25 September 2001
Text: Bush: "We're in a War We're Going to Win"
(Tells FBI it will get tools it needs to fight terrorism) (1720)
The September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon that killed thousands of innocent people have "strengthened
the spirit of America" and united the nation, President Bush said in a
speech September 25 to employees of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation at FBI headquarters in Washington.
"We're in a war we're going to win, Bush said, detailing for the
employees new measures he has asked Congress for to aid them in their
work, including added surveillance tools.
The attacks, he said, "have awoken a mighty nation that understands
that freedom is under assault; a mighty nation that will not rest
until those who think they can take freedom away from any citizen in
the world are brought to justice."
He repeated that "not only will we bring them to justice, we will
bring those who harbor them, who hide them, who feed them, who
encourage them, to justice."
Before speaking to the FBI employees, Bush toured the headquarters
building and saw the rooms where information on terrorist suspects is
being collected, analyzed and dispersed.
Over 4,000 employees of the FBI are assigned to the investigation into
the September 11 terrorist attacks, as well as working to disrupt any
further action that may be planned, Bush said.
Following is the transcript of his remarks:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
September 25, 2001
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO EMPLOYEES AT THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
FBI Headquarters
Washington, D.C.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thanks. It's been my honor to come over
to thank everybody for their hard work. I know there's a lot of folks
here at the FBI who are working long hours. People are away from their
families more than they want. But my presence here should assure you
that I recognize the important contribution you make, and that the FBI
and the wonderful men and women who work here are an incredibly
important part of the army that is going to win the war on terrorism.
You've got some pretty good generals here, starting with General
Ashcroft, who is doing a fine job as the Attorney General of America.
I told the country when I picked the man that you don't have to worry
where he stands and the values he brings to the job. I'm proud of the
service, and I appreciate so very much, Larry, as well, coming up from
Atlanta, Georgia to serve our country.
As you know, I made an important pick to head the agency. Picked a
good, solid American. A man who has been under fire before, and who
doesn't flinch under fire this time around, either. And that's Bob
Mueller. Thank you for your service. (Applause.)
First, I -- as I mentioned to many of your colleagues, we're facing a
different kind of war than our country is used to; that, two weeks ago
there was an act of war declared on America. No one could have
possibly dreamed that it would come in the way it did. And it shocked
our nation, of course.
And we've had time to think about it here in the country, and we're
angry. But we're also clear -- we've got clear vision about what the
country needs to do. This is a nation that has come together to defend
our freedom and our way of life.
I see things this way: The people who did this act on America, and who
may be planning further acts, are evil people. They don't represent an
ideology, they don't represent a legitimate political group of people.
They're flat evil. That's all they can think about, is evil. And as a
nation of good folks, we're going to hunt them down, and we're going
to find them, and we will bring them to justice.
Ours is a nation that does not seek revenge, but we do seek justice.
And I don't care how long it takes to rout out terrorism, we're going
to do it. We will take the time and effort and spend the resources
necessary to not only find these who -- these evildoers who did what
they did to America on September the 11th, this is a larger campaign
against anybody who hates freedom, anybody who can't stand what
America and our allies and friends stand for.
And so I'm here at the FBI to thank you for your work. Most of your
job is to help us win the war here at home. Most of your job is to
prevent something else from happening. And I know that hundreds of FBI
agents and other employees of the Agency are working long, long hours
to do that. I was able to see the war rooms where information is being
collected and analyzed and dispersed.
I was able to see the consoles, where people have been sitting at long
hours, detailing every piece of information that is being gathered
across the country. I know there are over 4,000 employees of the FBI
working on not only gathering evidence for the particular actions that
took place on September the 11th, but running down every scrap of
information that is being found all across our land, and analyzing the
information, and preparing our great nation to disrupt any action that
may be being planned.
There are some other things we can do in the country, and our Congress
needs to work with us. And I believe -- I had breakfast this morning
with Republican and Democrat leaders, and I will tell you, the spirit
on Capitol Hill is good for America. It's a united spirit.
I want to thank the leaders from both parties, and both Houses for
their willingness to listen to anybody who has got a good idea about
how to fight terrorist activity in the country. And I believe the
Attorney General has taken some good ideas to Capitol Hill, and I'd
like to share some of them with you.
First, what we've seen is these terrorists are very sophisticated, and
so are their communications. They must -- their calls must be
penetrated when we feel there's a threat to America. We've got to know
what's on their mind. And so, therefore, we must give the FBI the
ability to track calls when they make calls from different phones, for
example.
Now, this is what we do for drug dealers and members of organized
crime, and it seems like to make sense to me, if it's good enough for
the FBI to use these techniques for facing down those threats to
America, that now that we're at war, we ought to give the FBI the
tools necessary to track down terrorists. And so I hope Congress will
listen to the wisdom of the proposals that the Attorney General
brought up, to give the tools necessary to our agents in the field to
find those who may think they want to disrupt America again.
We're asking Congress for the authority to hold suspected terrorists
who are in the process of being deported, until they're deported. That
seems to make sense -- (laughter) -- that if a suspected terrorist is
detained, and our nation has decided to deport the person, then they
ought to be held in custody until the action actually takes place. We
believe it's a necessary tool to make America a safe place.
Now, this would of course be closely supervised by an immigration
judge. Now, the only alternative is to let suspected terrorists loose
in our country. I don't think anybody wants to do that. (Laughter.) I
certainly hope not. And we're asking for the authority to share
information between intelligence operations and law enforcement, so we
can direct the best of both in the critical effort. That, too, is a
reasonable request to make of Congress.
I want you to know that every one of the proposals we've made on
Capitol Hill, carried by the Attorney General, has been carefully
reviewed. They are measured requests, they are responsible requests,
they are constitutional requests. Ours is a land that values the
constitutional rights of every citizen. And we will honor those
rights, of course.
But we're at war, a war we're going to win. And in order to win the
war, we must make sure that the law enforcement men and women have got
the tools necessary, within the Constitution, to defeat the enemy.
And there's going to be one other thing that's required to defeat the
enemy, and that's the will and determination of the American people. I
believe the evildoers miscalculated when they struck America. They
thought we would shy away. They thought their threats could hold this
nation hostage. They must have felt like they could diminish our soul.
But quite the opposite has taken place. They've strengthened the
spirit of America. They have united their country. They have awoken a
mighty nation that understands that freedom is under assault; a mighty
nation that will not rest until those who think they can take freedom
away from any citizen in the world are brought to justice.
They've got a problem on their hands. We're going to find them. And if
they're hiding, we're going to smoke them out. And we'll bring them to
justice. And not only will we bring them to justice, we will bring
those who harbor them, who hide them, who feed them, who encourage
them, to justice.
America is a nation built upon freedom, and the principles of freedom,
the values of freedom. And this is a nation that will not -- will not
-- blink from the fight. This is a nation that will stand strong for
the great values that have made us unique.
I'm proud of the work of the FBI. I want to thank you all for your
dedication. Stay at it. The nation is counting on you. You're making a
great, great contribution for the country.
May God bless you all and your families, and may God continue to bless
the United States of America. (Applause.)
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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