Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
President Bush Discusses Counterterror Measures
Aired June 10, 2005 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. We want to give you some pictures now of President Bush touring the new National Counterterrorism Center. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Please be seated. Thank you. Thanks for the warm welcome.
It is really exciting to come and spend time in this fine facility and to meet the men and women who work at the National Counterterrorism Center. I just met with some who spend long hours preparing threat assessments. And it was my honor to tell them how much I appreciate their hard work and appreciate the daily briefing I get every single morning.
I want to thank you all for taking on such demanding assignments and important assignments.
My message to the folks here is: Thanks for being on the front line in protecting America during the war on terror.
You know, it's a different kind of war. It's a war that seems like there may be no action taking place, that maybe the enemy is not active. You know, I was concerned after September 11th that the tendency would be to forget the nature of the people with whom you deal on a daily basis.
But I understand that there is an enemy that still lurks, and you know it as well.
And so on behalf of a grateful nation, I want to thank you for working hard to protect America. I want to thank you for your dedication. I want to thank you for your service and sacrifice.
The NCTC plays a key part in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It's a crucial part of making sure that we can say to the American people we're collecting intelligence and information and we're sharing intelligent information across jurisdictional lines to better protect the people and do our most solemn duty, which is to protect America.
And I want to thank Ambassador and Director John Negroponte's leadership on this issue. I want to thank him for his willingness to step forward to serve. And I appreciate his understanding of how important the NCTC is.
BUSH: I also want to thank John Brennan, who has been the acting director of the NCTC.
I can remember first meeting John -- probably seems like a decade ago for him.
(LAUGHTER)
I think it was actually a couple of years ago -- when he first described what this facility would be like. He laid out the vision for what would take place here.
And I want to thank John for his leadership, his dedication to the effort.
It must bring John great comfort, as well as those who've worked with John, to see how this facility has evolved over time. This is a magnificent blend of technology and human talent all working together to break down walls and barriers that had existed prior to September the 11th to better protect the people.
And today, I'm pleased to announce the fact that, upon John Negroponte's recommendation, that we'll nominate Vice Admiral John Redd to be the director of the NCTC.
He's a man of enormous experience. He has served our country with distinction. He'll be a good boss. He'll be a person that'll be able to carry on the tradition of John Brennan.
I appreciate the attorney general traveling with me today. We're not only talking about intelligence sharing, we're talking about how to act upon that intelligence today.
Attorney General Al Gonzales is doing a fine job, as is the director of the FBI, Bob Mueller.
And I also appreciate Porter Goss, who's running the CIA, for joining us today.
I went out to the CIA the other day and I reminded the good folks who worked there that CIA stands for Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA's a vital part in making sure that this country is safe and sound, and a vital part of making sure that my administration and myself get the type of information necessary to make the decisions that we need to make to make the world a more peaceful place. I appreciate Fran Townsend, who's my homeland security adviser. Fran is constantly briefing me on interagency issues and keeping me up to speed about the work you're doing.
Today, we're also joined by federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials who have helped bring terrorists to justice with the help of the Patriot Act.
BUSH: I'll talk about them in a minute.
Thank you all for coming.
The purpose of the NCTC is to make sure our government has the information we need. It's an information-gathering organization. It is all aimed -- all the work here is aimed at keeping America safe.
A lot of Americans have never heard of the NCTC. One of the reasons I came by was hopefully it will help draw attention to the good work you do here, so that the people of this country can be comforted in knowing that 24 hours a day there's some really fine people spending a lot of time doing whatever they can to protect our fellow citizens.
September the 11th showed that protecting America requires that we remove walls between agencies. Here at the NCTC, men and women from different agencies, of different backgrounds, work side by side to share information, to analyze information, to integrate information.
See, prior to the attack, we, kind of, all went about our own merry way. There was some interagency dialogue, but not a lot. And we learned a lesson about having walls between our agencies. And we're tearing those walls down.
And here's a classic example of government functioning better because of people talking to each other. I appreciate the fact that, here, you pool your expertise and your computer systems, all aimed at shining the spotlight on enemies who think they can hide in the shadows of the world.
I appreciate the clear picture that you present. See, by working together, you're able to bring information to a central spot and then present a clear picture to decision-makers.
I also appreciate the fact that you're helping to ensure that federal, state and local law enforcement have the information they need to do their jobs.
BUSH: Thanks to your efforts we're confronting the terrorists every day.
See, the strategy is we'll defeat them before they attack us. We'll face them overseas before we have to face them here at home. And the best way to make sure we do is to have the best possible intelligence.
One of the most important tools to combat terror is the Patriot Act. Congress passed the Patriot Act with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. Over the past three and a half years law enforcement and intelligence officers have proof that the Patriot Act works. It's a good piece of legislation.
The Patriot Act has made a difference for those on the front line of taking the information you have gathered and using it to protect the American people.
At the end of this year, 16 key provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire. In other words, the act that has worked, the act that has delivered good results or given people the tools to deliver results, is now set to expire. That doesn't make any sense to me, that if something's working why should it expire? We need to renew the Patriot Act. We need to renew the Patriot Act because it strengthened our national security. Here are four ways it has strengthened national security.
First, it authorizes law enforcement and intelligence to share vital information. Can you believe our system didn't allow parts of the FBI to share information; for example, if the intelligence group didn't have the piece of information they couldn't share it with the law enforcement people? That didn't make any sense.
So the Patriot Act enabled us to tear down walls.
Secondly, the Patriot Act allows law enforcement to use the same tools against terrorists that they already use against criminals like drug dealers and mob bosses. It seems to make sense to me. I know it makes sense for the American people that if it's OK to use a certain tool to track a drug lord we ought to be able to use that same tool to track a terrorist.
BUSH: And that's what the Patriot Act provided our law enforcement with: the ability to react consistently.
Thirdly, the Patriot Act adopts the law to meet high-tech threats like computer espionage and cyber-terrorism. It was a smart thing to put in the Patriot Act new provisions, provisions of law that said, "Wait a minute, the enemy can use the Internet; why shouldn't we be able to counteract that activity by the enemy?"
And finally, the Patriot Act protects the privacy and civil liberties of every American. That's what the American people got to understand: The Patriot Act conforms to our Constitution; that as we fight this war on terror we'll honor our Constitution; as we fight the war on terror, we'll protect the civil liberties of our citizens.
Let me give you some examples of how federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents have used the Patriot Act to get results.
Mike Battle, former U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York, is with us. Mike helped prosecute the Lackawanna 6 terror cell.
See, there was a terror cell existing in the United States of America. And Mike and law enforcement officials there in the summer of 2001 started investigating the Lackawanna 6. But they had to set up two separate investigations: criminal investigation for drug crimes and a separate intelligence investigation for terror activity. And agents from the two investigations did not discuss their findings with each other.
Then Congress passed the Patriot Act, and the two sides started sharing information. See, prior to the Patriot Act parts of the same FBI office couldn't discuss a case with each other.
And as a result of information sharing, the agents discovered that the suspects had attended an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan.
BUSH: Prosecutors used the information to build a convincing case and today all six of the Lackawanna folks are in federal prison.
In other words, the Patriot Act worked.
We got hard-working people in the field, and so we gave the people tools -- simple tools. We said, "Here; this will enable you to better do your job."
You can't ask people on the front line of the war on terror to protect the American people and then not give them the tools necessary to do so.
Carol Lam is with us. She's the U.S. attorney from the Southern District of California.
The information-sharing provisions in the Patriot Act helped Carol and her team connect the dots in an Al Qaeda drugs-for-weapons plot. They put together such a strong case that two defendants admitted their plans to sell drugs for Stinger missiles and then sell those missiles to the Taliban.
They're now in a prison thanks to Carol's good work and thanks to the ability for prosecutors and law enforcement to use the tools of the Patriot Act to better protect the American people.
Rob Spencer is the assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. He worked with Paul McNulty and used information obtained through the Patriot Act to lock up 10 men from the Virginia jihad network. Some of those terrorists trained at camps in Pakistan and hoped to attack American troops in Afghanistan.
Information from the investigation has also helped lead to the prosecutions of terror suspects in Australia and Great Britain. I mean, not only are we sharing information here at home, we're sharing information with our allies, with our coalition partners.
BUSH: See, terrorists are willing to strike at anybody who loves freedom. And our job is to protect free societies: the freest of all societies here at home, and the free societies amongst our coalition partners.
And the Patriot Act has helped to do just that.
Kelly Moore is the assistant U.S. attorney, Eastern District of New York. Kelly used information-sharing provisions in the Patriot Act to build a case against a terrorist bankroller who had boasted about personally handing $20 million to Osama bin Laden.
They also busted another money-raiser who planned to fund Al Qaeda and Hamas. They were extradited to Germany and they were convicted of the charges in March of this year.
This is another example of the use of the Patriot Act to protect our country.
I mean, listen, we've got people who want to support these killers with their money. And part of securing the country is to cut off the flow of money, is to chase the money. By chasing the money we can find facilitators.
These good folks used the Patriot Act to help find the money. And by finding the money, we helped remove a threat to the United States of America.
John Cavanaugh (ph), FBI special agent in Florida -- John used the Patriot Act to help prosecutors pursue a case against three alleged terrorist supporters for funding murders and kidnappings abroad.
Two of them are now in federal custody, and the other is serving time overseas for terrorist activity.
Robert Schumacher (ph), FBI supervisory special agent from Illinois.
BUSH: Robert led the investigation that helped close down a phony charity in Illinois that was channeling money to Al Qaeda.
Robert's efforts combined with the information-sharing authorities in the Patriot Act allowed prosecutors to build a case against the director of that sham organization.
We're not only finding people and bringing them to justice, we're shutting down their sources for money. We're taking away their lifeblood, which is money.
Listen, we're a free society and people come and take advantage of our freedom. And so what we've got to do is use information and intelligence to deny them the capacity to funnel money, in this case, to organizations that want to do harm to the United States and our friends and allies.
I want you to know that the information sharing as a result of the Patriot Act allowed the prosecutors in this case to build a case against the director, and he's now in prison.
We're patient here in America. We're slowly but surely dismantling an organization that wants to do us harm. It doesn't matter how long it takes, we will stay on the offense.
You know, we spend a lot of time here in America protecting our borders and ports and airports, but the best way to secure the country is to stay on the offense -- is to go find them before they can hurt us, and that's exactly what we're doing.
And the Patriot Act has helped us accomplish that objective. The Patriot Act has helped save American lives and has protected American liberty.
For the sake of our national security, the United States Congress needs to renew all the provisions of the Patriot Act and this time, Congress needs to make those provisions permanent.
BUSH: I want to thank you for letting me come by. I appreciate the hard work you do. May God bless you all and your families, and may God continue to bless our country.
Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: President Bush speaking at the nation's new Counterterrorism Center in Washington, which was created as part of the overhaul of the intelligence-gathering situation in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. We will be speaking with National Security Correspondent David Ensor about this much more coming up.
Also, we're following several big events today, including that bus crash in Florida. You see it here in these live pictures. Some two dozen children hurt in that accident.
We'll get an update on that, as well as Tropical Storm Arlene. We will see where she's headed and what she's doing to those in her way.
We'll be back right after this. You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: An update now on a developing story that we've been watching for you this morning, an accident involving an 18-wheeler and a school bus carrying some 25 children. We know at least two dozen of them are suffering from some sort of injuries. Five of them were taken by helicopter to trauma centers nearby.
We'll get an update on this coming up. But right now we want to speak with National Security Correspondent David Ensor about this new Counterterrorism Center, where we just heard the president speak out moments ago.
David, what will this center do, exactly?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, this center was set up -- basically one of the main reactions to the attacks of September 11, to deal with the problem that was very clear, that federal agencies that collected intelligence, either domestically or overseas, simply weren't sharing information with each other. So the NCTC, the National Counterterrorism Center, is designed to gather all that intelligence in one place. And the president went to this state-of-the art facility in the Virginia suburbs today to highlight that work.
There's now a 24-hour a day, seven-days-a-week center there designed to get the information in and make sure it gets back out to the right people, whether that's federal officers at the CIA, or the FBI, or elsewhere, or perhaps state and local agencies. You see there the president at the center. It's apparently -- I haven't seen it yet myself -- these are the first looks the public is getting at this new center. It's apparently very much apparently a state-of-the-art facility.
Now, what he's also talking about at the center, of course, is the Patriot Act and his strong desire that Congress renew all of the Patriot Act and make it a permanent piece of American law. He is calling for it, saying that -- and today he cited in that discussion that we just heard a lot of specific examples, naming the FBI agents and others who are working on the cases, the Lackawanna case and several others, and saying it was specifically the Patriot Act that made these cases possible, that put suspected terrorists behind bars, strongly urging the Congress to renew what is, after all, in some areas, a somewhat controversial piece of American law.
Now, there's also today, Betty, a report out from the Department of Justice concerning the mistakes that were made by the FBI prior to 9/11, opportunities missed.
NGUYEN: I wanted to ask you about that, David, because you talk about this sharing of information at this new center, because this comes on the heels of that report which says there are five areas in which the FBI really didn't look deeper into the situation before the 9/11 attacks, which could have provided some clues.
ENSOR: That's right. This report is -- makes -- makes difficult reading for anyone who cares about American national security.
The report says that the FBI missed five attempts, five opportunities to stop two of the hijackers, to catch them, to find them. And if they'd found those two, they might have found the others.
These were Al-Hazmi and Al-Midhar, the two men who were living in San Diego for quite a period of time and were among those who were on those planes on September 11. Five opportunities missed, according to the report. Five bungled opportunities.
It is raising questions here in some circles here in Washington now about whether it was correct to leave the intelligence-gathering component, the domestic intelligence-gathering component, inside the FBI. And that's going to be an ongoing debate. The FBI has yet to prove that it can do that, as well as the law enforcement side, effectively.
Now, this -- we're seeing here some of the pictures. This is the first picture we're seeing of that state-of-the-art facility at the National Counterterrorism Center, which is out in the Tyson's Corner area of Virginia.
NGUYEN: And it looks very high tech. What kind of bells and whistles are we talking about here?
ENSOR: You know, when I -- when I went to meet John Brennan, who is the acting director right now, at his previous office, which was in the CIA, he showed me that he had more than a dozen different computer terminals all connected into his computer. He had to -- he had them coming in from 11 different places, or more than that, I believe, to make it work. Now the -- I guess, you know, the word is synergy. They've put all those -- those computers into one place, and you're supposed to now be able to at the NCTC look at the information from the FBI, the CIA, from foreign intelligence, from DHS, from all the others, put it together and figure out whether two plus two equals four, and perhaps catch terrorists. That's the goal.
There still are many problems, though, we're told, particularly with the FBI's computer system, which they tried to modernize and weren't able to. They're trying again. So it's a work in progress, Betty, but the president there highlighting what's been done so far.
NGUYEN: And he also highlighted the fact that Vice Admiral John Redd is -- has been named to head up this center. David Ensor, we thank you for your insight.
ENSOR: Thank you.
NGUYEN: The Patriot Act is the focus on Capitol Hill this morning. The House Judiciary Committee is meeting again to discuss extending the anti-terrorism law. Now, lawmakers today are hearing from critics of the post-9/11 act, including Amnesty International.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIP PITTS, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA: With active U.S. encouragement, almost every country around the world now has new anti- terror legislation, often modeled on the U.S. Patriot Act. Abusive of governments globally, including China, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Egypt, Uzbekistan, now cite U.S. actions to justify their own violations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Portions of the Patriot Act are set to expire this year unless Congress reauthorizes them.
We've got a lot more coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY, including that bus crash that we've been showing you pictures of this morning. This is out of Boca Raton, Florida. A bus in a crash with an 18-wheeler, carrying pallets of wood. Some two dozen children injured in this. We'll get a live update on that status coming up.
And Tropical Storm Arlene, where is she? And where is she headed to? We'll have that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 10, 2005 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. We want to give you some pictures now of President Bush touring the new National Counterterrorism Center. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Please be seated. Thank you. Thanks for the warm welcome.
It is really exciting to come and spend time in this fine facility and to meet the men and women who work at the National Counterterrorism Center. I just met with some who spend long hours preparing threat assessments. And it was my honor to tell them how much I appreciate their hard work and appreciate the daily briefing I get every single morning.
I want to thank you all for taking on such demanding assignments and important assignments.
My message to the folks here is: Thanks for being on the front line in protecting America during the war on terror.
You know, it's a different kind of war. It's a war that seems like there may be no action taking place, that maybe the enemy is not active. You know, I was concerned after September 11th that the tendency would be to forget the nature of the people with whom you deal on a daily basis.
But I understand that there is an enemy that still lurks, and you know it as well.
And so on behalf of a grateful nation, I want to thank you for working hard to protect America. I want to thank you for your dedication. I want to thank you for your service and sacrifice.
The NCTC plays a key part in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It's a crucial part of making sure that we can say to the American people we're collecting intelligence and information and we're sharing intelligent information across jurisdictional lines to better protect the people and do our most solemn duty, which is to protect America.
And I want to thank Ambassador and Director John Negroponte's leadership on this issue. I want to thank him for his willingness to step forward to serve. And I appreciate his understanding of how important the NCTC is.
BUSH: I also want to thank John Brennan, who has been the acting director of the NCTC.
I can remember first meeting John -- probably seems like a decade ago for him.
(LAUGHTER)
I think it was actually a couple of years ago -- when he first described what this facility would be like. He laid out the vision for what would take place here.
And I want to thank John for his leadership, his dedication to the effort.
It must bring John great comfort, as well as those who've worked with John, to see how this facility has evolved over time. This is a magnificent blend of technology and human talent all working together to break down walls and barriers that had existed prior to September the 11th to better protect the people.
And today, I'm pleased to announce the fact that, upon John Negroponte's recommendation, that we'll nominate Vice Admiral John Redd to be the director of the NCTC.
He's a man of enormous experience. He has served our country with distinction. He'll be a good boss. He'll be a person that'll be able to carry on the tradition of John Brennan.
I appreciate the attorney general traveling with me today. We're not only talking about intelligence sharing, we're talking about how to act upon that intelligence today.
Attorney General Al Gonzales is doing a fine job, as is the director of the FBI, Bob Mueller.
And I also appreciate Porter Goss, who's running the CIA, for joining us today.
I went out to the CIA the other day and I reminded the good folks who worked there that CIA stands for Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA's a vital part in making sure that this country is safe and sound, and a vital part of making sure that my administration and myself get the type of information necessary to make the decisions that we need to make to make the world a more peaceful place. I appreciate Fran Townsend, who's my homeland security adviser. Fran is constantly briefing me on interagency issues and keeping me up to speed about the work you're doing.
Today, we're also joined by federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials who have helped bring terrorists to justice with the help of the Patriot Act.
BUSH: I'll talk about them in a minute.
Thank you all for coming.
The purpose of the NCTC is to make sure our government has the information we need. It's an information-gathering organization. It is all aimed -- all the work here is aimed at keeping America safe.
A lot of Americans have never heard of the NCTC. One of the reasons I came by was hopefully it will help draw attention to the good work you do here, so that the people of this country can be comforted in knowing that 24 hours a day there's some really fine people spending a lot of time doing whatever they can to protect our fellow citizens.
September the 11th showed that protecting America requires that we remove walls between agencies. Here at the NCTC, men and women from different agencies, of different backgrounds, work side by side to share information, to analyze information, to integrate information.
See, prior to the attack, we, kind of, all went about our own merry way. There was some interagency dialogue, but not a lot. And we learned a lesson about having walls between our agencies. And we're tearing those walls down.
And here's a classic example of government functioning better because of people talking to each other. I appreciate the fact that, here, you pool your expertise and your computer systems, all aimed at shining the spotlight on enemies who think they can hide in the shadows of the world.
I appreciate the clear picture that you present. See, by working together, you're able to bring information to a central spot and then present a clear picture to decision-makers.
I also appreciate the fact that you're helping to ensure that federal, state and local law enforcement have the information they need to do their jobs.
BUSH: Thanks to your efforts we're confronting the terrorists every day.
See, the strategy is we'll defeat them before they attack us. We'll face them overseas before we have to face them here at home. And the best way to make sure we do is to have the best possible intelligence.
One of the most important tools to combat terror is the Patriot Act. Congress passed the Patriot Act with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. Over the past three and a half years law enforcement and intelligence officers have proof that the Patriot Act works. It's a good piece of legislation.
The Patriot Act has made a difference for those on the front line of taking the information you have gathered and using it to protect the American people.
At the end of this year, 16 key provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire. In other words, the act that has worked, the act that has delivered good results or given people the tools to deliver results, is now set to expire. That doesn't make any sense to me, that if something's working why should it expire? We need to renew the Patriot Act. We need to renew the Patriot Act because it strengthened our national security. Here are four ways it has strengthened national security.
First, it authorizes law enforcement and intelligence to share vital information. Can you believe our system didn't allow parts of the FBI to share information; for example, if the intelligence group didn't have the piece of information they couldn't share it with the law enforcement people? That didn't make any sense.
So the Patriot Act enabled us to tear down walls.
Secondly, the Patriot Act allows law enforcement to use the same tools against terrorists that they already use against criminals like drug dealers and mob bosses. It seems to make sense to me. I know it makes sense for the American people that if it's OK to use a certain tool to track a drug lord we ought to be able to use that same tool to track a terrorist.
BUSH: And that's what the Patriot Act provided our law enforcement with: the ability to react consistently.
Thirdly, the Patriot Act adopts the law to meet high-tech threats like computer espionage and cyber-terrorism. It was a smart thing to put in the Patriot Act new provisions, provisions of law that said, "Wait a minute, the enemy can use the Internet; why shouldn't we be able to counteract that activity by the enemy?"
And finally, the Patriot Act protects the privacy and civil liberties of every American. That's what the American people got to understand: The Patriot Act conforms to our Constitution; that as we fight this war on terror we'll honor our Constitution; as we fight the war on terror, we'll protect the civil liberties of our citizens.
Let me give you some examples of how federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents have used the Patriot Act to get results.
Mike Battle, former U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York, is with us. Mike helped prosecute the Lackawanna 6 terror cell.
See, there was a terror cell existing in the United States of America. And Mike and law enforcement officials there in the summer of 2001 started investigating the Lackawanna 6. But they had to set up two separate investigations: criminal investigation for drug crimes and a separate intelligence investigation for terror activity. And agents from the two investigations did not discuss their findings with each other.
Then Congress passed the Patriot Act, and the two sides started sharing information. See, prior to the Patriot Act parts of the same FBI office couldn't discuss a case with each other.
And as a result of information sharing, the agents discovered that the suspects had attended an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan.
BUSH: Prosecutors used the information to build a convincing case and today all six of the Lackawanna folks are in federal prison.
In other words, the Patriot Act worked.
We got hard-working people in the field, and so we gave the people tools -- simple tools. We said, "Here; this will enable you to better do your job."
You can't ask people on the front line of the war on terror to protect the American people and then not give them the tools necessary to do so.
Carol Lam is with us. She's the U.S. attorney from the Southern District of California.
The information-sharing provisions in the Patriot Act helped Carol and her team connect the dots in an Al Qaeda drugs-for-weapons plot. They put together such a strong case that two defendants admitted their plans to sell drugs for Stinger missiles and then sell those missiles to the Taliban.
They're now in a prison thanks to Carol's good work and thanks to the ability for prosecutors and law enforcement to use the tools of the Patriot Act to better protect the American people.
Rob Spencer is the assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. He worked with Paul McNulty and used information obtained through the Patriot Act to lock up 10 men from the Virginia jihad network. Some of those terrorists trained at camps in Pakistan and hoped to attack American troops in Afghanistan.
Information from the investigation has also helped lead to the prosecutions of terror suspects in Australia and Great Britain. I mean, not only are we sharing information here at home, we're sharing information with our allies, with our coalition partners.
BUSH: See, terrorists are willing to strike at anybody who loves freedom. And our job is to protect free societies: the freest of all societies here at home, and the free societies amongst our coalition partners.
And the Patriot Act has helped to do just that.
Kelly Moore is the assistant U.S. attorney, Eastern District of New York. Kelly used information-sharing provisions in the Patriot Act to build a case against a terrorist bankroller who had boasted about personally handing $20 million to Osama bin Laden.
They also busted another money-raiser who planned to fund Al Qaeda and Hamas. They were extradited to Germany and they were convicted of the charges in March of this year.
This is another example of the use of the Patriot Act to protect our country.
I mean, listen, we've got people who want to support these killers with their money. And part of securing the country is to cut off the flow of money, is to chase the money. By chasing the money we can find facilitators.
These good folks used the Patriot Act to help find the money. And by finding the money, we helped remove a threat to the United States of America.
John Cavanaugh (ph), FBI special agent in Florida -- John used the Patriot Act to help prosecutors pursue a case against three alleged terrorist supporters for funding murders and kidnappings abroad.
Two of them are now in federal custody, and the other is serving time overseas for terrorist activity.
Robert Schumacher (ph), FBI supervisory special agent from Illinois.
BUSH: Robert led the investigation that helped close down a phony charity in Illinois that was channeling money to Al Qaeda.
Robert's efforts combined with the information-sharing authorities in the Patriot Act allowed prosecutors to build a case against the director of that sham organization.
We're not only finding people and bringing them to justice, we're shutting down their sources for money. We're taking away their lifeblood, which is money.
Listen, we're a free society and people come and take advantage of our freedom. And so what we've got to do is use information and intelligence to deny them the capacity to funnel money, in this case, to organizations that want to do harm to the United States and our friends and allies.
I want you to know that the information sharing as a result of the Patriot Act allowed the prosecutors in this case to build a case against the director, and he's now in prison.
We're patient here in America. We're slowly but surely dismantling an organization that wants to do us harm. It doesn't matter how long it takes, we will stay on the offense.
You know, we spend a lot of time here in America protecting our borders and ports and airports, but the best way to secure the country is to stay on the offense -- is to go find them before they can hurt us, and that's exactly what we're doing.
And the Patriot Act has helped us accomplish that objective. The Patriot Act has helped save American lives and has protected American liberty.
For the sake of our national security, the United States Congress needs to renew all the provisions of the Patriot Act and this time, Congress needs to make those provisions permanent.
BUSH: I want to thank you for letting me come by. I appreciate the hard work you do. May God bless you all and your families, and may God continue to bless our country.
Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: President Bush speaking at the nation's new Counterterrorism Center in Washington, which was created as part of the overhaul of the intelligence-gathering situation in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. We will be speaking with National Security Correspondent David Ensor about this much more coming up.
Also, we're following several big events today, including that bus crash in Florida. You see it here in these live pictures. Some two dozen children hurt in that accident.
We'll get an update on that, as well as Tropical Storm Arlene. We will see where she's headed and what she's doing to those in her way.
We'll be back right after this. You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: An update now on a developing story that we've been watching for you this morning, an accident involving an 18-wheeler and a school bus carrying some 25 children. We know at least two dozen of them are suffering from some sort of injuries. Five of them were taken by helicopter to trauma centers nearby.
We'll get an update on this coming up. But right now we want to speak with National Security Correspondent David Ensor about this new Counterterrorism Center, where we just heard the president speak out moments ago.
David, what will this center do, exactly?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, this center was set up -- basically one of the main reactions to the attacks of September 11, to deal with the problem that was very clear, that federal agencies that collected intelligence, either domestically or overseas, simply weren't sharing information with each other. So the NCTC, the National Counterterrorism Center, is designed to gather all that intelligence in one place. And the president went to this state-of-the art facility in the Virginia suburbs today to highlight that work.
There's now a 24-hour a day, seven-days-a-week center there designed to get the information in and make sure it gets back out to the right people, whether that's federal officers at the CIA, or the FBI, or elsewhere, or perhaps state and local agencies. You see there the president at the center. It's apparently -- I haven't seen it yet myself -- these are the first looks the public is getting at this new center. It's apparently very much apparently a state-of-the-art facility.
Now, what he's also talking about at the center, of course, is the Patriot Act and his strong desire that Congress renew all of the Patriot Act and make it a permanent piece of American law. He is calling for it, saying that -- and today he cited in that discussion that we just heard a lot of specific examples, naming the FBI agents and others who are working on the cases, the Lackawanna case and several others, and saying it was specifically the Patriot Act that made these cases possible, that put suspected terrorists behind bars, strongly urging the Congress to renew what is, after all, in some areas, a somewhat controversial piece of American law.
Now, there's also today, Betty, a report out from the Department of Justice concerning the mistakes that were made by the FBI prior to 9/11, opportunities missed.
NGUYEN: I wanted to ask you about that, David, because you talk about this sharing of information at this new center, because this comes on the heels of that report which says there are five areas in which the FBI really didn't look deeper into the situation before the 9/11 attacks, which could have provided some clues.
ENSOR: That's right. This report is -- makes -- makes difficult reading for anyone who cares about American national security.
The report says that the FBI missed five attempts, five opportunities to stop two of the hijackers, to catch them, to find them. And if they'd found those two, they might have found the others.
These were Al-Hazmi and Al-Midhar, the two men who were living in San Diego for quite a period of time and were among those who were on those planes on September 11. Five opportunities missed, according to the report. Five bungled opportunities.
It is raising questions here in some circles here in Washington now about whether it was correct to leave the intelligence-gathering component, the domestic intelligence-gathering component, inside the FBI. And that's going to be an ongoing debate. The FBI has yet to prove that it can do that, as well as the law enforcement side, effectively.
Now, this -- we're seeing here some of the pictures. This is the first picture we're seeing of that state-of-the-art facility at the National Counterterrorism Center, which is out in the Tyson's Corner area of Virginia.
NGUYEN: And it looks very high tech. What kind of bells and whistles are we talking about here?
ENSOR: You know, when I -- when I went to meet John Brennan, who is the acting director right now, at his previous office, which was in the CIA, he showed me that he had more than a dozen different computer terminals all connected into his computer. He had to -- he had them coming in from 11 different places, or more than that, I believe, to make it work. Now the -- I guess, you know, the word is synergy. They've put all those -- those computers into one place, and you're supposed to now be able to at the NCTC look at the information from the FBI, the CIA, from foreign intelligence, from DHS, from all the others, put it together and figure out whether two plus two equals four, and perhaps catch terrorists. That's the goal.
There still are many problems, though, we're told, particularly with the FBI's computer system, which they tried to modernize and weren't able to. They're trying again. So it's a work in progress, Betty, but the president there highlighting what's been done so far.
NGUYEN: And he also highlighted the fact that Vice Admiral John Redd is -- has been named to head up this center. David Ensor, we thank you for your insight.
ENSOR: Thank you.
NGUYEN: The Patriot Act is the focus on Capitol Hill this morning. The House Judiciary Committee is meeting again to discuss extending the anti-terrorism law. Now, lawmakers today are hearing from critics of the post-9/11 act, including Amnesty International.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIP PITTS, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA: With active U.S. encouragement, almost every country around the world now has new anti- terror legislation, often modeled on the U.S. Patriot Act. Abusive of governments globally, including China, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Egypt, Uzbekistan, now cite U.S. actions to justify their own violations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Portions of the Patriot Act are set to expire this year unless Congress reauthorizes them.
We've got a lot more coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY, including that bus crash that we've been showing you pictures of this morning. This is out of Boca Raton, Florida. A bus in a crash with an 18-wheeler, carrying pallets of wood. Some two dozen children injured in this. We'll get a live update on that status coming up.
And Tropical Storm Arlene, where is she? And where is she headed to? We'll have that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
