22 December 2003
Bush Meets At White House with Homeland Security Council
White House Report, Dec. 22: national security/terrorism, Baker trip to Asia, Senegal
President Bush discussed the nation's security December 22 at a White House meeting with his Homeland Security Council -- the group of high level officials that coordinates the policies and functions of the U.S. government relating to the security of the country.
The day before, the group, which includes the Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, made a consensus recommendation that the terrorist threat warning level be raised from elevated to high -- from yellow to orange, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters, and Bush agreed with that recommendation.
The intelligence community, the press secretary said, "has received a substantial increase in volume of threat-related intelligence reports. There are a number of credible sources that suggest the possibility of attacks against the homeland around the holiday season and beyond."
"[T]his is perhaps the highest level of chatter that we have seen," in the post-September 11, 2001, era, McClellan said.
"There's still information that indicates that terrorists abroad are anticipating attacks that they believe will rival or exceed the scope and impact of those we experienced on September 11th, and recent reporting continues to reiterate that al Qaeda seeks to use aircraft as a weapon in suicide-type attacks," the press secretary said.
"And certainly Secretary Ridge pointed out that acquiring and using chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials remains a top al Qaeda objective. And I think it is for all these reasons the decision was made, and the president agreed with that decision," said McClellan.
"[W]e've been very fortunate that there hasn't been an attack on the homeland since September 11th. But we cannot rest. We must continue carrying out the war on terrorism and taking the fight to the enemy," he said.
Secretary Ridge told reporters as he left the meeting with the president that "it was very important for me to report to you the president's convening of the Homeland Security Council, our review with the president of the specific actions that we've undertaken at the federal level. Operations centers are up across the board -- DOD [Department of Defense], FBI, Homeland Security."
The federal government, with its partners at the state and local level, "are on the alert, are working 24/7 [24 hours a day/7 days a week]," he said.
But he said people should not interrupt their Christmas or other holiday plans.
"[O]ne of the things we focused on in the meeting today was an understanding by everyone, from the president on down, that this is a period of celebration. These are holidays.
"They're cultural holidays. They're religious holidays. There are public gatherings in major urban areas around the country, big celebrations, Times Square, Las Vegas, L.A., football games, you name it. And we encourage people to be vigilant and be aware," but let the security professionals, the law enforcement community, federal, state and local officials take care of the security, Ridge said.
BAKER TO VISIT JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA, CHINA ON IRAQI DEBT REDUCTION
James Baker, President Bush's personal envoy to foreign leaders on reducing Iraq's debt, will travel to Japan, South Korea and China December 27-30 to discuss the Iraq debt issue with leaders in those countries, Press Secretary McClellan told reporters.
Baker, a former Secretary of the Treasury and of State in previous Republican administrations, will meet on December 29 first with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan and then with South Korea's President Roh Moo-hyun. He will meet with China's President, Jintao Hu on December 30th, McClellan said.
Bush spoke by phone December 20 with Koizumi and Hu and thanked them for agreeing to welcome Secretary Baker, the press secretary said. Bush spoke by phone December 22 with South Korea's President Roh and also thanked him for welcoming Baker.
In the phone calls, other topics were also discussed McClellan said. Bush thanked Japan's prime minister for that nation's "support on Iraq reconstruction, including the Japanese government's recent decision to dispatch forces to Iraq."
And Japan's prime minister "congratulated the president on the capture of Saddam Hussein and the progress in eliminating Libya's weapons of mass destruction programs."
"The two leaders also discussed next steps on the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program," McClellan said.
In his phone call with China's President Hu, the two leaders discussed progress in Iraq, McClellan said. "They also discussed next steps on the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program," and Bush "reiterated that there should be no unilateral action taken by either side of the Taiwan Strait to change the status quo. "
In his phone call with the South Korean president, Bush thanked him for his preparations to deploy South Korean forces to Iraq. The two leaders also discussed next steps on the six-party talks on North Korea, McClellan said.
BUSH SPEAKS BY PHONE WITH SENEGAL'S LEADER
On December 20, Senegal's President Wade phoned Bush "to congratulate the president on capturing Saddam Hussein," McClellan said. Bush "thanked President Wade and wished him a happy holiday. The United States and Senegal continue to enjoy close relations and cooperate closely on a variety of issues," the press secretary said.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=December&x=20031222160117ssor0.7226526&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
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