[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 9 (Monday, March 10, 2008)]
[Pages 316-317]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the National Association of Attorneys General

March 3, 2008

    General Wasden, thank you, sir. And General Lynch, thank you for 
having the Attorney General and me here to visit with the Nation's 
attorney generals. I thank you very much for serving the country. I'm 
honored that you've stepped forward to say, you know, my family--I'm 
going to put my family in such a way that we're going to serve together. 
And I hope you have found the experience to be as enriching as I've 
found it--my experience in public life to be.
    I also know that you're dealing with a wide variety of issues. I was 
the Governor of Texas. I see my--the attorney general of Texas here. 
It's been--it was a great joy to work with Greg when I was the Governor. 
We have a solemn responsibility together, and that's to protect the 
country. You do it in a variety of ways. And we've got a responsibility 
here. As a matter of fact, there's no greater responsibility at the 
Federal Government than to protect the American people, which means that 
we must make sure our professionals have the tools they need to do the 
jobs we've asked them to do.
    Now, there's a serious debate here, and some of the attorney 
generals have written a letter, both Democrats and Republicans, urging 
that the debate be solved in such a way that the professionals can do 
the job. And I thank you for wading in. There's a lot of legal 
complexities on the FISA renewal debate, but the real issue comes down 
to this: To defend the country, we need to be able to monitor 
communications of terrorists quickly and be able to do it effectively.
    And we can't do it without the cooperation of private companies. 
Now, unfortunately, some of the private companies have been sued for 
billions of dollars because they are believed to have helped defend 
America after the attacks on 9/11. Now the question is, should these 
lawsuits be allowed to proceed, or should any company that may have 
helped save American lives be thanked for performing a patriotic 
service? Should those who stepped forward to say we're going to help 
defend America have to go to the courthouse to defend themselves, or 
should the Congress and the President say, thank you for doing your 
patriotic duty? I believe we ought to say thank you.
    I'm really appreciative of the fact that 21 State attorney generals, 
7 Democrats and 14 Republicans, wrote a letter stating that assistance 
from private companies, as they put it, ``is utterly essential'' and 
urges the Senate--at the time--to approve FISA reform that protects the 
companies from lawsuits. I think that represents what most people--how 
most people think here in the country.
    The Senate heard you and heard the voices of other people and passed 
a really good FISA reform bill by a strong bipartisan majority, 68 to 
29. The answer to the question about whether we ought to thank or sue is 
also clear to the majority in the House of Representatives. If this 
bill, the Senate bill, were allowed--were given a vote on the floor of 
the House of Representatives, it would pass. There's enough votes 
available to pass a good Senate bill that would give our professionals 
the tools they need to protect the American people from further attack.
    Unfortunately, a minority in the House has been holding the bill up. 
Now, this weekend there was some encouraging news. The chairman of the 
House Intelligence Committee, Sylvester Reyes, said that he was open to 
passing a bill with protections for our private sector partners, 
including those companies who are currently being sued for allegedly 
helping us after 9/11. I appreciate the chairman's comments, and I urge 
the full House to pass this legislation as soon as possible.
    I feel strongly about this issue, not only because I know we need to 
have the private carriers available to provide information, but, to put 
it bluntly, if the enemy is calling in to somebody in the United States, 
we need to know who they're talking to and why they're calling and what 
they intend to do.
    These lawsuits are really unfair if you think about it. If any of 
the companies believed

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to have helped us--I'm just going to tell you: They were told it was 
legal by the Government, and they were told it was necessary by the 
Government. And here they are getting sued. It would be dangerous--the 
reason--the danger in all this is that because the private companies are 
fearful of lawsuits or being besieged by lawsuits, they would be less 
willing to help in the future.
    If your Government has said this is legal and we want your help and 
then all of a sudden they get sued for billions of dollars, you can 
imagine how hesitant they'll be with future requests. And yet the threat 
is ongoing. And that's why we said, failure by the House to act on the 
Senate bill would create an intelligence gap that is unacceptable.
    So I appreciate your interest in the subject. Thank you for giving 
me and the General a chance to come by, and God bless you. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 1:22 p.m. in Room 350 of the Dwight D. 
Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to 
State Attorneys General Lawrence Wasden of Idaho, Patrick C. Lynch of 
Rhode Island, and Greg Abbott of Texas.