[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 20 (Monday, May 22, 2006)]
[Pages 926-927]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

May 13, 2006

    Good morning. This week I nominated General Mike Hayden to be the 
next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The work of the CIA is 
essential to the security of the American people. The enemies who struck 
our Nation on September the 11th, 2001, intend to attack us again. And 
to defeat them, we must have the best possible intelligence. In Mike 
Hayden, the men and women of the CIA will have a strong leader who will 
support them as they work to disrupt terrorist attacks, penetrate closed 
societies, and gain information that is vital to protecting our Nation.
    General Hayden is supremely qualified to lead the CIA. For the last 
year, he's been our Nation's first Deputy Director of National 
Intelligence and has played a critical role in our efforts to reform 
America's intelligence capabilities to meet the threats of a new 
century. He has more than 20 years of experience in the intelligence 
field. He served for 6 years as Director of the National Security Agency 
and has a track record of success in leading and transforming that large 
intelligence agency. He also has held senior positions at the Pentagon 
and the National Security Council, and he served behind the Iron Curtain 
in our Embassy in Bulgaria during the cold war.
    Mike knows our intelligence community from the ground up. He's been 
both a producer and a consumer of intelligence and has overseen both 
human and technical intelligence activities, as well as the all-source 
analysis derived from those activities. Mike was unanimously confirmed 
by the Senate last year for his current post, and this week, members of 
both parties have praised his nomination. I urge the Senate to confirm 
him promptly as the next Director of the CIA.
    During General Hayden's tenure at the NSA, he helped establish and 
run one of our most vital intelligence efforts in the war on terror--the 
terrorist surveillance program. As the 9/11 Commission and others have 
noted, our Government failed to connect the dots in the years before the 
attacks of September the 11th. We now know that two of the hijackers in 
the United States made phone calls to Al Qaida operatives overseas, but 
we did not know about their plans until it was too late.
    So to prevent another attack, I authorized the National Security 
Agency--consistent with the Constitution and laws--to intercept 
international communications in which one party has known links to Al 
Qaida and related terrorist groups. This terrorist surveillance program 
makes it more likely that killers like the 9/11 hijackers will be 
identified and located in time. It has helped prevent possible terrorist 
attacks in the United States and abroad, and it remains essential to the 
security of America. If there are people inside our country who are 
talking with Al Qaida, we want to know about it. We will not sit back 
and wait to be attacked again.
    This week, new claims have been made about other ways we are 
tracking down Al Qaida--prevent attacks on America. It is important for 
Americans to understand that our activities strictly target Al Qaida and 
its known affiliates. Al Qaida is our enemy, and we want to know their 
plans. The intelligence activities I have authorized are lawful and have 
been briefed to appropriate Members of Congress, both Republican and 
Democrat. The privacy of all Americans is fiercely protected in all our 
activities. The Government does not listen to domestic phone calls 
without court approval. We are not trolling through the personal lives 
of millions of innocent Americans. Our efforts are focused on links to 
Al Qaida terrorists and its affiliates who want to harm the American 
people.
    Americans expect their Government to do everything in its power 
under our laws and Constitution to protect them and their civil 
liberties. That is exactly what we are doing. And so far, we have been 
successful in preventing another attack on our soil. The men and women 
of the CIA are working around the clock to make our Nation more secure. 
I am confident that General Hayden will strengthen the CIA and integrate 
its vital work with our other intelligence agencies, so we can defeat 
the terrorists of the 21st century.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 7:50 a.m. on May 12 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House

[[Page 927]]

for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on May 13. The transcript was made available 
by the Office of the Press Secretary on May 12 but was embargoed for 
release until the broadcast. The Office of the Press Secretary also 
released a Spanish language transcript of this address.