Remarks by the President to the Travel Pool

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary November 26, 2004

Remarks by the President to the Travel Pool Coffee Station Crawford, Texas 12:30 P.M. CST

THE PRESIDENT: I just had a great Thanksgiving with our daughters and my mother and dad and my mother-in-law. It's good to be back in Texas. I wish the Crawford Pirates all the best in their state playoff football game tonight. I know you agree with me. I'll take a couple of questions.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. If I could ask you about a couple news developments today. Seventeen political parties in Iraq demanded postponement of the January 30th elections for at least six months. I wonder about your reaction to that. And there's a tentative deal on Iran's nuclear weapons, but I wonder whether you think Iran should be trusted given their history.

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I appreciate the nations of Great Britain and Germany and France who are working to try to convince Iran to honor their international treaty obligations. And the only good deal is one that's verifiable. And I look forward to talking to the leaders of those countries, if they can get Iran to agree to a deal, to make sure that it's verifiable. I know that the Prime Minister of Great Britain wants a verifiable deal because I've talked to him personally about it.

In terms of Iraq, the Iraq election commission has scheduled elections in January, and I would hope they would go forward in January.

Q Mr. President, what are the consequences if Ukraine does not comply with international pressure and demands on the elections? And do you think that President Putin overstepped his bounds?

THE PRESIDENT: There's just a lot of allegations of vote fraud that placed their election -- the validity of their elections in doubt. The international community is watching very carefully. People are paying very close attention to this, and hopefully it will be resolved in a way that brings credit and confidence to the Ukrainian government.

Yes.

Q Mr. President --

THE PRESIDENT: Identify yourself, please.

Q I'm with Bloomberg News. I'm Jay Newton-Small.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, welcome.

Q Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Do you know Scott? (Laughter.)

Q Very well.

Q We ride in a lot of vans together.

THE PRESIDENT: You might ask him why he didn't shave. But go ahead.

THE PRESS: Awww .

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I was just curious. (Laughter.)

Q Don't ask me.

THE PRESIDENT: It looks like it's contagious, as a matter of fact.

Q Left the razor at home.

THE PRESIDENT: Please, sorry to interrupt.

Q Today the World Trade Organization finalized or approved sanctions the European Union will have against the United States, $150 million worth of sanctions for the Byrd amendment. Do you have any comments on that?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we've worked hard to comply with the WTO. I think it's important that all nations comply with WTO rulings. I'll work with Congress to get into compliance. As you might remember, we worked on the FISC/ETI bill because of the WTO ruling. We expect the WTO, as well, to treat our trading partners as they treat us. And that's why, for example, I filed complaint on the Airbus situation. We believe that the subsidies for Airbus are unfair for U.S. companies, such as Boeing.

Yes, Mark, hi.

THE PRESIDENT: Hi. Sir, you said you're going to sign the big OMNIBUS appropriations bill, but are you bothered by all the examples of pork-barrel spending that are in that bill?

THE PRESIDENT: Mark, it's -- first, the bill conforms to the budget that I worked out with the Congress, and I appreciate that. In other words, the size of the bill is a number that we agreed to early on -- earlier this year. And I appreciate that, because part of making sure we cut the deficit in half is to work together on the overall size of our spending bills.

Now, secondly, obviously, there's going to be things in these big bills that I don't particularly care for, and that's why I've asked Congress to give me a line-item veto. And the only way a President can affect that which is inside the bill, other than vetoing the entire bill, is to be able to pick out parts of a bill and express displeasure about it through a line-item veto. I hope the Congress will give me a line-item veto.

Listen, it's great to see everybody.

Q Anything on Northern Ireland?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I talked to -- evidently the word's out that I made a phone call this morning, and I did so. And I was just trying to be a part of the process of getting both Ian Paisley's group -- Dr. Paisley's group and Gerry Adams' group to the table, to get a deal done.

Q To get --

THE PRESIDENT: To get a deal done. In other words, to close the agreement that they've been working on for quite a while. Hopefully it will help. Of course the primary movers are Prime Minister Blair and Bertie Ahern of Ireland, who have been working very diligently on this. I appreciate their efforts, and anything I can do to help keep the process moving forward, I'm more than willing to do so.

Listen, I've got to go eat a burger. Thank you all.

END 12:35 P.M. CST

Memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary November 23, 2004

SUBJECT: Strengthening Central Intelligence Agency Capabilities

The Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States recommended:

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director should emphasize (a)rebuilding the CIA's analytic capabilities; (b) transforming the clandestine service by building its human intelligence capabilities; (c) developing a stronger language program, with high standards and sufficient financial incentives; (d) renewing emphasis on recruiting diversity among operations officers so they can blend more easily in foreign cities; (e) ensuring a seamless relationship between human source collection and signals collection at the operational level; and (f) stressing a better balance between unilateral and liaison operations.

I approve and direct you to implement these recommendations, recognizing that significant progress has already been made in rebuilding the CIA's capabilities under the Strengthening Intelligence Initiative and the Director of Central Intelligence's (DCI) Strategic Direction, especially with respect to all-source analysis, clandestine operations, information sharing, and foreign languages.

Working within the framework established by the Strengthening Intelligence Initiative, I direct you to implement within the CIA measures to:

(1) Further strengthen the core capabilities of the CIA to meet the intelligence challenges presented by international terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and other critical national security issues, including, but not limited to, its capabilities to:

(a) Perform all-source intelligence analysis that, among other qualities, routinely considers, and presents to national security policymakers, diverse views;
(b) Conduct clandestine collection operations involving human sources and technical methods unilaterally, with other elements of the Intelligence Community, and with foreign partners, and conduct covert action operations as directed by the President;
(c) Share information rapidly and proactively with other agencies of the United States Government, including specifically those responsible for national security and homeland security, while protecting the sources and methods of its collection from unauthorized disclosure, giving top priority to support of governmental actions to detect, prevent, preempt, and disrupt terrorist threats and attacks on the United States, its people, and its allies and interests around the globe; and
(d) Collect, process, analyze, and disseminate intelligence information using personnel proficient in foreign languages, and develop information technology tools to assist in effective processing and use of foreign language information.

2) Ensure that the CIA processes, shares, and disseminates to the President, Vice President in the performance of Executive functions, and other appropriate officials in the executive branch, including the heads of depart-ments and agencies with elements in the Intelligence Community, terrorism information and other information relevant to national security and homeland security including as directed by Executive Order 13356 of August 27, 2004, entitled "Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism Information to Protect Americans."

Building on levels attained under the DCI's Strategic Direction I, measures implemented in accordance with the foregoing shall include, but not be limited to, actions to:

(1) Strengthen CIA intelligence analysis capabilities substantially and promptly through actions to:

(a) Increase, as soon as feasible, the number of fully qualified, all-source analysts by 50 percent;
(b) Assign fully qualified, all-source analysts in a manner that strengthens CIA and Intelligence Community analytical capabilities focused on terrorism, pro-liferation of WMD, the Near East and South Asia, and other key strategic areas in Asia, while maintaining substantial analytical capabilities focused on other issues and regions;
(c) Increase investment in development of their analytic expertise, field experience, and training in advanced analytical methods, including for geospatial analysis; and
(d) Continue to acquire and develop tools that enable analysts to connect to counterparts inside and outside of government, increase the speed of the analytic workflow, and deal with the rapidly increasing volume of all-source information.

(2) Strengthen CIA human intelligence operations capabilities substantially and promptly through actions to:

(a) Increase, as soon as feasible, the number of fully qualified officers in the Directorate of Operations by 50 percent;
(b) Ensure that a majority of these officers are collectors drawn from diverse backgrounds with the skills, experience, and training needed for the effective conduct of human intelligence operations;
(c) Assign substantial numbers of these officers to collection missions reflecting the priorities established through the National Intelligence Priorities Framework; and
(d) Integrate effectively, as appropriate to particular collection activities, human intelligence collection capabilities and signals and other technical intelligence collection capabilities.

(3) Improve the foreign language capabilities of the CIA through actions to:

(a) Increase, as soon as feasible, the number of CIA officers tested and proficient in mission-critical languages by 50 percent; and
(b) Develop and employ information technology tools to assist in processing and use of information in foreign languages.

(4) Fully implement directives concerning information sharing, information technology, information privacy, and security including Executive Order 13354 of August 27, 2004, entitled "National Counterterrorism Center" and Executive Order 13356.

(5) Double, as soon as feasible, the number of officers who are engaged in research and development to find new ways to bring science to bear in the war on terrorism, countering the proliferation of WMD, and against new and emerging threats.

I direct you to submit to me within 90 days from the date of this memorandum, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, a detailed budget and implementation plan, including performance measures, with timelines for achievement of specific, measurable goals. In addition to the capabilities enumerated above, this plan shall also include a description, with appropriate performance measures, of steps underway at the CIA to develop and implement new collection strategies against difficult targets, to integrate human and technical collection tools, to assure appropriate access by analysts to information on the sources of critical intelligence reporting, to expand relationships with experts outside of government and otherwise ensure diverse views are routinely reflected in finished intelligence products. A copy of this plan will be provided to the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, which will advise me on the adequacy of the plan, especially with respect to countering the threat posed by WMD. Beginning in June 2005, I direct you to report to me at least semi-annually, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, on progress made implementing this memorandum.

This memorandum shall be implemented subject to the availability of appropriations and in a manner consistent with applicable law, including the Constitution and laws protecting the freedom and information privacy of Americans.

GEORGE W. BUSH # # #

UNCLASSIFIED STATEMENT BY STEPHEN A. CAMBONE UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR INTELLIGENCE BEFORE THE HOUSE PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE AUGUST 18, 2004