Prepared Remarks of Attorney General

Alberto R. Gonzales at the Manhattan

Institute:
Law Enforcement and the Prevention
of Terrorism Five Years After 9/11
New York, New York
September 7, 2006
Good morning.

I am honored to be here in New York, to talk with you about our shared efforts to
protect American neighborhoods and communities.

As we approach the fifth anniversary of the attacks on September 11, it is natural

that Americans look back and take stock of where we are and what we have
accomplished together as a nation. The President and others in his administration
have spoken often, and will continue to speak, to the American people about the
current threat of terrorism. I intend to talk about it today in the context of law
enforcement cooperation.

But before I do, let me assure you that I have not forgotten about the need to address
traditional, non- terrorism crime on the streets of our cities, towns and
neighborhoods. I know all of you are well aware of the ongoing battle against
traditional criminals in our country because you are the on the front line, day in and
day out. We have not and will not lose sight of the need to assist you in the fight
against the sexual predators, the drug dealers, and the gangs that terrorize law-
abiding citizens in our communities.

I intend to continue to pursue more resources to help you, and I hope to be able to
provide additional training, investigators and prosecutors to address traditional
crimes. We must remember, however, that while there are more than 800,000 state
and local law enforcement officials in this country, there are only 12,000 federal
law enforcement officials. In a post 9/11 world, the number one priority of federal
law enforcement agencies must be the prevention of another terrorist attack…a
mission that I know you understand we all share.
No one can truly be free to pursue the American dream—even in neighborhoods
free of drugs, gangs and violent crime—if they live in fear of a terrorist attack. All
of us in government – in law enforcement , in intelligence and in the military – have
accomplished a great deal to protect our neighborhoods over the past five years
because we didn’t wait to act. We began thinking through our response on the very
day of the attacks.

Five years ago on September 11th, just before 7:00 that night, I was waiting for the
return of Marine One to the South Lawn of the White House. I stood outside the
Oval Office with former Counselor to the President Karen Hughes, ready to meet
the President and begin the work of defending America.

The President was purposeful when he arrived. His face was serious as he
approached me and Karen. As he met us and then entered the White House he
didn’t say a word – he just nodded his head slightly. We followed him into the Oval
Office – which was being set up for his 8:30 address to the nation – and then into his
private dining room.

There, the three of us sat down with Condi Rice, Andy Card and Ari Fleischer,
rolled up our sleeves and we started to work.

***

This battle against terrorism is fought on a clock that never stops and our
partnership is one that must never have gaps. You know this all too well. So I’m
glad to have this chance to talk with all of you about what we are doing, together, to
prevent terrorist attacks… what our network is doing to stop and ultimately defeat
their network.

If there is one thing that all Americans will be thinking and saying when we mark a
terrible anniversary on Monday, it will be the simple phrase “never again.” And the
goal of “never again” cannot be achieved by the federal government alone, by any
state government alone, or by any local police force alone. Our network of
prevention is instead the key to protecting the American people.

When Vice President Cheney spoke to the Manhattan Institute in January, he

pointed out that terrorists were at war with our country long before September 11th.
They had killed American soldiers in Beirut in 1983 and in Mogadishu in 1993.
They had bombed our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. They had attacked
the USS Cole in 2000. They had even struck our homeland once before, attempting
to destroy the World Trade Center in 1993.

But it was on September 11th, 2001, that the United States of America said
“enough,” “no more,” and “never again.”

Since then we have been on the offensive and we have made significant progress.
We’ve taken away the “home base” for al Qaeda in Afghanistan. We’ve destroyed
training camps, cut off funding channels, and disrupted means of communication.

Architects of the September 11th attacks have been captured and interrogated… and
we have learned vital information from them which has enabled us to prevent
further attacks. As you heard the President announce yesterday, Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, and Ramzi bin al Shibh today await justice at
Guantanamo Bay.

We have disrupted plots and put homegrown radicals behind bars. As we all know,
in early August, British authorities disrupted what would have been a major terrorist
attack with massive casualties.

In that case, and in plot disruptions on our own soil involving homegrown radicals,
we have seen the evolution of the threat since the destruction of al Qaeda’s home
base.

Today, al Qaeda stays organized and active in cyberspace, where their ideology
recruits, inspires and radicalizes others. Their virtual outreach – as you well know –
is finding disaffected souls in neighborhoods, mosques, prisons and universities all
over the world, including our own backyards.

No two terror cells or plots are alike. Some are directly linked to al Qaeda, some are
inspired by the ideology and seek actual ties with the group after they begin
plotting, and some are simply inspired by the hatred without the ability to organize
internationally. But there is a clear trend in al Qaeda’s efforts to recruit terrorists
who already live in the countries targeted for attack.

Recently, we’ve seen would-be terrorists who were – at the very least – inspired by
al Qaeda’s ideology in London and Madrid, in Los Angeles, Toledo, Miami and
Atlanta.

Some homegrown terrorists have stronger ties to al Qaeda than others, but they all
appear to be part of a well-organized and flexible global network of terror bound by
fanaticism, by a terrible common cause of murder and destruction.

It takes a network to defeat a network. Our network, bound by the common cause of
stopping the terrorists, is a formidable force, one that will ultimately prevail in this
war.

A successful network must have three primary characteristics:

First, outstanding coordination of partners and resources. Second, constant

flexibility. And third, perhaps most important, an infinite passion to prevail. We
take the terrorist threat so seriously because we recognize that their network
possesses those characteristics.
Fortunately, our network has them, too.

COORDINATION

First, let’s talk about coordination – theirs and ours.

As I mentioned before, the Internet has enabled our enemy to reach out to a global
audience of potential terrorists. With a reduced ability to recruit and train on a home
base, radical websites and the periodic release of key messages from al Qaeda
leadership seek to find and encourage network membership all over the world.

They’ve put other modern technologies to use as well: Cell phones keep the terrorist
network in touch, an inexpensive and universally available form of information-
sharing and collaboration that knows no borders.

They use digital cameras to document potential targets – creating surveillance files
that can be easily and widely shared. Their research, contained on something as
small as a thumb-drive or CD, is easily slipped in a pocket or an envelope – for
travel or shipping and eventual sharing with partners all over the globe.

As Commissioner Andy Hayman knows, technology has been integral to terrorist

communications. Information shared about target locations, such as New York or
Washington, can be sent over the internet in a matter of moments to cities in the
United States, the United Kingdom or around the globe. In a recent case, our
network disrupted theirs. We must imagine, however, that digital research is
traveling from city to city every single day as terrorist partners help one another
pursue their horrific goals.

Coordination within our network is both national and international, aided by

advanced technology as well. And since terrorists only have to succeed once and
our efforts have to succeed every time, our coordination has to be even better than
theirs.

Last month’s disruption of the UK bomb plot highlights the success of international
cooperation. Our prosecutors train one another and share and protect one another’s
sensitive intelligence. The level of cooperation between the United States and our
foreign counterparts is outstanding and is truly the untold story of the war on terror.

At home, as you know, we have dramatically improved collaboration among federal,

state and local intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The Patriot Act officially
brought down the wall between intelligence and law enforcement investigations, but
our respect for one another and our shared purpose of protecting American citizens
has been just as important in bringing down the wall in practice – in establishing a
new mentality of constant sharing and communicating.

I’m extremely proud of our teamwork and mutual respect; I hope everyone in this
room today who works in law enforcement is as well.
Joint Terrorism Task Forces are perhaps the best example of how the walls that used
to divide us are simply gone, how law enforcement and intelligence are woven
together like one continuous piece of fabric.

In JTTFs, federal, state and local officials work side-by-side, as one seamless team,
sharing access to data and working together on analysis – because it is easier to
connect the dots when all of those dots are shared on common ground.

JTTFs are the “eyes and ears” of communities around the country, and since
September 11th we have increased the number of JTTFs from 35 to 103.

Chief Bratton, from Los Angeles, can attest to how well the JTTF structure works.
Because it was a local officer in your area who worked in a JTTF who connected
the dots that led to the eventual arrest of radicals plotting to attack government
buildings and synagogues in Los Angeles last August. Chief Timoney, you also saw
the effectiveness of the JTTF structure because of the work done to disrupt the cell
targeting Miami in Liberty City.

These cases are good examples of what happens when resources are pooled and
partners with specific skill-sets work together. A local cop is uniquely equipped to
notice when something just isn't right in their own communities, and to aggressively
follow-up -- when robberies are really the means to accomplish something else ... as
was done in the case of those gas station hold-ups in LA. or as was done in
Charlotte, North Carolina when local law enforcement observed vans being loaded
with cigarettes which led to uncovering a Hizballah cell; or in Western Washington
when local law enforcement observed individuals in remote locations shooting guns
which led to uncovering the planning of a terrorist training camp.

The federal government offers the best, most comprehensive databases where local
cops can find out if their gut instincts are correct. When a good “nose” for foul play
is working side-by-side with a comprehensive source of intelligence, dots are
connected and our network is performing at its best. Coordination leads to victory,
one plot disruption at a time.

FLEXIBILITY

Next, flexibility.

In the terrorist network, this means changing, quickly, the location and coordination
of training when the home base is dismantled. It means recognizing that shoe bombs
don’t work, so liquid explosives need to be developed.

Five years ago it meant using boxcutters and the element of surprise.

Our enemy is creative and sharp. They learn from their mistakes and literally
brainstorm, every day, about new ways to surprise us, new ways to destroy us. Their
imaginations are evil, but also nimble – which is a deadly combination.

This flexible approach is embraced by all terrorist followers. So dedicated are they
to their cause that they will adjust to whatever environment and circumstance they
face to continue forth with their goals.

Our network is nimble as well. We brainstorm, too, about what the enemy might do
next and how we can stop them. We employ experts who strive to forecast the
terrorists’ depraved creativity.

We watch, closely, how their network is evolving and we make adjustments to our
tactics and focus accordingly. For example, right now, we know that local police
departments are in the best position to identify homegrown radicals, so our network
will be led by you on that front; we are flexible enough to shift leads as needed.

When necessary, we have developed tools to increase our flexibility. The Terrorist
Surveillance Program helped us to quickly adapt to a situation in which we needed
to collect intelligence quickly, from sources and technologies that we had never
mined before.

We also quickly changed the way we looked at the traditional equation of criminal
justice, which used to be:

*A crime is committed.

*An investigation ensues.

*An arrest is made.

*Prosecution finishes the story.

We had to change this storyline for terrorists because we cannot, we will not, wait
for terrorist acts to be committed before apprehending and prosecuting these
criminals.

We seek to arrest them for the crime of plotting to commit terrorist acts against our
country or for other crimes that they are committing as part of their plot
development.

Flexibility even within this new equation is crucial because no two cases are the
same and decisions about when to arrest are difficult ones that must be made on a
case-by-case basis by career professionals using their best judgment – keeping in
mind that we need to protect sensitive intelligence sources and methods and
sometimes rely upon foreign evidence in making a case.

I think that our network’s flexibility when it comes to investigation and prosecution
has been successful, but I will note that there is one thing that we won’t be flexible
on, and that’s adherence to civil liberties and the rule of law. We can be adaptable
in our fight, but our Constitution is always the stable ground from which we spring.

PASSION

I want to conclude my remarks with a discussion of passion: theirs and ours.

Because it is this element of our networks that will be a test of wills… and our will
to save lives and freedom simply must prevail over their will to destroy them.

Their network is bound by ideological fanaticism… by hate and a desire to destroy

our way of life so that their beliefs can prevail over the world’s people.

Our network is bound by what may be more simply described as the love of justice
and a desire to protect what we know is good.

We are motivated by our love of freedom. Our love for our children. And by a
deeply-held belief that our beloved country is the beacon of hope for the world
because of its embrace of liberty. We have an inherent sense that what our
Founding Fathers established here is something very much worth protecting

Their network does not tire. Their passion is an infinite fuel that we have seen
burning for decades.

And our network, as the President has often said, will not tire, will not falter, and
will not fail. Because our passion is actually deeper than theirs, and our defense of
freedom will be eternal.

I had a chance, last week, to visit for the second time the front-lines of the war on
terror in Iraq. And the steadfast resolve of our men and women in uniform, as well
as our civil servants who are there to help the Iraqi people stand up their new
government, was inspirational.

These men and women work in a dangerous environment, with daily temperatures
well over 100 degrees. They are away from their families. But everyone I met was
energetic and proud…so proud to serve a country that has given us all so much. The
Americans on the front lines believe what they are doing is important, so important
that they are willing to risk their lives for the mission. Just being in their presence
made this grandson of immigrants so incredibly proud to be an American.

To have seen these men and women at work in Iraq, and every day here at home in
the ranks of law enforcement, is to know that we will prevail in this decisive
ideological struggle.

During a previous, world-wide ideological struggle, Winston Churchill’s passion

and dedication in the midst of a war was evident in these words:

“Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty,
never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force;
never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

In our jobs, in our network, never giving in means we steadfastly pursue the goal,
every day, of preventing terrorism, of protecting free and innocent souls.

Our network will prevail. And I’m proud to serve in it, side-by-side with all of you.

Thank you. May God bless you and may he continue to bless this great nation.

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