Last week, the national terrorist threat level was raised to high.

This is primarily a signal to federal, state, and local law enforcement to take additional precautions

and increase security measures against potential terrorist attacks.

These recent threats are a stark reminder that our country remains engaged in a war on terror.

Our enemies are still determined to attack America, and there is no such thing as perfect security against a hidden network of killers.

Yet I assure you that our government at every level is responding to this threat, working to track down every lead and standing watch 24 hours a day against terrorism.

We have posted more than 50,000 newly trained to federal screeners and airports.

We have begun inoculating troops and first responders against smallpox.

We are deploying the nation's first early warning network of sensors to detect biological attack. And we are moving

to better coordinate the efforts of law enforcement. We are gathering the best information possible

and using it to make sure the right people are in the right places to protect our citizens.

Throughout the country, joint terrorism task forces are bringing together federal state and local officials to fight terrorism.

Local police will be able to access federal terrorist information from their squad cars

to determine whether individuals they have pulled over or detained have terrorist links.

I've also asked Congress to fill a critical need in our defense against

bioterror by committing almost six billion dollars to quickly make available

effective vaccines and treatments against agents like smallpox, anthrax, botulinum toxin, Ebola,

and plague. Our nation is preparing for a variety of threats we hope never will arrive.

Many of these dangers are unfamiliar and unsettling. Yet the best way to fight these dangers is to anticipate them. Welcome to Media Roots Radio.

This is your host, Robbie Martin.

I hope everybody had a good holiday season,

and it wasn't too dark of a winter for some out there.

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