Consciously Deciding Not To Protect the Homeland

CLAIM:

"We're doing everything we can to protect the homeland."
- President George W. Bush, 9/3/03

FACT:

"The FBI often does not have enough agents or other personnel with the expertise to conduct the surveillance. The FBI still is trying to build a cadre of translators who can understand conversations that are intercepted in such languages as Arabic, Pashto and Farsi."
- AP, 4/16/04

FACT:

"In the early days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush White House cut by nearly two-thirds an emergency request for counterterrorism funds by the FBI...Attorney General John D. Ashcroft cut the FBI's request for items such as computer networking and foreign language intercepts by half."
- Washington Post, 3/22/04

FACT:

Even before the Sept. 11 attacks, "Ashcroft did not agree to $588 million in increases that the FBI was seeking for 2003. That FBI request included funds to hire 54 translators and 248 counterterrorism agents and support staff."
- Washington Post, 3/22/04