Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act

President Signs Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act FULL STREAMING VIDEO

Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium Washington, D.C. President's Remarks 9:59 A.M. EST

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THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. In a few minutes, I will sign into law the most dramatic reform of our nation's intelligence capabilities since President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947.

Under this new law, our vast intelligence enterprise will become more unified, coordinated and effective. It will enable us to better do our duty, which is to protect the American people.

I want to thank the members of Congress who have worked hard on this legislation. I particularly want to thank the leader of the Senate, Bill Frist, Speaker of the House Denny Hastert, and their counterparts in both bodies. I appreciate Senator Susan Collins from Maine and Senator Joe Lieberman from Connecticut for steering this legislation through the United States Senate. I appreciate Congressman Pete Hoekstra and Congresswoman Jane Harman for their leadership on this important issue, as well. Welcome. (Applause.)

I want to thank all the members of Congress who have joined us today for your good work on this legislation. I appreciate the members of my administration who helped, and that would be Director Porter Goss, Director Bob Mueller, Condi Rice and Fran Townsend. I particularly want to thank the 9/11 Commission, ably led by Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton. I want to thank the commission members who are here, as well. (Applause.)

I pay my respects, and offer our gratitude, to the family members of the victims of September the 11th. Thank you for working hard on this issue. Thank you for remembering your loved one.

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Nearly six decades ago, our nation and our allies faced a new -- the new world of the Cold War and the dangers of a new enemy. To defend the free world from an armed empire bent on conquest, visionary leaders created new institutions such as the NATO alliance. The NATO alliance was begun by treaty in this very room. President Truman also implemented a sweeping reorganization of the federal government. He established the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Council.

America, in this new century, again faces new threats. Instead of massed armies, we face stateless networks; we face killers who hide in our own cities. We must confront deadly technologies. To inflict great harm on our country, America's enemies need to be only right once. Our intelligence and law enforcement professionals in our government must be right every single time. Our government is adapting to confront and defeat these threats. We're staying on the offensive against the enemy. We'll take the fight to the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home.

And here at home, we're strengthening our homeland defenses. We created the Department of Homeland Security. We have made the prevention of terror attacks the highest priority of the Department of Justice and the FBI. We'll continue to work with Congress to make sure they've got the resources necessary to do their jobs. We established the National Counterterrorism Center where all the available intelligence on terrorist threats is brought together in one place and where joint action against the terrorists is planned.

We have strengthened the security of our nation's borders and ports of entry and transportation systems. The bill I sign today continues the essential reorganization of our government. Those charged with protecting America must have the best possible intelligence information, and that information must be closely integrated to form the clearest possible picture of the threats to our country.

A key lesson of September the 11th, 2001 is that America's intelligence agencies must work together as a single, unified enterprise. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 creates the position of Director of National Intelligence, or DNI, to be appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate.

The Director will lead a unified intelligence community and will serve as the principle advisor to the President on intelligence matters. The DNI will have the authority to order the collection of new intelligence to ensure the sharing of information among agencies and to establish common standards for the intelligence community's personnel. It will be the DNI's responsibility to determine the annual budgets for all national intelligence agencies and offices and to direct how these funds are spent. These authorities vested in a single official who reports directly to me will make all our intelligence efforts better coordinated, more efficient, and more effective.

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The Director of the CIA will report to the DNI. The CIA will retain its core of responsibilities for collecting human intelligence, analyzing intelligence from all sources, and supporting American interests abroad at the direction of the President.

The new law will preserve the existing chain of command and leave all our intelligence agencies, organizations, and offices in their current departments. Our military commanders will continue to have quick access to the intelligence they need to achieve victory on the battlefield. And the law supports our efforts to ensure greater information sharing among federal departments and agencies, and also with appropriate state and local authorities.

The many reforms in this act have a single goal: to ensure that the people in government responsible for defending America have the best possible information to make the best possible decisions. The men and women of our intelligence community give America their very best every day, and in return we owe them our full support. As we continue to reform and strengthen the intelligence community, we will do all that is necessary to defend its people and the nation we serve.

I'm now pleased and honored to sign into law the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. (Applause.)

(The bill is signed.) (Applause.)

Lawsuit Abuse White House Economy Conference

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary December 15, 2004

President Discusses Lawsuit Abuse at White House Economy Conference Washington, D.C. President's Remarks 1:32 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Listen, thank you all for coming. I've just come off a campaign -- (laughter) -- and spent a great deal of time talking with the American people about how to make sure America is the best place in the world to do business. And there was a lot of discussion in the course of the last couple of months about what's the best philosophy to make sure that jobs are created here, that the entrepreneurial environment is strong, that small businesses can flourish -- but, most importantly, that people find jobs close to home.

And one of the things that I talked about was making sure that the environment for risking capital was conducive for job creation. And I tried to say that as plainly as I could. And one issue that I talked about to make sure that costs were reasonable and that the cost of capital was reasonable was legal reform, that the cost of frivolous lawsuits, in some cases, make it prohibitively expensive for a small business to stay in business or for a doctor to practice medicine -- in which case, it means the health care costs of a job provider or job creator has escalated, or is escalating. I talked about the competitive advantage that we must have in America if we expect jobs to stay here.

The cost of lawsuits, relative to countries that we compete against, are high. In other words, the cost of litigation in America makes it more difficult for us to compete with nations in Europe, for example.

And so I want to thank our panelists for coming today to help add some expertise to this notion that if we can achieve legal reform in America it'll make it a better place for people either to start a business and/or find work.

Now, there's much more to a comprehensive economic expansion program than just legal reform, but a cornerstone of any good program is legal reform. And there's a practical aspect to our discussions today, because I want the people who get to decide whether we're having legal reform to hear from experts -- and that would be members of the House and Senate from both sides of the aisle. I am here to not only thank our panelists, but to make it clear as I possibly can that I intend to take a legislative package to Congress which says we expect the House and the Senate to pass meaningful liability reform on asbestos, on class action and medical liability. (Applause.)

I want to thank -- I want to thank my good friend, Don Evans, who has served so well as the Secretary of Commerce. As you know, he has made the decision to go back to the state of Texas -- I'm glad my departure was delayed by four years. (Laughter.)

SECRETARY EVANS: So am I. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: But I do want to thank him for serving so admirably, and I want to thank you for hosting this event. (Applause.)

FULL TEXT President Discusses Lawsuit Abuse at White House Economy Conference Washington, D.C.