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Skriven 2005-03-31 23:33:12 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (050331) for Thu, 2005 Mar 31
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President Discusses Schiavo, WMD Commission Report
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 31, 2005

President Discusses Schiavo, WMD Commission Report
Room 450
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building

President's Remarks
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˙˙˙˙˙WMD Commission Report

11:31 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Today millions of Americans are saddened by the death of
Terri Schiavo. Laura and I extend our condolences to Terri Schiavo's
families. I appreciate the example of grace and dignity they have displayed
at a difficult time. I urge all those who honor Terri Schiavo to continue
to work to build a culture of life, where all Americans are welcomed and
valued and protected, especially those who live at the mercy of others. The
essence of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak.
In cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption
should be in the favor of life.

The most solemn duty of the American President is to protect the American
people. Since September the 11th, 2001, we've taken bold and vigorous steps
to prevent further attacks and overcome emerging threats. We face a new and
different kind of enemy. The threats today are unprecedented. The lives of
our citizens are at stake. To protect them, we need the best intelligence
possible, and we must stay ahead of constantly changing intelligence
challenges.

So last year I issued an executive order creating an independent commission
to look at America's intelligence capabilities, especially our intelligence
about weapons of mass destruction. I asked two fine Americans to chair this
commission, Judge Laurence Silberman and former Senator Chuck Robb. They
have done an excellent job. I appreciate your service to our country.

I also want to thank the other members of the commission -- Senator John
McCain, Rick Levin, Harry Rowen, Walt Slocombe, Bill Studeman, Judge
Patricia Wald, Chuck Vest and Lloyd Cutler. I want to thank them for their
hard work. They spent a lot of time on this project. I asked these
distinguished individuals to give me an unvarnished look at our
intelligence community, and they have delivered.

This morning the commission presented me with their recommendations, which
are thoughtful and extremely significant. The central conclusion is one
that I share: America's intelligence community needs fundamental change to
enable us to successfully confront the threats of the 21st century.

My administration has taken steps consistent with the commission's
recommendations. In February, I named John Negroponte the first Director of
National Intelligence, a post that was created to help ensure that our
intelligence community works as a single, unified enterprise. It's
important for Congress to move quickly on John's confirmation, because
he'll have a key role in the continued reform and restructuring of
intelligence capabilities.

Today I've directed Homeland Secretary advisor Fran Townsend to oversee the
interagency process, to review the commission's findings, and to ensure
that concrete action is taken. The commission report delivers a sharp
critique of the way intelligence has been collected and analyzed against
some of the most different intelligence targets, especially Iraq.

To win the war on terror, we will correct what needs to be fixed, and build
on what the commission calls solid intelligence successes. These include
the uncovering of Libya's nuclear and missile programs. In Pakistan, our
intelligence helped expose and shut down the world's most dangerous nuclear
proliferation network. Where we have had success, the commission reports we
have seen innovative collection techniques and a fusion of interagency
intelligence capabilities. We must work to replicate these successes in
other areas.

The men and women of our intelligence community work hard. And the
sacrifices they have made have helped protect America, and our nation is
grateful for their hard work. The work they're doing is critical. We need
to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on the weapons of mass
murder they would like to use against our citizens.

The work of our intelligence community is extremely difficult work. Every
day, dangerous regimes are working to prevent us from uncovering their
programs and their possible relationships with terrorists. And the work our
intelligence men and women do is, by nature, secret, which is why the
American people never hear about many of their successes. I'm proud of the
efforts of our intelligence workers and I'm proud of their commitment to
the security of our country, and the American people should be proud, too.

And that's why this report is important. It will enable these fine men and
women to do their jobs in better fashion, to be able to more likely
accomplish their mission, which is to protect the American people, and
that's why I'm grateful to the commission for this hard work.

The President and his national security team must have intelligence that is
timely and intelligence that is accurate. In their report today, the
commission points out that America needs to know much more about the
weapons programs and intentions of our most dangerous adversaries. They
have given us useful and important guidance that will help us transform our
intelligence capabilities for the needs of a dangerous new century.

In other words, we need to adjust. We need to understand the threats and
adjust our capabilities to meet those threats. We will work to give our
intelligence professionals the tools they need. Our collection and analysis
of intelligence will never be perfect, but in an age where our margin for
error is getting smaller, in an age in which we are at war, the
consequences of underestimating a threat could be tens of thousands of
innocent lives. And my administration will continue to make intelligence
reforms that will allow us to identify threats before they fully emerge so
we can take effective action to protect the American people.

I'm grateful for your hard work, and now the chairman of the commission and
the co-chairman of the commission have agreed to answer your questions.
Thank you, sir.

END 11:38 A.M. EST

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