thanks for taking time out of your schedule to come by to say 
hello.
    I want to thank Brooks Royster, the executive director, for hosting 
this event. It is not easy to host a President. It turns out the 
entourages are quite large these days. But I want to thank you for 
making this an important event. I want to thank all of you who are here. 
Once again, I want to thank those who wear the uniform for joining us.
    Last night I announced my nomination of a good and highly qualified 
man to the Supreme Court, Judge John Roberts. He's somebody Americans 
will be proud to have seated on that bench. He has the qualities that 
our country expects in a judge, experience, wisdom, fairness, and 
civility. He has profound respect for the rule of law. He has respect 
for the liberties guaranteed to every single citizen. He will strictly 
apply the Constitution and laws. He will not legislate from the bench. I 
urge the Senate to rise to the occasion, to provide a fair and civil 
process, and to have Judge Roberts in place before the next Court 
session begins on October the 3d.
    I not only have the duty to nominate good people to the bench, I 
have the duty to work with you all to protect this country. That's our 
most solemn duty.
    I'm going to talk about securing the homeland. But I want you to 
remember, as we work to secure the homeland, we have to be right 100 
percent of the time, and the enemy only has to be right one time. And 
so, therefore, the best way to protect the homeland is to go on the 
offense, is to find these people in foreign lands and bring them to 
justice before they come here to hurt us.
    And that's exactly what we're doing. We're pursuing a two-pronged 
strategy. We're sharing intelligence with our allies. We're working with 
people around the world. We're on the hunt, and we will stay on the 
hunt. If

[[Page 1195]]

your most important duty is to protect the homeland, it's important not 
to lose our nerve, our will, and our focus. And the United States will 
not do so. We'll continue to lead, to bring people to justice all around 
the world.
    We're facing coldblooded killers who have an ideology that is the 
opposite of ours. These people believe that there should be no dissent, 
no freedom, no rights for women, that there only ought to be one 
religion--which is a misinterpretation of the great religion of Islam. 
That's what they believe. And they have designs; they have goals. And 
what are those goals? Well, they want to topple nations. They want to 
drive the United States and freedom-loving countries out of parts of the 
world so their ideology can take hold. That's what they want, and they 
want to shake our will and weaken our determination.
    See, the only real weapon they have is the capacity to kill innocent 
people and to shake our conscience, to get us to withdraw. That's what 
they want. And there's a reason why they want us to withdraw from the 
world, because they want to impose their vision, their dark vision on 
people.
    The only way to defeat an ideology of hatred is with an ideology of 
hope. And so our strategy is not only, stay on the offense and to bring 
these people to justice; our strategy is to spread the ideology of hope 
found in democracy and freedom. History has proven that democracies are 
peaceful countries. History has proven that democracy and freedom have 
the capability of converting enemies into allies. The best way to secure 
the future for our children and grandchildren is to spread democracy and 
hope and freedom to parts of the world that simmer in resentment and 
anger and hatred.
    And that's precisely what the United States of America is doing and 
will continue to do. These terrorists will not shake our will. They will 
not cause us to retreat. I believe strongly we have a duty not only to 
defend our homeland today; we have a duty to lay the foundation of peace 
for generations to come, which is precisely what we're doing.
    As we work to defend the country overseas--first of all, for those 
of you who have got relatives in the service, for those of you who wear 
the uniform, I want to thank you for what you're doing. And tell your 
loved one--and if you're in contact with a loved one in Iraq or in 
Afghanistan, you can tell them this: The citizens of this great country, 
the citizens of the United States of America stand squarely with those 
who wear the uniform of the United States military.
    I found an interesting contrast that when I was in Scotland a while 
ago, that we were there to talk about how to end poverty and disease, 
how to help women, how to educate young girls on the continent of 
Africa. That's what we were there to discuss. We were there to discuss 
how nations that have been blessed with riches can do our part to save 
lives. I don't know if you know this or not, but the United States of 
America is, by far, the most generous nation in the world when it comes 
to feeding the hungry or providing help for those who are suffering from 
HIV/AIDS. I believe that to whom much is given, much is required.
    And in the midst of those discussions, terrorists murdered in cold 
blood people from all walks of life, innocent people. It's an 
interesting contrast, isn't it? It should be a vivid reminder about the 
world in which we live. We will not let down our guard. And therefore, 
at home, we're doing everything we can to protect the American people.
    There are a lot of people who are working hard, and you're some of 
them. And I want to thank you for what you're doing. Oftentimes, you 
don't get recognized enough by the citizens. We take your work for 
granted often. But I know how hard you're working, and I want to thank 
you for that. And the Federal Government has a responsibility to help 
you in your work.
    We're taking four key steps to protect the homeland. The first thing 
is to make sure that we spend resources necessary to protect the 
Nation--spend the money, and spend it wisely, by the way, make sure that 
we spend it on areas that need the help. And we're spending 
unprecedented resources to protect our Nation. We have more than tripled 
funding for homeland security since September the 11th. I want to thank 
the Members of Congress for working on that. Dutch, thanks.
    We're developing innovative programs to defend this country against 
a biological,

[[Page 1196]]

chemical, or nuclear attack. In other words, one of the biggest dangers 
we face is if a biological, chemical, or nuclear device gets in the 
hands of terrorists. Listen, they will use them. By the way, you can't 
negotiate with these people or reason with them. That's what you've got 
to understand. These are not the kind of people you sit down and send a 
counselor over and hope to convince them to change their ways. These are 
coldblooded ideologs who will kill, and therefore, we've got to plan for 
the worst.
    We provided--since that fateful attack on our country, we provided 
more than 14 billion to train, equip State and local first-responders. 
That makes sense, doesn't it? Those who are going to be responsible for 
responding to an attack are at the local level, the Federal Government 
ought to help, as part of the homeland security strategy, help train 
people. And we're spending money to do so. We've increased Federal 
homeland security funding by more than tenfold for firefighters and 
police officers and other responders. I mean, if we're asking you to be 
on the frontline, we ought to help you. And that's what we've done at 
the Federal level.
    Secondly, we're strengthening the defenses at our most important and 
vulnerable locations. In other words, part of the strategy is to try to 
figure out where the enemy may attack. You assess your weaknesses, and 
you build on those--and you strengthen your weaknesses. Remember, this 
is a war. This isn't a--maybe a law enforcement adventure. We're at war 
with these people. And therefore, during a time of war, you've got to do 
everything you can to strengthen your defenses. And so we'll continue to 
enhance protection at our borders and coastlines and airports and 
bridges and nuclear powerplants and water treatment facilities and other 
critical sites, including transportation infrastructure.
    Since September the 11th, we've provided more than $350 million to 
help State and local authorities improve security on mass transit. I'm 
sure you can figure out why I'm trying to explain what we've done about 
mass transit. That's what the enemy hit the other day on one of our 
strong allies. They used their mass transit system to try to shake our 
will.
    The city of Baltimore and other cities around the country have 
received $2.4 billion in urban security grants, which they have the 
choice to use for mass transit security. I think that makes sense to say 
to a mayor, ``If you've got a problem with your mass transit, here's a 
grant, and if you feel that's the best use of the money, use it there.''
    My budget for the next year proposes a 64-percent increase in 
infrastructure protection grants--in other words, grants that will go 
specifically for infrastructure, to safeguard subway, light rail, city 
buses, and other critical systems. And we're going to continue to work 
closely with State and local leaders to make other vital improvements in 
mass transit security.
    First of all, we're constantly monitoring intelligence reports. And 
part of our job is to collect intelligence, look at it, analyze it, and 
if it's a problem that relates to a security system at a local level, 
we'll let you know as quickly as possible.
    We take extra precautions at times of heightened risks. That's what 
Mike Chertoff recommended to me after the London bombings. In other 
words, he took a look at the situation and said, ``Let's enhance our 
security at infrastructure points,'' and he raised the threat level. 
We're widening the use of explosive detection teams and nearly doubling 
the number of rail security inspectors. We're targeting assets and 
resources to our infrastructure. We're accelerating the development and 
deployment of new technologies to rapidly detect biological, 
radiological, and chemical attacks. That's what Mike announced last 
week. We're going to continue to make sure that we assess our weaknesses 
and strengthen our transportation systems.
    Our seaports are another critical element of our national 
infrastructure. We've done a lot of work at our seaports, and I want to 
thank those of you here who have helped. In the Port of Baltimore, ships 
from around the world arrive with products ranging from lumber to fuel 
to electronics and automobiles, and you've got a lot of it coming in, 
which is good news. Commerce at this port generates more than a billion 
dollars of revenue and sustains thousands of Maryland jobs. This port is 
important for your economy, in other words.

[[Page 1197]]

    This is a gateway for foreign markets, which provides an opportunity 
and an important challenge for us. And we recognized that early. We've 
made dramatic advancements in port security since September the 11th. 
We've established strict new safety rules for both domestic and 
international shipping, and we have taken new steps to identify and 
inspect high-risk cargo. And that's important for our citizens to 
understand.
    We launched what we call the Container Security Initiative, to 
screen American-bound containers at more than 35 foreign ports so we can 
identify dangerous cargo before it reaches our shore. Doesn't that make 
sense? It seems like it does to me. In other words, we're stationing 
Customs folks overseas, and we're working with places that ship goods to 
us, to inspect cargo there so we don't burden our ports. Since September 
the 11th, we've provided more than $700 million in Federal grants to 
close off the vulnerabilities at individual ports, including 15 million 
for this port right here.
    The success of all these efforts depends on the vigilance of the men 
and women protecting the ports. And you're taking critical steps here in 
Baltimore. And I want the citizens of this city to understand what 
you're doing. You've upgraded cargo inspection technology from 
clipboards to keyboards. I just saw some of your new cargo inspection 
technology. It's sophisticated. It enables a person to do a lot of 
inspections relatively easy. You're employing advanced screening 
devices, such as new radiation detectors and x-ray equipment that can 
penetrate steel containers. That's what I saw. I mean, you can look 
inside the truck; you don't even have to get in it. That's called 
technology, and it's working. It makes a big difference. You're 
patrolling the waters around the port.
    I want to thank all of you who are working hard here. I want to 
thank members of the Coast Guard and Border Patrol and the Baltimore 
Port Authority.
    At a major international port like this, there's a lot to do to 
safeguard the people. And so we're committed to help you build on the 
progress. The budget for next year proposes 2.3 billion in port security 
funding, 10 times higher than the funding since September the 11th. The 
budget increases the Coast Guard budget by more than 11 percent, 
including new funding for patrol boats. The budget boosts support for 
cutting-edge cargo screening technologies. I mean, we're really good at 
technology, and we might as well be using that technology to protect the 
American people.
    What I'm telling you is, is that we're focused here in--and I want 
to thank again, thank Congress for staying focused with us. When you're 
at war, you can't lose sight of the fact that you're at war. And if your 
most important priority is to protect the people, you've got to work 
together to do so.
    Thirdly, to protect this homeland we're making our security 
operations more unified and more effective. More than 180,000 men and 
women from 22 different agencies are working together at the Department 
of Homeland Security. That's a lot of folks with a lot of agencies. So 
Chertoff's job is to make sure everybody heads in the same direction. 
And we're making good progress, changing cultures, streamlining 
cultures, and getting people to work under a unified Department.
    The FBI is changing its mission. Its primary mission is to prevent a 
terrorist attack. Of course, we want the FBI agents to find people and 
to bring them to justice when they break the law. We want them to be a 
part of the preventative aspect of this war on terror too. We've 
reformed the intelligence community to stay a step ahead of our enemies. 
We created a new Director of National Intelligence to help integrate our 
intelligence. We want our intelligence folks sharing information and 
talking better.
    I went to the National Counterterrorism Center the other day. It's 
an impressive place. It's a place where people from different agencies 
in our Government sit side by side to share information. This is a new 
kind of war. We're dealing with people who hide in the shadows of our 
cities. They kind of lay low, and then they show up with deadly devices. 
And therefore, the best way to stop them is to share intelligence. And 
so we're constantly working to make sure our intelligence is as good as 
possible.
    And to strengthen the security, we've got to strengthen our 
partnership with State and local officials. It doesn't do any good if we 
can figure something out and we don't share

[[Page 1198]]

it with people at the local level. In this State, the Maryland 
Coordination and Analysis Center, known as MCAC, brings together more 
than 20 Federal, State, and local agencies. You're doing a good thing in 
the State and for the local level to coordinate information. I want to 
tell you a story about MCAC's success.
    Last summer, Baltimore County Police officers spotted a suspicious 
person videotaping the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. First of all, you have 
somebody who is alert on the ground. It was odd looking; somebody is 
videotaping the bridge. Maybe that happens a lot; maybe it doesn't. 
Anyway, this person was wise. He saw something suspicious. So they 
alerted the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, which then 
notified MCAC. When the personnel team there learned that the man was 
part of a Federal terrorism investigation in Illinois, they secured a 
warrant and arrested the guy within hours.
    Think about what you just heard. You got a local man sees somebody 
doing something suspicious; he immediately makes a call; it goes to 
MCAC. Because we have information-sharing from State to State and from 
Federal Government to State, information popped up that this person was 
more than suspicious; he was wanted.
    Today I got to see Gary McLhinney. I appreciate you being here, 
Gary. He is the chief of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. I 
don't know who gets the credit in your organization, but whoever did 
acted wisely. Let me tell you what he said. He said, ``Our officers 
would not have been successful in detaining and subsequently arresting 
the individual without the MCAC. This is how it's supposed to work.'' 
You're right: This is how it's supposed to work. Congratulations on 
setting up a smooth system here in the State of Maryland to better 
protect the people. You're serving as a model.
    And see, that's what's taking place all around the homeland. People 
have got to understand, we're changing the old ways so people can better 
talk. We're all in this deal together. We all have a responsibility to 
protect our local citizens. And therefore, it makes sense to have a 
seamless capacity to talk to each other in a real-time basis, and it's 
working--it's working.
    Fourth, to protect the homeland, we've got to give our law 
enforcement better tools to track and stop terrorists before they 
strike. And one of the most important tools is the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act. 
The PATRIOT Act closed dangerous gaps in America's law enforcement and 
intelligence capabilities, gaps that terrorists exploited when they 
attacked us on September the 11th.
    Both Houses of Congress passed the PATRIOT Act by overwhelming 
bipartisan majorities, and I was proud to sign this law. And it's 
working. The PATRIOT Act authorized better sharing of information 
between law enforcement and intelligence. Before the PATRIOT Act, 
criminal investigators were separated from intelligence officers by a 
legal and bureaucratic wall. Imagine that. You get somebody 
investigating a problem and somebody collecting intelligence, and they 
couldn't share information. And so the PATRIOT Act broke down that wall. 
How in the heck can people expect us to protect our country when you 
can't share intelligence with people who are investigating? The PATRIOT 
Act helped tear down the wall so that people can share information 
better and work as a team and break up terror networks.
    Listen, finding our enemies in the war on terror is tough enough. 
Law enforcement should not be denied vital information their own 
colleagues already have. And so, for the sake of our security, the 
United States Congress must not rebuild the wall that prevents law 
enforcement from doing its job.
    The PATRIOT Act allowed investigators to pursue terrorists with the 
same tools they use against other criminals. Think about that statement. 
We had people that could use certain tools against drug dealers, but 
couldn't against terrorists. Before the PATRIOT Act, it was easier to 
track the phone contacts of a drug dealer than the phone contacts of a 
terrorist. Before the PATRIOT Act it was easier to get the credit card 
receipts of a tax cheat than that of an Al Qaida bank-roller. Before the 
PATRIOT Act agents could use wire taps to investigate a person 
committing mail fraud but not specifically to investigate a foreign 
terrorist carrying deadly weapons. Before the PATRIOT Act, investigators

[[Page 1199]]

could follow the calls of mobsters who switched cell phones but not 
terrorists who switched cell phones. That didn't make any sense. The 
PATRIOT Act ended all these double standards.
    The theory is straightforward, and it makes sense to me, Dutch, and 
I know it does to a lot of your colleagues. If we have good tools to 
fight street crime and fraud, then our law enforcement ought to have the 
same tools to fight terrorism. The PATRIOT Act also has updated the law 
to meet high-tech threats like computer espionage and cyber-terrorism. 
For example, before the PATRIOT Act, Internet providers who notified 
Federal authorities about threatening e-mails ran the risk of getting 
sued. Needless to say, that stopped some people from sharing threatening 
e-mails. Nobody likes to get sued. It happens too often in our society, 
by the way. The PATRIOT Act modernized the law to protect Internet 
companies who voluntarily disclose information to save American lives.
    Terrorists are using every advantage of the 21st century technology, 
and we've got to make sure our law enforcement has got the tools to 
fight off that advantage. The PATRIOT Act helps us defeat our enemies 
while safeguarding civil liberties for all Americans. The judicial 
branch has a strong oversight role in the application of the PATRIOT 
Act. Law enforcement officers need a Federal judge's permission to 
wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone or to track his calls or to search 
his property. Officers must meet strict standards to use any of the 
tools we're talking about, and they are fully consistent with the 
Constitution of the United States.
    Congress also oversees the use of the PATRIOT Act. Our Attorney 
General, Al Gonzales, delivers regular reports on the PATRIOT Act to the 
House and the Senate. The Department of Justice has answered hundreds of 
questions from Members of the Congress. In other words, there is a 
strong oversight role.
    I want you to hear what Senator Dianne Feinstein of California said 
the other day. She said, ``We have scrubbed the area and have no 
reported abuses.'' She was speaking about the PATRIOT Act. I want you to 
remember that the next time you hear someone make an unfair criticism of 
this important, good law. The PATRIOT Act hasn't diminished American 
liberties. It has helped to defend American liberties.
    Over the past 3\1/2\ years, our law enforcement and intelligence 
personnel have put the PATRIOT Act to effective use. In other words, 
it's working, because we've got good people using the tools within the 
PATRIOT Act. They've used the law to break up terrorist cells in New 
York and Oregon and Virginia and Florida. We prosecuted terrorist 
operatives and supporters from California to Texas and New Jersey to 
Illinois, North Carolina, and Ohio. In other words, we're making 
progress. It's one thing to have the tools. It's another thing to use 
them effectively within the guidelines of the United States 
Constitution.
    The PATRIOT Act has accomplished exactly what it was designed to do. 
The problem is, at the end of this year, 16 critical provisions of the 
PATRIOT Act are scheduled to expire. All 16 provisions are practical, 
effective, and constitutional, and they are vital to defending our 
freedom.
    This week, the House of Representatives will vote on legislation to 
renew the PATRIOT Act. As we saw in London, the terrorists are still 
active, and they are still plotting to take innocent life. So my message 
to the Congress is clear: This is no time to let our guard down and no 
time to roll back good laws. The PATRIOT Act is expected to expire, but 
the terrorist threats will not expire. I expect, and the American people 
expect, the United States Congress and the United States Senate to renew 
the PATRIOT Act without weakening our ability to fight terror, and they 
need to get that bill to my desk soon.
    I appreciate you letting me come by to talk to you about the war on 
terror. This is going to be a long war, but freedom is going to prevail. 
This Nation of ours has always handled duties brought to us--history has 
always brought us challenges and problems. We've always handled them. 
We'll handle this one too.
    See, the enemy doesn't understand the nature of the American people. 
We're not going to be blackmailed. We're not going to be threatened. 
We'll stay strong. When history

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has called us to action in the past, we've responded. And history is 
calling us now. It's the great struggle of the 21st century, and we're 
going to stay in the fight until it's won. We're going to make this 
country safer. And as importantly, for the moms and dads out there and 
grandfolks, we're laying the foundation of peace for your children and 
grandchildren.
    It is such an honor to be involved with good men and women like you 
all who are--we're all joined together in this solemn duty to protect 
this great country.
    I want to thank you for your hard work. I want to thank you for your 
dedication. May God bless you and your families, and may God continue to 
bless our country.

Note: The President spoke at 10:02 a.m. at the Port of Baltimore. In his 
remarks, he referred to Rafael Palmiero, infielder, Baltimore Orioles; 
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., of Maryland and his wife, Kendel; Mayor 
Martin O'Malley of Baltimore, MD; and F. Brooks Royster III, executive 
director, Maryland Port Administration.