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 Home > News & Policies > Policies in Focus > America Responds

National Security Front Page
Standing with President George W. Bush, Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., addresses the media after the President nominated him to be the director of the CIA in the Rose Garden, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2004.
Standing with President George W. Bush, Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., addresses the media after the President nominated him to be the director of the CIA in the Rose Garden, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2004.


Strengthening Our Military, Supporting Our Veterans

The Accomplishments

Strengthening our Military

  • President Bush has increased defense spending by more than one-third . the largest increase in a generation.
  • The President has increased military research and development by more than 50 percent.
  • President Bush signed into law landmark legislation that better prepares our defense establishment to meet the challenges of the 21st century. A military that was designed for the challenges of the mid-to-late 20th century is being transformed into a lighter, more flexible, more agile, and more lethal force . one better able to deal with new threats to our national security.
  • President Bush announced the most comprehensive restructuring of US military forces overseas since the end of the Korean War. By closing bases no longer needed to meet Cold War threats that have ended, this new initiative will bring home many Cold War-era forces while deploying more flexible and rapidly deployable capabilities in strategic locations around the world.

Deploying a Missile Defense

  • The President has doubled investment in a missile defense system.
  • The United States will soon deploy a functioning missile defense system to protect Americans from nuclear threats posed by rogue regimes . and will deploy the first land and sea-based system.
  • The United States is acting with the support and cooperation of Australia, Britain, Japan, and other nations to establish a missile defense capability with support sites on multiple continents.
  • The Department of Defense has conducted several successful tests of a national missile defense system in which an incoming missile was intercepted and destroyed.
Strengthening the NATO Alliance
  • President Bush has been a leader in transforming NATO to make it effective in the 21st century and the global war on terror.
  • In 2004, NATO welcomed seven new members from Central and Eastern Europe into the Alliance.
  • NATO leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin created the NATO-Russia Council to facilitate consultation and joint action.
  • The Alliance commands the International Security Assistance Force (consisting of more than 6,000 troops) that is helping secure and rebuild a free Afghanistan. Afghanistan is NATO's first mission outside of Europe.
  • NATO allies are contributing troops to the coalition in Iraq and NATO leaders have agreed to help train Iraq's new security forces.
  • NATO launched the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, which will increase cooperative security efforts with the broader Middle East in areas including counterterrorism and halting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
  • The United States proposed with Norway a measure to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy on human trafficking in areas of NATO operations. NATO will develop specific measures to support local efforts to combat trafficking. Two hundred thousand victims of trafficking are transported through the Balkans each year, a region where NATO has a significant presence.
Supporting Military Families and Veterans
  • Since President Bush took office, basic pay for service members has increased by more than 20 percent . and the increase in payments for food and housing combined has reached 50 percent.
  • Funding for child care services has increased by $21.5 million.
  • The Military Family Tax Relief Act of 2003 provides tax relief and other benefits to members of the armed services and their families.
  • President Bush has proposed unprecedented levels of funding for veterans. His 2005 budget represents an increase in overall funding for our nation's veterans by almost $20 billion . or 40 percent . since 2001. The President has increased funding for our veterans more in four years than funding was increased in the previous eight years.
  • Since 2001, President Bush's four budgets for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have provided a more than 40 percent increase in veterans' medical care spending alone.
  • Changes have been implemented to ensure that veterans receive timely, quality medical care. Waiting lists for medical care have been essentially eliminated and the processing time for disability claims has been reduced by 30 percent.
  • The President's budgets have allowed 2.5 million more veterans to enroll for health care; outpatient visits to increase from 44 million to 54 million; the number of prescriptions filled to increase from 98 million to 116 million; and 194 new community-based clinics to open.
  • President Bush has twice signed legislation effectively providing "concurrent receipt" of both military retired pay and disability compensation for those military retirees most deserving, combat injured and highly disabled, reversing a century-old law.
  • The President has committed $1.5 billion in his 2004 and 2005 budgets to increase outpatient health care services for veterans, to build new hospitals, and to modernize or replace outdated pre-World War II facilities. Through the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) plan, the VA is working to better distribute its network of clinics and hospitals so that the vast majority of veterans are within 30 miles of a VA community-based outpatient clinic or similar facility.

Press Releases and Speeches
October 7, 2004
President Bush Discusses Iraq Report
September 11, 2004
Three Years of Progress in the War on Terror
September 8, 2004
Reforming and Strengthening Intelligence Services
August 27, 2004
Executive Order Strengthened Management of the Intelligence Community
August 27, 2004
Executive Order National Counterterrorism Center
August 27, 2004
Executive Order Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism Information to Protect Americans
August 27, 2004
Executive Order Establishing the President's Board on Safeguarding Americans' Civil Liberties
August 10, 2004
President Bush Nominates Congressman Goss as Director of CIA
August 5, 2004
President Signs Defense Bill
August 4, 2004
VP Cheney Discusses National Intelligence Director
August 2, 2004
National Intelligence Director Fact Sheet
August 2, 2004
President Calls for Creation of National Intelligence Director Post
August 2, 2004
National Intelligence Director Press Briefing
April 8, 2004
Dr. Condoleezza Rice's Opening Remarks to Commission on Terrorist Attacks
March 18, 2004
President Bush Meets with Military Personnel at Fort Campbell
March 8, 2004
Dr. Rice's Remarks at the McConnell Center for Political Leadership
February 28, 2004
Dr. Rice's Remarks to the Reagan Lecture
February 17, 2004
President Meets with US Military Personnel at Fort Polk, Louisiana
February 14, 2004
President Discusses War on Terror in Radio Address
February 11, 2004
President Announces New Measures to Counter the Threat of WMD
February 4, 2004
President Bush Discusses Importance of Democracy in Middle East
February 3, 2004
President Bush Meets with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan
January 30, 2004
Remarks by the President and NATO Secretary
January 28, 2004
2004 State of the Union Address
January 22, 2004
President Discusses America's Leadership in Global War on Terror
December 15, 2003
President Bush Holds Press Conference
December 14, 2003
President Bush Addresses Nation on the Capture of Saddam Hussein
November 24, 2003
President Signs Defense Bill

More . . .


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