Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Click to Print
this
President George W. Bush
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm honored to visit
the National Defense University. For nearly a century, the scholars
and students here have helped to prepare America for the changing
threats to our national security. Today, the men and women of our
National Defense University are helping to frame the strategies
through which we are fighting and winning the war on terror. Your
Center for Counterproliferation Research and your other institutes
and colleges are providing vital insight into the dangers of a new era.
I want to thank each one of you for devoting your talents and your
energy to the service of our great nation.
On September the 11 th, 2001 , America and the world witnessed a new kind of war. We saw the great harm that a
stateless network could inflict upon our country, killers armed with box cutters, mace, and 1 9 airline tickets. Those
attacks also raised the prospect of even worse dangers -- of other weapons in the hands of other men. The
greatest threat before humanity today is the possibility of secret and sudden attack with chemical or biological or
radiological or nuclear weapons.
In the past, enemies of America required massed armies, and great navies, powerful air forces to put our nation,
our people, our friends and allies at risk. In the Cold War, Americans lived under the threat of weapons of mass
destruction, but believed that deterrents made those weapons a last resort. What has changed in the 21st century
is that, in the hands of terrorists, weapons of mass destruction would be a first resort -- the preferred means to
further their ideology of suicide and random murder. These terrible weapons are becoming easier to acquire,
build, hide, and transport. Armed with a single vial of a biological agent or a single nuclear weapon, small groups
of fanatics, or failing states, could gain the power to threaten great nations, threaten the world peace.
America, and the entire civilized world, will face this threat for
decades to come. We must confront the danger with open eyes, and
unbending purpose. I have made clear to all the policy of this nation:
America will not permit terrorists and dangerous regimes to threaten
us with the world's most deadly weapons. (Applause.)
Click to Print
this
President George W. Bush
Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems constitutes a major threat to
international peace and security. The threat is compounded by the interest of terrorists in acquiring WMD. This
would undermine the foundations of international order. We pledge to use all means available to avert WMD
proliferation and the calamities that would follow.
We will work together to strengthen the international system of treaties and regimes against the spread of WMD.
This implies the development of new regimes, as appropriate, and reinforcement of existing regimes. We will
pursue the goal of universal membership of relevant multilateral treaties and agreements.
We will seek to ensure strict implementation and compliance. We are willing to work with all those who respect
international nonproliferation norms; we are committed to dealing effectively with those who ignore them or cheat.
We recognize that, if necessary, other measures in accordance with international law may be needed to combat
proliferation.
We will work together to deploy our combined political and diplomatic influence most effectively in support of our
nonproliferation objectives.
We will work together to develop further a common assessment of global proliferation threats.
We welcome the statement on nonproliferation by European Union Heads of State and Government at
Thessaloniki and the G8 Declaration of the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. We reaffirm our
joint commitment to relevant treaties and agreements, in particular the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. We will
work together in all areas to stop and reverse proliferation.
In particular:
We will explore ways to make the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Safeguards Agreements and
Additional Protocols a standard for nuclear cooperation and nonproliferation. We urge all States with nuclear
facilities or activities to ratify and implement these Agreements and Protocols without delay. Furthermore, on an
urgent and exceptional basis, taking account of the increase in the Agency's workload in this area, we will support
an adequate increase in the IAEA safeguards budget to ensure the credibility of the IAEA's verification system.
We will strengthen both export controls on materials and technologies related to WMD and their delivery systems
as well as their enforcement and implementation. We believe that national controls should include criminal
penalties for the illegal export, transshipment or brokering of weapons of mass destruction, missile delivery
systems, and materials or technology for use in WMD or missile programs. We will work together with like-minded
partners to tighten export controls, where necessary providing assistance to create and improve effective,
enforceable national export control systems. We agree to introduce catch-all provisions, where appropriate. We
will share information so as to identify new patterns of procurement by State and non-State actors. We will seek
new methods to stop the proliferation trade to and from countries and entities of proliferation concern.
We will work together in the framework of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) to strengthen
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/06/print/20030625-17.html 2/11/2004
Statement of DCI George Tenet Before the Congressional Joint Inquiry on 9/11: October ... Page 1 of 22
17 October 2002
I welcome the opportunity to be here today and to be part of an inquiry that is vital to all Americans. On
September 11 , nearly three thousand innocent lives were taken in brutal acts of terror. For the men and
women of American Intelligence, the grief we feel—the grief we share with so many others—is only
deepened by the knowledge of how hard we tried—without success—to prevent this attack.
It is important for the American people to understand what CIA and the Intelligence Community were
doing to try to prevent the attack that occurred — and to stop attacks, which al-Qa'ida has certainly
planned and remains determined to attempt.
What I want to do this morning, as explicitly as I can, is to describe the war we have waged for years
against al-Qa'ida — the level of effort, the planning, the focus, and the enormous courage and discipline
shown by our officers throughout the world. It is important for the American people to understand how
knowledge of the enemy translated into action around the globe—including the terrorist sanctuary of
Afghanistan—before September 11.
It is important to put our level of effort into context — to understand the tradeoffs in resources and
people, we had to make — the choices we consciously made to ensure that we maintained an aggressive
counterterrorist effort.
We need to understand that in the field of intelligence, long-term erosions of resources cannot be undone
quickly when emergencies arise. And we need to explain the difference that sustained investments in
intelligence—particularly in people—will mean for our country's future.
We need to be honest about the fact that our homeland is very difficult to protect. For strategic warning
to be effective, there must be a dedicated program to address the vulnerabilities of our free and open
society. Successive administrations, commissions, and the Congress have struggled with this.
To me, it is not a question of surrendering liberty for security, but of finding a formula that gives us the
security we need to defend the liberty we treasure. Not simply to defend it in time of peace, but to
preserve it in time of war—a war in which we must be ready to play offense and defense
simultaneously. That is why we must arrive—soon—at a national consensus on Homeland Security.
We need to be honest about our shortcomings, and tell you what we have done to improve our
performance in the future. There have been thousands of actions in this war—an intensely human
endeavor—not all of which were executed flawlessly. We made mistakes.
COMBAT WEAPONS
OF MASS
DESTRUCTION
DECEMBER 2002