[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 23 (Monday, June 13, 2005)]
[Pages 964-968]
[Online from the Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Remarks on the PATRIOT Act in Columbus, Ohio
June 9, 2005
Thank you all very much. Thank you. Please be seated. Thanks for the
warm welcome. It's great to be back in Columbus, Ohio. I remind people
that my grandfather was raised here in Columbus, Ohio. One time I
reminded people when I was in Columbus that my grandfather was raised
here, my dad's dad--my mother called me; she said, ``Why didn't you tell
them my father was raised in Dayton?'' [Laughter] I said, ``From this
point forward I will, Mother.'' [Laughter] My dad's dad was raised in
Columbus, and my mother's dad was raised in Dayton. [Laughter] It's nice
to be back.
I want to thank you all for letting me come by the Ohio State
Highway Patrol Academy. I appreciate what you do here. I appreciate the
hard work that you put forth in order to train men and women to be on
the frontline of serving our communities and our country. I appreciate
the fact that these are tough times for those who wear the uniform. But
you've got to understand that the men and women who wear the badge of
peace--the peacekeepers, the people on the frontlines of keeping our
community safe--have got the gratitude of the American people. On behalf
of a grateful nation, thank you for what you do.
And I appreciate my friend Attorney General Al Gonzales joining me
today. Thanks for coming over to introduce me. Get back to work.
[Laughter]
I want to thank Governor Taft joining us. Governor, I appreciate you
being here.
I want to thank Senator Mike DeWine for joining us today. Proud
you're here, Senator. Congressman Pat Tiberi--this is his district--
Congressman, I appreciate you coming. He said, by the way, ``Ohio State
is in my district.'' He said, ``You tell those Texas Longhorns''--
[laughter]--I'm not going to tell them what you said. [Laughter] I
appreciate Congressman Dave Hobson joining us as well.
I want to thank the State attorney general, Jim Petro, for joining
us; U.S. Attorney Greg Lockhart. I want to thank Director Ken Morckel
for joining us today. Thank you,
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Ken, for being here. Paul McClellan, State and local officials, most of
all, people who wear the uniform, I'm proud you're here.
Today when I landed at the airport, I met Dianne Garrett, who is
with us today. Dianne has been a volunteer with the Whitehall Citizens
Police Academy Alumni Association for 8 years. She represents thousands
of people across our country who are working hand in glove with their
local law enforcement to make the police stations work better. She's a
part of the citizen corps. She's a part of the emergency response team
in Whitehall community.
The reason I bring up people like Dianne is it's important for us to
always remember that the great strength of America lies in the hearts
and souls of our citizens. The true strength of this country lies in the
hearts of those who are willing to help volunteer to make our
communities a more compassionate, decent, and safe place. If you want to
serve Ohio, if you want to serve America, help feed the hungry, find
shelter for the homeless, volunteer to help our law enforcement do their
job. Love a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself, and
you're making a big contribution to America. Dianne, thank you for
coming. Go ahead and stand up.
My most solemn duty as the President is to protect the American
people. And I'm honored to share that responsibility with you. We have a
joint responsibility. As sworn officers of the law, you're devoted to
defending your fellow citizens. Your vigilance is keeping our
communities safe, and you're serving on the frontlines of the war on
terror. It's a different kind of war than a war our Nation was used to.
You know firsthand the nature of the enemy. We face brutal men who
celebrate murder, who incite suicide, and who would stop at nothing to
destroy the liberties we cherish. You know that these enemies cannot be
deterred by negotiations or concessions or appeals to reason. In this
war, there's only one option, and that option is victory.
Since September the 11th, 2001, we have gone on the offensive
against the terrorists. We have dealt the enemy a series of powerful
blows. The terrorists are on the run, and we'll keep them on the run.
Yet they're still active; they're still seeking to do us harm. The
terrorists are patient and determined, and so are we. They're hoping
we'll get complacent and forget our responsibilities. Once again,
they're proving that they don't understand our Nation. The United States
of America will never let down its guard.
It's a long war, and we have a comprehensive strategy to win it.
We're taking the fight to the terrorists abroad so we don't have to face
them here at home. We're denying our enemies sanctuary by making it
clear that America will not tolerate regimes that harbor or support
terrorists. We're stopping the terrorists from achieving ideological
victories they seek by spreading hope and freedom and reform across the
broader Middle East. By advancing the cause of liberty, we'll lay the
foundations for peace for generations to come.
And one of the great honors as the President is to be the Commander
in Chief of a fantastic United States military, made fantastic by the
quality and the character of the men and women who wear the uniform.
Thank you for serving.
As we wage the war on terror overseas, we'll remember where the war
began, right here on American soil. In our free and open society, there
is no such thing as perfect security. To protect our country, we have to
be right 100 percent of the time. To hurt us, the terrorists have to be
right only once. So we're working to answer that challenge every day,
and we're making good progress toward securing the homeland.
We've enhanced security at coastlines and borders and ports of
entry, and we have more work to do. We've strengthened protections at
our airports and chemical plants and highways and bridges and tunnels.
And we got more work to do. We've made terrorism the top priority for
law enforcement, and we've provided unprecedented resources to help
folks like yourselves do their jobs.
Since 2001, we've more than tripled spending on homeland security;
we've increased funding more than tenfold for the first-responders who
protect our homeland. Law enforcement officers stand between our people
and great danger, and we're making sure you have the tools necessary to
do your job.
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We've also improved our ability to track terrorists inside the
United States. A vital part of that effort is called the USA PATRIOT
Act. The PATRIOT Act closed dangerous gaps in America's law enforcement
and intelligence capabilities, gaps the terrorists exploited when they
attacked us on September the 11th. Both Houses of Congress passed the
PATRIOT Act by overwhelming bipartisan majorities. Ninety-eight out of
100 United States Senators voted for the act. That's what we call
bipartisanship. The PATRIOT Act was the clear, considered response of a
nation at war, and I was proud to sign that piece of legislation.
Over the past 3\1/2\ years, America's law enforcement and
intelligence personnel have proved that the PATRIOT Act works, that it
was an important piece of legislation. Since September the 11th, Federal
terrorism investigations have resulted in charges against more than 400
suspects, and more than half of those charged have been convicted.
Federal, State, and local law enforcement have used the PATRIOT Act to
break up terror cells in New York and Oregon and Virginia and in
Florida. We prosecuted terrorist operatives and supporters in
California, in Texas, in New Jersey, in Illinois, and North Carolina and
Ohio. These efforts have not always made the headlines, but they've made
communities safer. The PATRIOT Act has accomplished exactly what it was
designed to do: It has protected American liberty and saved American
lives.
The problem is, at the end of this year, 16 critical provisions of
the PATRIOT Act are scheduled to expire. Some people call these ``sunset
provisions.'' That's a good name, because letting that--those provisions
expire would leave law enforcement in the dark. All 16 provisions are
practical, important, and they are constitutional. Congress needs to
renew them all, and this time, Congress needs to make the provisions
permanent.
We need to renew the PATRIOT Act because it strengthens our national
security in four important ways. First, we need to renew the critical
provisions of the PATRIOT Act that authorize better sharing of
information between law enforcement and intelligence. Before the PATRIOT
Act, criminal investigators were separated from intelligence officers by
a legal and bureaucratic wall. A Federal prosecutor who investigated
Usama bin Laden in the 1990s explained the challenge this way: ``We
could talk to citizens, local police officers, foreign police officers;
we could even talk to Al Qaida members. But there was one group of
people we were not permitted to talk to the FBI agents across the street
from us assigned to parallel intelligence investigations of Usama Bin
Laden and Al Qaida. That was a wall.''
Finding our enemies in the war on terror is tough enough; law
enforcement officers should not be denied vital information their own
colleagues already have. The PATRIOT Act helped tear down this wall, and
now law enforcement and intelligence officers are sharing information
and working together and bringing terrorists to justice.
In many terrorism cases, information sharing has made the difference
between success and failure. And you have an example right here in
Columbus, Ohio. Two years ago, a truck driver was charged with providing
support to Al Qaida. His capture came after an investigation that relied
on the PATRIOT Act and on contributions from more than a dozen agencies
in the Southern Ohio Joint Terrorism Task Force. And members of that
task force are with us today. I want to thank you for your contribution
to the safety of America, and you'll understand this story I'm about to
tell.
For several years, Iman Farris posed as a law-abiding resident of
Columbus. But in 2000, he traveled to Afghanistan and met Usama bin
Laden at an Al Qaida training camp. Farris helped the terrorists
research airplanes and handle cash and purchase supplies. In 2002, he
met Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September the 11th
attacks, and he agreed to take part in an Al Qaida plot to destroy a New
York City bridge.
After Farris returned to the United States, Federal investigators
used the PATRIOT Act to follow his trail. They used new information-
sharing provisions to piece together details about his time in
Afghanistan and his plan to launch an attack on the United States. They
used the PATRIOT Act to discover that Farris had cased possible targets
in New York
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and that he'd reported his findings to Al Qaida. In the spring of 2003,
the FBI confronted Farris and presented the case they had built against
him. The case against him was so strong that Farris chose to cooperate,
and he spent the next several weeks telling authorities about his Al
Qaida association. Farris pled guilty to the charges against him. And
today, instead of planning terror attacks against the American people,
Iman Farris is sitting in an American prison.
The agents and prosecutors who used the PATRIOT Act to put Farris
behind bars did superb work, and they know what a difference information
sharing made. Here is what one FBI agent said--he said, ``The Farris
case would not have happened without sharing information.'' That
information sharing was made possible by the PATRIOT Act. Another
investigator on the case said, ``We never would have had the lead to
begin with.'' You have proved that good teamwork is critical in
protecting America. For the sake of our national security, Congress must
not rebuild a wall between law enforcement and intelligence.
Second, we need to renew the critical provisions of the PATRIOT Act
that allow investigators to use the same tools against terrorists that
they already use against other criminals. Before the PATRIOT Act, it was
easier to track the phone contacts of a drug dealer than the phone
contacts of an enemy operative. Before the PATRIOT Act, it was easier to
get the credit card receipts of a tax cheat than an Al Qaida bankroller.
Before the PATRIOT Act, agents could use wiretaps to investigate a
person committing mail fraud but not to investigate a foreign terrorist.
The PATRIOT Act corrected all these pointless double standards, and
America is safer as a result.
One tool that has been especially important to law enforcement is
called a roving wiretap. Roving wiretaps allow investigators to follow
suspects who frequently change their means of communications. These
wiretaps must be approved by a judge, and they have been used for years
to catch drug dealers and other criminals. Yet, before the PATRIOT Act,
agents investigating terrorists had to get a separate authorization for
each phone they wanted to tap. That means terrorists could elude law
enforcement by simply purchasing a new cell phone. The PATRIOT Act fixed
the problem by allowing terrorism investigators to use the same wiretaps
that were already being using against drug kingpins and mob bosses. The
theory here is straightforward: If we have good tools to fight street
crime and fraud, law enforcement should have the same tools to fight
terrorism.
Third, we need to renew the critical provisions of the PATRIOT Act
that updated the law to meet high-tech threats like computer espionage
and cyberterrorism. Before the PATRIOT Act, Internet providers who
notified Federal authorities about threatening e-mails ran the risk of
getting sued. The PATRIOT Act modernized the law to protect Internet
companies who voluntarily disclose information to save lives.
It's commonsense reform, and it's delivered results. In April 2004,
a man sent an e-mail to an Islamic center in El Paso and threatened to
burn the mosque to the ground in 3 days. Before the PATRIOT Act, the FBI
could have spent a week or more waiting for the information they needed.
Thanks to the PATRIOT Act, an Internet provider was able to provide the
information quickly and without fear of a lawsuit, and the FBI arrested
the man before he could fulfill his threat.
Terrorists are using every advantage they can to inflict harm.
Terrorists are using every advantage of 21st century technology, and
Congress needs to ensure that our law enforcement can use that same
advantage as well.
Finally, we need to renew the critical provisions of the PATRIOT Act
that protect our civil liberties. The PATRIOT Act was written with clear
safeguards to ensure the law is applied fairly. The judicial branch has
a strong oversight role. Law enforcement officers need a Federal judge's
permission to wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone, a Federal judge's
permission to track his calls, or a Federal judge's permission to search
his property. Officers must meet strict standards to use any of these
tools, and these standards are fully consistent with the Constitution of
the United States.
Congress also oversees the application of the PATRIOT Act. Congress
has recently created a Federal board to ensure that the
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PATRIOT Act and other laws respect privacy and civil liberties, and I'll
soon name five talented Americans to serve on that board. Attorney
General Gonzales delivers regular reports on the PATRIOT Act to the
House and the Senate. And the Department of Justice has answered
hundreds of questions from Members of Congress. One Senator, Dianne
Feinstein of California, has worked with civil rights groups to monitor
my administration's use of the PATRIOT Act. Here's what she said,
``We've scrubbed the area, and I have no reported abuses.'' Remember
that the next time you hear someone make an unfair criticism of this
important, good law. The PATRIOT Act has not diminished American
liberties; the PATRIOT Act has helped to defend American liberties.
Every day the men and women of law enforcement use the PATRIOT Act
to keep America safe. It's the nature of your job that many of your most
important achievements must remain secret. Americans will always be
grateful for the risks you take and for the determination you bring to
this high calling--you have done your job. Now those of us in Washington
have to do our job. The House and Senate are moving forward with the
process to renew the PATRIOT Act. My message to Congress is clear: The
terrorist threats against us will not expire at the end of the year, and
neither should the protections of the PATRIOT Act.
I want to thank you for letting me come and talk about this
important piece of legislation. I want to thank you for being on the
frontlines of securing this country. May God bless you and your
families, and may God continue to bless our Nation. Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 11:22 a.m. at the Ohio State Highway Patrol
Academy. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio; Kenneth
L. Morckel, director, Ohio Department of Public Safety; Col. Paul D.
McClellan, superintendent, Ohio State Highway Patrol; and Usama bin
Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization.