    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 31 (Monday, August 6, 2007)]
    [Pages 1039-1040]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks Following a Meeting With the Counterterrorism Team

    August 3, 2007

        I thank you all for coming. Director Mueller, thank you for your
    hospitality. I'm honored to be here at the headquarters of the FBI. Just
    had a beginning of a series of meetings today, and during those meetings
    it is clear that people around that table fully understand we have no
    higher duty than to protect the American people. And so I'm pleased to
    be with my homeland security and counterterrorism teams. We've got folks
    in our government who spend every day working side by side with like-
    minded men and women in our Federal Government, all aiming to protect
    you, doing everything they can to protect the American people from a
    dangerous enemy.
        I'm going to spend a little time later on this afternoon with
    intelligence analysts who spend every day analyzing data, attempting to
    track down known and suspected terrorists who either may be here or
    elsewhere. We've done a lot of work since September the 11th to make
    this country safe, and it is safer, but it's not completely safe. It's
    important for the American people to understand there are coldblooded
    killers who want to come to our homeland and wreak havoc through death.
    And that's what we were discussing today.
        We take a clear-eyed view of the world. The people on this team,
    assembled in this building, see the world the way it is, not the way we
    hope it is. And this is a dangerous world because there's an enemy that
    wants to strike the homeland again. You know, it was a year ago that I
    met with the counterterrorism team--that we worked with Great Britain to
    uncover a airline plot, a plot that had it gone forward would have
    caused death on a massive scale. It was a reminder that the terrorists
    we face are sophisticated; they are coldblooded; they are changing
    tactics, and we must always stay ahead of them.
        In other words, we've got to do more than just keep pace with these
    people. We've got to be ahead of the people in order to protect the
    American people, in order to do our most important duty. And that's what
    we're talking about today.
        Part of the effort to do our job, part of the effort for this
    Federal Government to do the job the American people expects us to do in
    protecting you is to close intelligence gaps. We have such an
    intelligence gap in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The act
    needs to be modernized so that all of us engaged in protecting the
    American people say we have the tools we need to protect you. Leaders in
    Congress have said they would like to address this problem before they
    go home. I appreciate that spirit.
        The Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, has provided
    the Congress with a narrow and targeted piece of legislation that will
    close the gaps in intelligence. In other words, he's working on the
    Hill, and he's told Members this is what we need to do our job to
    protect the American people. It's the bare minimum the DNI said he needs
    to do his job. When Congress sends me their version, when Congress
    listens to all the data and facts and they send me a version of how to
    close those gaps, I'll ask one question. And I'm going to ask the DNI:
    ``Does this legislation give you what you need to prevent an attack on
    the country? Is this what you need to do your job, Mr. DNI?'' That's the
    question I'm going to ask. And if the answer is yes, I'll sign the bill.
    And if the answer is no, I'm going to veto the bill.

    [[Page 1040]]

        And so far the Democrats in Congress have not drafted a bill I can
    sign. We've worked hard and in good faith with the Democrats to find a
    solution, but we are not going to put our national security at risk.
    Time is short. I'm going to ask Congress to stay in session until they
    pass a bill that will give our intelligence community the tools they
    need to protect the United States.
        Thank you for your time.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:41 a.m. at the J. Edgar Hoover FBI
    Building. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish
    language transcript of these remarks.