Terrorism
Documents & Texts from America.gov
10 September 2006
U.S. Has Multipronged Strategy To Fight Terrorism, Official Says
The following piece was originally published in the September 10 edition of the New York Times as part of a collection of essays on counterterrorism efforts. The item is in the public domain; there are no republication restrictions. The author is the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.
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The President's Plan
By Frances Fragos Townsend
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
As a result of the horror of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush has transformed the way we fight terrorism and the tools we use. We successfully attack those very things our enemies need to operate and survive: leadership, communications, the ability to travel, weapons; foot soldiers and financing. The president has strengthened and transformed the intelligence community, integrated our military and intelligence assets, and broken down the barriers that kept domestic law enforcement and intelligence agencies from sharing information.
The United States has enhanced relationships with allies around the world, recognizing that this is truly a global war on terrorism. Working together, we have denied Al Qaeda the safe havens and resources it needs to plan and carry out attacks and made it more difficult for our enemies to travel. We use their communications against them and have cut off their money.
At home, the president has transformed the fight by creating the Department of Homeland Security and by ensuring that the F.B.I. had the necessary tools, like the Patriot Act, to get the job done. The airline bombing plot disrupted by our British allies this summer is only the most recent case of brutal terrorists continuing to plan mass murder. We must be right 100 percent of the time; the terrorists have to succeed only once. On Sept. 11, 2001, each of us became soldiers in this fight to protect freedom. We're in a war we didn't ask for, but it's a war we must wage and a war we will win.
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