securing the safety of the American people, is the President concerned about the information flow -- one hand knowing what the other hand is doing, the head knowing nothing within the federal government? That, one of the -- what went wrong last Tuesday?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, I think that any time you have a nation as open as ours, where you have so many hundreds of millions of people who come to visit this country, and you have so many crossings into this nation, we have a security system that is set up that is really among the best, if not the best in the world. I think in the wake of this, obviously, changes are being made to tighten up. But there was no credible -- there was no specific evidence that this attack was coming. And we remain an open nation, which has been one of our greatest strengths and assets, and will always be. But it does expose us to vulnerabilities.
Q Does the President want to get a better system in place where information can be processed quickly to the people who are securing the country's safety?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think you may want to direct that directly at the operational side. If you want to talk to the FAA, if you want to talk to the Department of Justice, if you want to talk to the Pentagon --
Q Isn't that a White House priority?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the President's priority is to take all steps necessary to secure the safety of the American people. And he'll continue to do so.
Q In limiting this battle against terrorism to groups which threaten the United States, what incentive is there for the international coalition the President is trying to assemble to join in? And in particular, with Britain, which has its own issues with fighting the IRA?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, when I say that, the President has made it clear to his allies on the phone that these attacks were aimed at Western civilization; they were aimed at those who cherish liberty. And that does include nations outside the United States. And when I indicate -- the question about the IRA, for example, you should not interpret that to mean that the IRA is or is not a part of this.
What I've said -- because I'm not going to be specific about any one organization -- what I have said is when the President commits this nation and others to fight terrorism, it's hard to tell where the bounds of one group begins and one groups ends, and in that, it goes beyond the United States; all nations have a reason to protect themselves. And as this coalition is formed, nations will have those reasons to protect themselves as part of this.
So that broadens my earlier answer a little bit.
Q A follow-up to this one. You're asking for different contributions from different countries. Are you going to ask any European countries for any military contribution? And what do you make out of countries which are neutral, like Austria?
MR. FLEISCHER: This is going to be the longstanding policy of this White House in this matter: Until the President chooses to announce what concrete actions and steps are being taken, I won't get into the specificity of what we are asking.
The requests fall into a broad series of categories, involving things that could be military, political, financial, economic, diplomatic. And as I explained yesterday, the reason that I'm not going to get into those specifics is, to say from this podium what we're asking somebody to do to help us would give information to those who want to hurt us -- they could change their habits, they could change their behavior, they could change the way they do things if they knew what we were specifically going after. So, of course, I can't answer that in specificity.
Q You're including military needs, you're including military, political, financial and so on?
MR. FLEISCHER: I just answered that in the affirmative.
Q What is the White House position on the Justice Department's proposal to the Hill on counterterrorism and changing the laws? And I understand people on the Hill are waiting to get word from the White House on whether or not they support it, and are just waiting to hear from you guys.
MR. FLEISCHER: As I indicated yesterday, the President supports Attorney General Ashcroft's efforts in this matter. He's briefing, as a matter of fact, as we speak, and so you'll be able to get additional information from the General.
Thank you. Thank you.
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