Bush: “…a wiretap requires a court order…”

President Bush:…When the President speaks, he better mean it.

… I was given a choice: Either trust the word of a madman, hope for the best with somebody who was a tyrant, or take action to defend our country.

… I believe freedom is not America's gift to the world; I believe freedom is the almighty God's gift to each man and women in this world.

… we needed to change the whole attitude about how we protect the homeland.

… there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.

But a roving wiretap means -- it was primarily used for drug lords. A guy, a pretty intelligence drug lord would have a phone, and in old days they could just get a tap on that phone. So guess what he'd do? He'd get him another phone, particularly with the advent of the cell phones. And so he'd start changing cell phones, which made it hard for our DEA types to listen, to run down these guys polluting our streets. And that changed, the law changed on -- roving wiretaps were available for chasing down drug lords. They weren't available for chasing down terrorists, see? And that didn't make any sense in the post-9/11 era. If we couldn't use a tool that we're using against mobsters on terrorists, something needed to happen.

The Patriot Act changed that. So with court order, law enforcement officials can now use what's called roving wiretaps, which will prevent a terrorist from switching cell phones in order to get a message out to one of his buddies.

…FBI Agent Ahearn: Prior to the Patriot Act,…we were fighting with one arm tied behind our back. It was clear.

President Bush: Information Sharing, Patriot Act Vital to Homeland Security, Kleinshans Music Hall, NY, April 20, 2004.