President Bush Delivers Commencement Address at United States Coast Guard Academy
"The men and women of the Coast Guard know how to navigate the storm. We're counting on you to help America weather the challenges that lie ahead. As you begin your Coast Guard careers, you can approach the future with confidence, because our nation has faced dangerous enemies before, and emerged victorious every time. Terrorists can try to kill the innocent, but they cannot kill the desire for liberty that burns in the hearts of millions across the earth. The power of freedom defeated the ideologies of fascism and communism in the last century, and freedom will defeat the hateful ideologies of the terrorists in this century." p>
President George W. Bush May 23, 2007
President Bush Participates in Briefings at U.S. Department of Defense
"I believe that leaders of goodwill can deliver to our troops, and we've got to deliver it soon. Time is running out, because the longer we wait, the more strain we're going to put on the military. All Americans know the goodness and character of the U.S. Armed Forces. They are risking their lives each day to fight our enemies and to keep our people safe. Their families are making tremendous sacrifices on behalf of our country. It's important for the people who wear the uniform and their families to know that as the Commander-in-Chief, I'm proud of the sacrifices they have made, and the American people honor their service to our country."
President George W. Bush May 10, 2007
Fact Sheet: Keeping America Safe From Attack
President Bush Discusses Intelligence Showing The Importance Of Defeating Al Qaeda In Iraq
On May 23, 2007, President Bush Delivered The Commencement Address At The U.S. Coast Guard Academy In New London, Connecticut. The President congratulated graduates and their families, praised the Coast Guard’s excellence in times of disaster and in the War on Terror, and discussed the bold action we have taken at home and abroad to keep the American people safe.He also discussed intelligence regarding the consequences of an al Qaeda victory in Iraq and detailed examples of al Qaeda’s efforts, including Osama bin Laden’s attempt to establish a terrorist cell in Iraq that would conduct attacks against other nations.
After The 9/11 Attacks, The Coast Guard Assumed New And Essential Responsibilities To Defend Our Nation Against Terrorist Infiltration And To Help Stop New Attacks. As part of Operation Noble Eagle, the men and women of the Coast Guard are protecting more than 360 ports and more than 95,000 miles of coastline.
The Men And Women Of The Coast Guard Are Also Deploying Overseas To Confront Terror Before It Reaches Our Shores. The Coast Guard is conducting maritime interception operations in the Persian Gulf and patrolling the waters off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Our Security Depends On Helping The Iraqis Succeed And Defeating Al Qaeda In Iraq
Of The Forces In Iraq Trying To Stop Our Strategy From Succeeding, The Most Destructive One Is Al Qaeda.
The Terrorists View The Battle In Iraq As Part Of The War On Terror.Our intelligence community believes that al Qaeda sees victory in Iraq as a religious and strategic imperative. This would allow al Qaeda to follow through on their stated goals of turning Iraq into a base from which to overthrow moderate governments in the region, impose their hateful ideology on millions, and launch new attacks on America and other nations.
Osama bin Laden himself calls the struggle in Iraq a "war of destiny" – and has proclaimed "the war is for you or for us to win. If we win it, it means your defeat and disgrace forever."
Osama Bin Laden Attempted To Send A New Commander To Iraq. Osama bin Laden sent Iraqi-born terrorist Abd Al-Hadi Al-Iraqi to Iraq.
According to our intelligence community, Abd al-Hadi had been a senior advisor to bin Laden and served as his top commander in Afghanistan.
Abd Al-Hadi never made it to Iraq. He was captured late last year, and he was recently transferred to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay.
To Protect The American People, We Must Fight The Terrorists Where They Live So We Do Not Have To Fight Them Where We Live
According To Our Intelligence Community, In January 2005, Osama Bin Laden Tasked The Terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi With Forming A Cell To Conduct Terrorist Attacks Outside Iraq.
Bin Laden emphasized that America should be Zarqawi’s number one priority in terms of foreign attacks, and Zarqawi welcomed this direction and claimed that he had already come up with some good proposals.
Our intelligence community reports that bin Laden then tasked one of his top terrorist operatives, Hamza Rabia to send Zarqawi a briefing on al Qaeda’s external operations, including information about operations against the American homeland.
Our intelligence community reports that a senior al Qaeda leader, Abu Faraj al-Libi went further and suggested that bin Laden actually send Rabia to Iraq to help plan external operations. Abu Faraj later speculated that if this effort proved successful, al Qaeda might one day prepare the majority of its external operations from Iraq.
In May 2005, Abu Faraj was captured and taken into CIA custody. Several months later, in December 2005, Rabia was killed in Pakistan. And several months after that, in June of 2006, the terrorist Zarqawi was killed by American forces in Iraq. Successes like these are blows to al Qaeda and a testament to steps we have taken to strengthen our intelligence, work closely with partners overseas, and keep the pressure on the enemy by staying on the offense.
Al Qaeda Leaders Intend To Strike Our Country Again
The Danger To Our Country Is Real And Continuing. While it is tempting to believe that the calm here at home since 9/11 means that the danger to our country has passed.
Last August, British Authorities Broke Up A Plot To Blow Up Passenger Airplanes Flying To America. Our intelligence community believes this plot was just two to three weeks away from execution and could have rivaled 9/11 in the death and destruction caused.
In December 2001 We Captured An Al Qaeda Operative Named Ali Salih Al-Mari Who Was Planning Attacks In The U.S. Our intelligence community believes Ali Salih al-Mari had training in poisons at an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and had been sent by 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (“KSM”) to the United States before 9/11 to serve as a sleeper agent ready for follow-on attacks. Our intelligence community believes KSM brought Ali Salih to meet Osama bin Laden, to whom he pledged loyalty. Our intelligence community also believes he and KSM discussed potential attacks on water reservoirs, the New York Stock Exchange, and U.S. military academies.
We Also Broke Up Other Post-9/11 Aviation Plots.
In 2002, we broke up a plot by KSM to hijack an airplane and fly it into the tallest building on the West Coast. During a hearing at Guantanamo Bay two months ago, KSM stated that the intended target was the Library Tower in Los Angeles.
In 2003, we uncovered and stopped a plot led by another suspected senior al Qaeda operative named Abu Bakr al-Azdi. Our intelligence community believes this plot was to be another East Coast aviation attack – hijacking multiple airplanes and then crashing them into targets in the United States.
We Have Taken Bold Action At Home And Abroad To Keep Our People Safe
Terrorist Plots Against The U.S. Have Thus Far Not Succeeded In Part Because We Have Taken Bold Action At Home And Abroad To Keep Our People Safe. We are determined to stop the world’s most dangerous people from striking America with the world’s most dangerous weapons.To help stop new attacks on our country, we have:
Reorganized the federal government by merging 22 different government organizations into a single Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with a clear mission to protect America from future attacks.
Strengthened our Nation’s intelligence community by creating the position of the Director of National Intelligence to ensure our intelligence agencies operate as a single, unified enterprise.
Created the National Counterterrorism Center where the FBI, the CIA, and other agencies work side-by-side to track terrorist threats across the world.
Directed the National Security Agency to monitor international terrorist communications.
Established a program run by the CIA to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives captured in the war on terror.
Passed the USA PATRIOT Act, which broke down the walls that had prevented Federal law enforcement and intelligence communities from sharing information about potential terrorist activities.
Transformed the FBI into an agency whose primary focus is stopping terrorist attacks.
Expanded the number of FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces from 35 before 9/11 to more than 100 today. We saw their effectiveness recently when one of these teams helped disrupt a plot by a group of al Qaeda-inspired extremists to kill American soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
Launched the BioWatch program, which placed state-of-the-art equipment in major U.S. cities to detect biological agents.
Placing radiation detectors in all major U.S. ports.
Placed advanced equipment and DHS personnel at foreign ports so we can pre-screen cargo headed for America.
Strengthened international cooperation in the fight against terror. A coalition of more than 90 nations is working together to dry up terrorist financing and bring terrorist leaders to justice.
Launched the Proliferation Security Initiative – a vast coalition of nations that are working to stop shipments of weapons of mass destruction on land, at sea, and in the air.
The Best Way To Protect Our People Is To Take The Fight To The Enemy. In Afghanistan, a regime that gave sanctuary and support to al Qaeda as they planned the 9/11 attacks has come to an end. And in Iraq, we removed a cruel dictator who harbored terrorists, paid the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, invaded his neighbors, defied the UN Security Council, and pursued and used weapons of mass destruction.
# # #
Making America More Secure by Transforming Our Military
Presidential Action
President Bush on August 16, 2004 announced the most comprehensive restructuring of U.S. military forces
overseas since the end of the Korean War. By closing bases no longer needed to meet Cold War threats that have ended,
this new initiative will bring home many Cold War-era forces while deploying more flexible and rapidly deployable
capabilities in strategic locations around the world.
Taking advantage of 21 st century military technologies, the plan will increase U.S. military capabilities and
combat power in every part of the world; improve our cooperation with, and our ability to defend, allies; and
strengthen our ability to deter aggression - all while reducing the number of U.S. forces stationed at overseas bases.
The plan will make America safer by better preparing our military to address the new dangers associated with
rogue nations, global terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction.
Over the next ten years, the President's plan will close hundreds of U.S. facilities overseas and bring home
about 60,000 to 70,000 uniformed personnel and approximately 100,000 family members and civilian employees.
The plan will give our service members more time on the home front and fewer moves over a career. It will give
military spouses fewer job changes and offer greater stability for their families. And it will save the taxpayers
money, by closing hundreds of unneeded facilities around the world.
Goals of Our Plan for a 21 st Century Military
Expand U.S. defense relationships with allies and build new partnerships. Posture changes will
increase our ability to carry out our defense commitments more effectively. The U.S. presence will be tailored to
optimally balance our 21 st century military requirements, our relationships with allies and partners, local
conditions, and the impact of a U.S. presence on host nations.
Develop flexibility to contend with uncertainty. Global threats to our national security can
defy prediction. Therefore, the United States will develop new and expanded security relationships to emphasize
flexibility in force posture.
Provide for both a regional and global forward presence. The demands of new threats require
forces deployed overseas to be ready for missions anywhere in the world, regardless of where the forces are based -
while we must be prepared to act regionally and locally and to maintain our commitments to NATO and other allies.
Enable rapid power projection. Our overseas force realignment must improve rapid response
capabilities for distant contingencies, because our forces will not likely fight where they are stationed. This
requires an updated transport infrastructure to facilitate movement of forces, prepositioned equipment along transport
routes, and lean command structures for deployable operations.
Focus on capabilities instead of numbers. Leveraging U.S. advantages in speed, reach, precision,
knowledge, and combat power is now the defining concept for military action. The number of forward-based forces in a
given area is no longer an accurate representation of the effective military capability that the U.S. can bring to bear.
Background
Our military global posture, developed to defend against Cold War adversaries, is not optimized to meet
today's threats to our national security. Following World War II and the Korean War, our global posture
focused on threats to specific regions and tailored our military presence to those regions. Our Cold War posture was
established with the certainty that we knew our adversaries and where potential battles would be fought. But with the
demise of the Soviet Union , once-familiar threats gave way to less predictable dangers. The lessons of the last 15
years teach us that we often send our forces to unpredictable places. The Cold War strategy of placing heavy forces in
specific locations to defend against a known adversary needs to be changed to more effectively deal with today's
threats.
It is no longer relevant to measure America's war-fighting capability by
the number of troops and equipment in a particular country or region. During the 1990s, our military began a
transformation from the industrial age to the information age. In this age, reach, stealth, precision, knowledge, and
combat power, and not just the size of forces, allow us to dominate the battlespace. We learned that small, highly
trained and networked units, platforms, and even individual warriors can have an effect on the battlefield that was
previously reserved for much larger formations. Today, one high-tech ship or tank or aircraft can deliver the same
combat power that once required ten ships or tanks or aircraft.
The Bush Administration is working to transform our forces to more effectively confront the dangers of the
21 st century and better protect America and our vital interests. Early in
2001, the Bush Administration adopted a new defense strategy that recognized the changing nature of warfare and the
need for the Department of Defense to transform its institutions, its way of doing business, and its structures, both
within the United States and abroad, in order to meet the challenges of the new era.
The 9/11 attacks magnified the new era of uncertainty that the Administration had previously recognized and
had begun to prepare for in the 2001 defense strategy. Operations in Afghanistan -- and the global war on
terror more broadly -- brought to the forefront the need to conduct a strategy-based review of our global defense
posture. That review, conducted in close consultation with Congress and our allies , has served as the cornerstone of
the President's defense transformation agenda.
Outline of Changes
Europe: Our efforts will support NATO's own transformation. We aim to eliminate
Cold War infrastructures that are no longer relevant to today's security needs, replacing them with more flexible,
deployable forces and headquarters. Our future posture will contain forward forces that are rapidly deployable for
early entry into conflict both in Europe and beyond.
Heavy forces designed for a land war in Europe will return to the U.S.; they will be replaced by advanced,
deployable capabilities and airborne units, supported by advanced training facilities and high-capacity mobility infrastructure.
Ground, air, and naval headquarters will be streamlined and consolidated.
Special forces, both forward-stationed and rotational, will increase in importance; they will be positioned for ease of movement both within and outside of Europe .
The Middle East Region: Cooperation and access provided by
coalition partners during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom provide us with a solid basis for other forms
of future cooperation.
We will maintain, and in some cases upgrade, sites for rotational forces and contingency purposes, supported by
forward headquarters and advanced training facilities.
Rotational air, ground, and sea forces will provide presence, and assurance to our allies and partners, without permanence.
While we desire close relationships with Afghanistan and Iraq that will allow us to continue to play a positive
role in their rebuilding efforts and in long-term regional security, any decision on long-term U.S. presence in these
countries is a sovereign choice for their people and governments.
Asia: We will improve our ability to deter, dissuade, and defeat challenges in
Asia through strengthened long-range strike capabilities, streamlined and consolidated headquarters, and a network of
access arrangements.
The forward stationing of additional expeditionary maritime capabilities in the Pacific will enable prompt and
effective military action both regionally and globally.
Advanced strike assets will be stationed in the Western Pacific.
In Northeast Asia we are working with our strongest allies to restructure our military presence and command
structures while simultaneously improving capabilities in the region.
In Central and Southeast Asia we are working to establish a network of sites to provide training opportunities and contingency access both for conventional and special forces.
Africa and Latin America: We will expand our
cooperative security relationships in Latin America and Africa to help partners meet the challenges they face.
We will enhance regional training, assist partners in building capacity for counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics, and maintain contingency access for remote areas.
We have no plans for Main Operating Bases in these regions.
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