The White House
President George W. Bush
Print this document

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 17, 2007

Fact Sheet: The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland
What The Administration Is Doing To Protect America From The Persistent, Evolving Threat From Al-Qaeda

      DNI.gov: National Intelligence Estimate: The Terrorist Threat to the US Homeland (7 pages, 171 kb, PDF)
      Press Briefing by White House Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend
      In Focus: Homeland Security
      In Focus: Renewal in Iraq

Today, The Director Of National Intelligence (DNI) Presented To The President And Congress A National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) On The Terrorist Threat To The U.S. Homeland.  This NIE provides a broad, strategic, and coordinated framework for understanding the terrorist threat to the United States over the next three years.  It provides the Intelligence Community's baseline judgments in order to help policymakers develop and prioritize the government's response.

We Are Confronting The Threat From Al-Qaeda And Degrading Their Capabilities

On 9/11, The President Resolved That We Would Go On The Offense Against Our Enemies.  We have built new institutions to better coordinate homeland defense and intelligence collection, developed new tools to monitor and track terrorists and their finances, and marshaled all national resources to attack the terrorist enemies at war with us. 

The United States And Our Allies Have Captured Or Killed Senior Al-Qaeda Leaders And Disrupted Numerous Plots Against The United States And Our Allies:

We Remain On The Offense Against Terrorists Abroad, While We Defend Against Attacks On The Homeland, U.S. Interests Abroad, And Our Friends And Allies.

Since 9/11, America Is Safer – But We Are Not Yet Safe

Our Enemies Have Not Succeeded In Launching Another Attack On Our Soil, But They Have Not Been Idle.  Since 9/11, al-Qaeda and those inspired by its hateful ideology have carried out terrorist attacks in more than two dozen nations.  They have plotted against the U.S. but have thus far not succeeded in attacking us – in part because we have taken bold action at home and abroad to keep our people safe.

We Remain Vigilant And Are Taking Necessary Steps To Protect The American People.  We have asked the American people to remain vigilant as well and to report suspicious activity. 

We Will Continue To Work With Congress To Ensure That We Have The Necessary Tools And Resources To Protect The Homeland.  This includes passing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Modernization bill that will make America safer by improving our intelligence capabilities while protecting privacy interests.  This 1978 law should be updated to take into account the sweeping telecommunications advances that could not have been anticipated by Congress and that will allow the FISA Court and law enforcement officials to concentrate attention and resources on appropriate communications.

# # #


Return to this article at:
/news/releases/2007/07/text/20070717-2.html

Print this document