For Immediate Release
July 12, 2004

Global Message

From remarks by President Bush, Kutztown, PA, 7/9/04

President Bush stands behind the men and women in our intelligence community who dedicate their lives to collecting and analyzing intelligence.

Just as the intelligence community was reshaped to respond to the challenge of the Cold War, we must now take action to ensure that our intelligence services are prepared to more effectively deal with threats of the 21st century.

We are transforming the FBI, have created the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, and have passed the USA PATRIOT Act.

President Bush has appointed an independent commission to look at American intelligence capabilities -- especially our intelligence about weapons of mass destruction.

President Bush believes that any intelligence reform efforts should:

• Increase both the quality and quantity of human intelligence collection;
• Invest more in our technical intelligence capability so that we stay ahead of enemies' changing communications technology and tactics; and
• Ensure the most effective and coordinated use of these resources and personnel.