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Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation The Cross Hall
The White House ^ | 6 June 2002 | President Bush

Posted on 06/06/2002 6:02:10 PM PDT by PhiKapMom

Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation The Cross Hall

8:00 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. During the next few minutes, I want to update you on the progress we are making in our war against terror, and to propose sweeping changes that will strengthen our homeland against the ongoing threat of terrorist attacks.

Nearly nine months have passed since the day that forever changed our country. Debris from what was once the World Trade Center has been cleared away in a hundred thousand truckloads. The west side of the Pentagon looks almost as it did on September the 10th. And as children finish school and families prepare for summer vacations, for many, life seems almost normal.

Yet we are a different nation today -- sadder and stronger, less innocent and more courageous, more appreciative of life, and for many who serve our country, more willing to risk life in a great cause. For those who have lost family and friends, the pain will never go away -- and neither will the responsibilities that day thrust upon all of us. America is leading the civilized world in a titanic struggle against terror. Freedom and fear are at war -- and freedom is winning.

Tonight over 60,000 American troops are deployed around the world in the war against terror -- more than 7,000 in Afghanistan; others in the Philippines, Yemen, and the Republic of Georgia, to train local forces. Next week Afghanistan will begin selecting a representative government, even as American troops, along with our allies, still continuously raid remote al Qaeda hiding places.

Among those we have captured is a man named Abu Zabedah, al Qaeda's chief of operations. From him, and from hundreds of others, we are learning more about how the terrorists plan and operate; information crucial in anticipating and preventing future attacks.

Our coalition is strong. More than 90 nations have arrested or detained over 2,400 terrorists and their supporters. More than 180 countries have offered or are providing assistance in the war on terrorism. And our military is strong and prepared to oppose any emerging threat to the American people.

Every day in this war will not bring the drama of liberating a country. Yet every day brings new information, a tip or arrest, another step, or two, or three in a relentless march to bring security to our nation and justice to our enemies.

Every day I review a document called the threat assessment. It summarizes what our intelligence services and key law enforcement agencies have picked up about terrorist activity. Sometimes the information is very general -- vague talk, bragging about future attacks. Sometimes the information is more specific, as in a recent case when an al Qaeda detainee said attacks were planned against financial institutions.

When credible intelligence warrants, appropriate law enforcement and local officials are alerted. These warnings are, unfortunately, a new reality in American life -- and we have recently seen an increase in the volume of general threats. Americans should continue to do what you're doing -- go about your lives, but pay attention to your surroundings. Add your eyes and ears to the protection of our homeland.

In protecting our country, we depend on the skill of our people -- the troops we send to battle, intelligence operatives who risk their lives for bits of information, law enforcement officers who sift for clues and search for suspects. We are now learning that before September the 11th, the suspicions and insights of some of our front-line agents did not get enough attention.

My administration supports the important work of the intelligence committees in Congress to review the activities of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. We need to know when warnings were missed or signs unheeded -- not to point the finger of blame, but to make sure we correct any problems, and prevent them from happening again.

Based on everything I've seen, I do not believe anyone could have prevented the horror of September the 11th. Yet we now know that thousands of trained killers are plotting to attack us, and this terrible knowledge requires us to act differently.

If you're a front-line worker for the FBI, the CIA, some other law enforcement or intelligence agency, and you see something that raises suspicions, I want you to report it immediately. I expect your supervisors to treat it with the seriousness it deserves. Information must be fully shared, so we can follow every lead to find the one that may prevent tragedy.

I applaud the leaders and employees at the FBI and CIA for beginning essential reforms. They must continue to think and act differently to defeat the enemy.

The first and best way to secure America's homeland is to attack the enemy where he hides and plans, and we're doing just that. We're also taking significant steps to strengthen our homeland protections -- securing cockpits, tightening our borders, stockpiling vaccines, increasing security at water treatment and nuclear power plants.

After September the 11th, we needed to move quickly, and so I appointed Tom Ridge as my Homeland Security Advisor. As Governor Ridge has worked with all levels of government to prepare a national strategy, and as we have learned more about the plans and capabilities of the terrorist network, we have concluded that our government must be reorganized to deal more effectively with the new threats of the 21st century. So tonight, I ask the Congress to join me in creating a single, permanent department with an overriding and urgent mission: securing the homeland of America, and protecting the American people.

Right now, as many as a hundred different government agencies have some responsibilities for homeland security, and no one has final accountability. For example, the Coast Guard has several missions, from search and rescue to maritime treaty enforcement. It reports to the Transportation Department, whose primary responsibilities are roads, rails, bridges and the airways. The Customs Service, among other duties, collects tariffs and prevents smuggling -- and it is part of the Treasury Department, whose primary responsibility is fiscal policy, not security.

Tonight, I propose a permanent Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security to unite essential agencies that must work more closely together: Among them, the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol, the Customs Service, Immigration officials, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Employees of this new agency will come to work every morning knowing their most important job is to protect their fellow citizens. The Department of Homeland Security will be charged with --

The Department of Homeland Security will be charged with four primary tasks. This new agency will control our borders and prevent terrorists and explosives from entering our country. It will work with state and local authorities to respond quickly and effectively to emergencies. It will bring together our best scientists to develop technologies that detect biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons, and to discover the drugs and treatments to best protect our citizens. And this new department will review intelligence and law enforcement information from all agencies of government, and produce a single daily picture of threats against our homeland. Analysts will be responsible for imagining the worst, and planning to counter it.

The reason to create this department is not to create the size of government, but to increase its focus and effectiveness. The staff of this new department will be largely drawn from the agencies we are combining. By ending duplication and overlap, we will spend less on overhead, and more on protecting America. This reorganization will give the good people of our government their best opportunity to succeed by organizing our resources in a way that is thorough and unified.

What I am proposing tonight is the most extensive reorganization of the federal government since the 1940s. During his presidency, Harry Truman recognized that our nation's fragmented defenses had to be reorganized to win the Cold War. He proposed uniting our military forces under a single Department of Defense, and creating the National Security Council to bring together defense, intelligence, and diplomacy. Truman's reforms are still helping us to fight terror abroad, and now we need similar dramatic reforms to secure our people at home.

Only the United States Congress can create a new department of government. So tonight, I ask for your help in encouraging your representatives to support my plan. We face an urgent need, and we must move quickly, this year, before the end of the congressional session. All in our government have learned a great deal since September the 11th, and we must act on every lesson. We are stronger and better prepared tonight than we were on that terrible morning -- and with your help, and the support of Congress, we will be stronger still.

History has called our nation into action. History has placed a great challenge before us: Will America -- with our unique position and power -- blink in the face of terror, or will we lead to a freer, more civilized world? There's only one answer: This great country will lead the world to safety, security, peace and freedom.

Thank you for listening. Good night, and may God bless America.

END 8:13 P.M. EDT


TOPICS: Breaking News; Government
KEYWORDS: homelandsecurity
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To: PhiKapMom
Bush should get high marks for this move, the Coast Guard was something of a surprise (but logical). Now it's up to the leadership of the new department to produce on the policy side as well. Ridge is really the man on the hot seat, and he needs to move strongly right out of the box. Both administrative effectiveness and a strong policy review/revision in many areas will be needed (The opportunity to turn INS on its head both administratively and in the policy arena come immediately to mind). Ridge must deliver now.

But good for Bush. This is his best move since the State of the Union (an intervening period that was somewhat dark and inconsistent in my own view).

21 posted on 06/06/2002 6:52:35 PM PDT by Scott from the Left Coast
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To: PhiKapMom
Many thanks for the ping, PKM. Now I wonder when he is going to expose the Senate's Homeland Security package for the garbage it is. Tiny Tom say he is concerned that the President doesn't want to spend as much as the Senate wants to.

To this ole volleyball set man, it looks like Dass has put the ball in perfect position for a GW slam. I sure hope he takes advantage of it.

22 posted on 06/06/2002 6:53:35 PM PDT by gov_bean_ counter
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To: PhiKapMom
Thanks for the ping! I was working at a client's place and missed the speech. Glad to read this!
23 posted on 06/06/2002 6:55:10 PM PDT by Sen Jack S. Fogbound
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To: Freedom'sWorthIt
Hi!

Really enjoyed this speech and the results he is advocating. The press keep going back to when this was announced like they are really bugged it is going to take away from the hearings. They are back to whining as usual and don't believe they can fathom he just pulled the rug out from under the DemocRATS again!

24 posted on 06/06/2002 6:59:32 PM PDT by PhiKapMom
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To: Lancey Howard
Was going to post on the expansion thread that the guy that put it up was wrong but instead I went and got Pres Bush's speech instead to prove him wrong! Figured the facts would stand on their own!
25 posted on 06/06/2002 7:02:23 PM PDT by PhiKapMom
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To: grimalkin
Take heart.
Please understand that some of those "trash talkers" are Democrat operatives who chime in to cause mischief (and lie, of course - - that is what Democrats do). But most of the rest are disenfranchised rats. These are folks who were raised in lifelong Democrat families and who have finally woken up to see the party leaders for the liars and scumbags that they are.

They also look at the core Democrat constituencies (screeching feminists, environmental whackos, victim-culture minorities, gay and lesbian condom throwers, welfare parasites, etc., etc., and ask themselves, "Why do I vote with these people?" These Democrats simply cannot bring themselves to admit that they and their families have been wrong for decades and have nearly destroyed this nation. Voting Republican would be too hard for many of them.

So instead they call themselves "libertarians" and try to assuage themselves by convincing themselves and others that "the Republicans are no better", etc. Mostly, they are harmless and end up stroking each other.

Regards,
LH

26 posted on 06/06/2002 7:04:00 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: PhiKapMom
"History has called our nation into action.
History has placed a great challenge before us:
Will America -- with our unique position and power -- blink in the face of terror,
or will we lead to a freer, more civilized world?
There's only one answer:
This great country will lead the world to safety, security, peace and freedom.

Thank you for listening. Good night, and may God bless America.

Senator Leahy's committee is playing spin the bottle while President Bush is leading the nation and the world in the very critically vital for our survival "titanic" war against terrorism. President Bush is thinking ahead, while Leahy and his democrat comrades are thinking backward trying to spin the bottle in any direction that does not point at their former master, Clinton, (although they all wish a turn at kissing his waggling ring finger) for his apparent appalling disregard for our national security.
27 posted on 06/06/2002 7:04:21 PM PDT by harpo11
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To: PhiKapMom
Thanks for posting this, PhiKapMom. I thought it was a very effective speech.

Ole Okie

28 posted on 06/06/2002 7:06:35 PM PDT by Ole Okie
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To: PhiKapMom
This is very very interesting. Follow me on this. This had to be in the works since Ridge was made a cabinet-level advisor. So, we had the idiot Democrats whining that Ridge wouldn't testify -- now he will be required to do so because he's the head of a Congressionally-approved department. We had the idiot Democrats first accuse Bush of knowing the attack was going to happen. Then the idiot Democrats said that Bush should have known. Then the idiot Democrats said that Bush should have had a better (than Clinton) system in place to deal with the bureaucracy.

Well, now the idiot Democrats got exactly what they asked for. On top of it all, the lower-level bureaucrats that Bush will appoint for this will probably sail through Senate confirmation because they were so blindsided.

More important than that, money will be taken from some of these other departments and funnelled to Homeland Security.

Methinks somebody is leading the Democrats by the nose: Giving them bait on which they'll surely bite.

I like it. :)

29 posted on 06/06/2002 7:10:06 PM PDT by AmishDude
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To: PhiKapMom
Dubya puts the ball back in little Tommy's court..great move!!
30 posted on 06/06/2002 7:11:38 PM PDT by codebreaker
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To: PhiKapMom
I am sure they are bugged. President Bush looked fantastic and gave the exact message at the right time. We are reorgnizing the government and it will benefit our nation's war against terrorists......

Most of the bureaucracy is going to be pulled from other parts of the Executive Branch. (taking some power away from some of those departments....good!)

It is a huge task and I hope Congress will act quickly. This President doesn't fume and fuss - just lays it out and expects sane people to act. They don't always do that. Most of the time the Demoncreeps screech and holler and spew and spin - and the President just goes to work.

If they don't act, if they fail to move quickly - fine. He is not going to bash them over their traitorous heads or blackmail them as the Clintonoids did over and over again. He will just get the best deal he can get and move on.

That is frustrating to those of us who want it all - even though the Senate Demonrat majority is such an obstacle that most here just simply do not grasp the problem that gives the President.

What is clear to me is this man is NO NONSENSE - GET TO WORK - and let's clear this mess up and get things right.

He simply has no time for foolishness or self centeredness or any other dilly dallying.

VP Cheney is exactly the same.

All business.

No nonsenes.

Efficient as he can be in his own conduct.

Demanding such efficiency and excellence of all who work with him and with whom he works.

While still exuding love of his fellow Americans of all colors, all ethnicities, all ages, all genders, all conditions.

How amazing there is a man like this even available to be our President at this time! And a Christian to boot!

Truly, America is blessed. May each of us carry on with our lives with similar maturity, self-discipline, and determination to do what is necessary to protect this country and advance the cause of freedom here and around the world.

31 posted on 06/06/2002 7:12:07 PM PDT by Freedom'sWorthIt
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To: Tauzero
Indeed.
32 posted on 06/06/2002 7:13:13 PM PDT by Pistias
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To: harpo11
Have a theory that as soon as this starts pointing at clinton, the democRATS will close up shop and declare the hearings over!
33 posted on 06/06/2002 7:14:14 PM PDT by PhiKapMom
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To: codebreaker
Dubya puts the ball back in little Tommy's court..great move!!

Where is little Tommy anyway, shouldn't he be out whining by now?

34 posted on 06/06/2002 7:17:27 PM PDT by ReaganRevolution
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To: Freedom'sWorthIt
That was a fantastic post! So well written and IMHO right on the mark! Thanks very much for posting that on here!
35 posted on 06/06/2002 7:18:07 PM PDT by PhiKapMom
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To: PhiKapMom
Tonight, I propose a permanent Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security to unite essential agencies that must work more closely together: Among them, the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol, the Customs Service, Immigration officials, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A powerful organization--and in an Emergency, more powerful than the Executive and the Legislature, while independent of the Judiciary. The man at the head of this operation must be trustworthy, indeed, to be the commander of such might.

36 posted on 06/06/2002 7:18:54 PM PDT by Pistias
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To: Pistias
A powerful organization--and in an Emergency, more powerful than the Executive and the Legislature, while independent of the Judiciary. The man at the head of this operation must be trustworthy, indeed, to be the commander of such might.

While the Go-Dubya! love fest is a sweet thing to behold on FR, someday - when a real powergrabbing liberal gets ahold of this power - we'll regret it. What is it (on dispassionate analysis), if not a modern, American-style KGB?

37 posted on 06/06/2002 7:24:29 PM PDT by Menkenspiel
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To: Menkenspiel
Not a KGB. Dictators don't make organizations that can legally supercede authority--unless they're going to be at the top of them.
38 posted on 06/06/2002 7:34:44 PM PDT by Pistias
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To: AmishDude
I also liked the this part,

"The staff of this new department will be largely drawn from the agencies we are combining"

That means they will screen out any entrenched clinton holdovers and get the very best of the agencies. Gotta love it. They keep playing checkers and Bush is playing chess :-)

39 posted on 06/06/2002 7:38:35 PM PDT by MJY1288
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To: PhiKapMom
If, at a minimum, if this provides platforms for the good guys to exchange information on the bad guys it will be successful.

It will be more than successful if it allows house cleaning of the countless morons that have no bidness working for these various agencies. Especially, those morons put in places by the last fool in the WH and his shrill, foul mouthed and stupid wife.

40 posted on 06/06/2002 7:39:28 PM PDT by isthisnickcool
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