For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 16, 2002
President Discusses Dept of Homeland Security in Radio Address
Radio Address by the President to the Nation
Fact Sheet
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This was a productive week in the
war against terror, both at home and abroad. Congress returned to
Washington with renewed energy and a commitment to make progress on key
issues. Members of the House and Senate reached a crucial agreement to
create a new department of homeland security. With Congress' vote on
the final legislation, America will have a single agency with the
full-time duty of protecting our people against attack.
This new department will focus and unify responsibilities that are
now spread among dozens of government agencies. The Customs Service,
the INS, the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the
Transportation Security Administration and many others will report to
the new secretary of homeland security.
The department will significantly improve our ability to protect
our borders, our coasts, and our communities. It will pool together
the best intelligence information and coordinate our response. The new
department will help develop the technology America needs to detect and
defeat chemical, biological, and nuclear threats. And under the
agreement reached this week, I will have the authority and flexibility
to move people and resources to where they are needed without
bureaucratic rules and lengthy labor negotiations.
This compromise is the result of months of hard work and
negotiation, and it will take additional time to put the agreement into
place. The threat of terror will be with us for years to come, and we
remain resolved to see this conflict through to its end.
In the department of homeland security, we'll have good people,
well-organized and well-equipped, working day and night to oppose the
serious dangers of our time. Now that we have reached broad agreement
on a homeland security bill, I look forward to signing it into law as
soon as possible.
We're committed to defending the nation. Yet wars are not won on
the defensive. The best way to keep America safe from terrorism is to
go after terrorists where they plan and hide. And that work goes on
around the world.
The United States is working with more than 90 countries to disrupt
and defeat terror networks. So far we have frozen more than $113
million in terrorist assets, denying them the means to finance their
murder. We've cracked down on charities that were exploiting American
compassion to fund terrorists. We have captured and interrogated
thousands of terrorists, while others have met their fate in caves and
mountains in Afghanistan. We've deployed troops to train forces in the
Philippines and Yemen, the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, and other
nations where terrorists have gathered. We're sending a clear message
to the enemies of freedom, no terrorist will escape the patient justice
of America.
To win the war on terror, we're also opposing the growing threat of
weapons of mass destruction in the hands of outlaw regimes. This week,
the dictator of Iraq told the U.N. he would give weapons inspectors
unrestricted access to his country. We've heard such pledges before
and they have been uniformly betrayed. America and the world are now
watching Saddam Hussein closely. Any act of defiance or delay will
indicate that he is taking the path of deception once again, and this
time the consequences would be severe.
Our goal is not merely the return of inspectors to Iraq; our goal
is the disarmament of Iraq. The dictator of Iraq will give up his
weapons of mass destruction, or the United States will lead a coalition
to disarm him.
Our war against terrorists and their supporters is advancing on all
fronts. We're moving aggressively to protect our people and to oppose
a great threat to the peace of the world.
Thank you for listening.
END
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