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Skriven 2006-05-13 23:33:22 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (060513) for Sat, 2006 May 13
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President's Radio Address
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 13, 2006

President's Radio Address


ÿÿÿÿÿ Audio ÿÿÿÿÿ In Focus: National Security ÿÿÿÿÿ

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week I nominated General Mike Hayden to
be the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The work of the
CIA is essential to the security of the American people. The enemies who
struck our Nation on September the 11th, 2001, intend to attack us again,
and to defeat them, we must have the best possible intelligence. In Mike
Hayden, the men and women of the CIA will have a strong leader who will
support them as they work to disrupt terrorist attacks, penetrate closed
societies, and gain information that is vital to protecting our Nation.

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General Hayden is supremely qualified to lead the CIA. For the last year,
he's been our Nation's first Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and
has played a critical role in our efforts to reform America's intelligence
capabilities to meet the threats of a new century. He has more than 20
years of experience in the intelligence field. He served for six years as
Director of the National Security Agency and has a track record of success
in leading and transforming that large intelligence agency. He also has
held senior positions at the Pentagon and the National Security Council,
and he served behind the Iron Curtain in our embassy in Bulgaria during the
Cold War.

Mike knows our intelligence community from the ground up. He's been both a
producer and a consumer of intelligence and has overseen both human and
technical intelligence activities, as well as the all-source analysis
derived from those activities. Mike was unanimously confirmed by the Senate
last year for his current post, and this week members of both parties have
praised his nomination. I urge the Senate to confirm him promptly as the
next Director of the CIA.

During General Hayden's tenure at the NSA, he helped establish and run one
of our most vital intelligence efforts in the War on Terror -- the
Terrorist Surveillance Program. As the 9/11 Commission and others have
noted, our government failed to connect the dots in the years before the
attacks of September the 11th. We now know that two of the hijackers in the
United States made phone calls to al Qaeda operatives overseas, but we did
not know about their plans until it was too late.

So to prevent another attack, I authorized the National Security Agency --
consistent with the Constitution and laws -- to intercept international
communications in which one party has known links to al Qaeda and related
terrorist groups. This terrorist surveillance program makes it more likely
that killers like the 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in
time. It has helped prevent possible terrorist attacks in the United States
and abroad, and it remains essential to the security of America. If there
are people inside our country who are talking with al Qaeda, we want to
know about it. We will not sit back and wait to be attacked again.

This week, new claims have been made about other ways we are tracking down
al Qaeda to prevent attacks on America. It is important for Americans to
understand that our activities strictly target al Qaeda and its known
affiliates. Al Qaeda is our enemy, and we want to know their plans. The
intelligence activities I have authorized are lawful and have been briefed
to appropriate members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat. The
privacy of all Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities. The
government does not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval.
We are not trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent
Americans. Our efforts are focused on links to al Qaeda terrorists and its
affiliates who want to harm the American people.

Americans expect their government to do everything in its power under our
laws and Constitution to protect them and their civil liberties. That is
exactly what we are doing. And so far, we have been successful in
preventing another attack on our soil. The men and women of the CIA are
working around the clock to make our Nation more secure. I am confident
that General Hayden will strengthen the CIA and integrate its vital work
with our other intelligence agencies, so we can defeat the terrorists of
the 21st century.

Thank you for listening.

END

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