underwaytodisrupt their organizations,toarrestanddetain
bad
guys,
to
interfere with
the
flow
of
funds
and tofind
them wherever
they're
located and put them out ofbusiness.
Q
We
constantly hear warnings from Republicans
and
Democrats in the Senate Intelligence Committee that another
attack
is inevitable. If you had to characterize whetherwe're less vulnerable, as vulnerable, or more vulnerable toterrorist attacks since 9/11, how would you characterize
it?
THEVICE PRESIDENT:
I think we're less vulnerable inthe sense that
we
know
a lot
more
now
about
the
enemy
and
that
we
have
—
we've eliminated some
of
them, taken them
off
the
street,
if you will. I think
we're
a tougher targetnow than we
were
on 9/11. That is to say, the measures thatwe've taken here at home again aren't likely to be perfect -
-
thereis noperfect defense against something like this.
The
best defense
is to go on
offense
and to
eliminate
the
terrorists.
But we
have made ourselves here
in the
U.S.
I
think more secure.Everybody is on alert now. We've worked
hard_to
trainpeople
to do a
better
job of
responding
to
these kinds
ofincidents
and intercept them, or the enactment of thePresident's proposalof the
Office
ofHomeland Security
will
take
us a
long
way
towards consolidating federal agencies
\d
getting cooperation
and
having accountability
at the
I
federal level that
we've
never
had
before.We'vehadcloseto 100agencies thathad apieceof the
action
with respect to defending the homeland. And now, as
a
result
of the
enactment
of the
legislation,
the
President
has got the
authority
to -- the
biggest reorganization since
the
Defense Department
was put
together
in
1947,
and
it_will
take
us alongwaytowards making
us'a
tougher target.
So
I
think
the
problem
for the
terrorists trying
to get
at
ustodayistougher thanit was on9/11.On theotherhand, we
know
a lot more about them, too. We
know_that
we've uncovered cells,
al
Qaeda cells in Germany, inEngland, in Spain, Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
the
Philippines. It's
a
worldwide organization.
And
they
are
out there doing everything they can to try to findadditional
ways
tokill Americansand ourfriendsandalliesaround the world.
We've
seen the recent attack in Kenya, the attack in
Bali.
So
it's
going to be a continuing problem. We need tothink about it as a war, because
that's
what it is. It's
almost
aguerrillawar in asense,and itwill takeus a
long
time to eliminate that threat, but we will eliminate
it.
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