Of the leakage of nuclear know-how by Dr A.Q. Khan network, the White House Spokesman Scott McClellan on Tuesday said: "The government of Pakistan has taken important steps to break up this network."
"We are working through the Proliferation Security Initiative with other nations", he added.
Responding to a query, Scott McClellan said: "We are continuing to learn more about this network of proliferation. And we are continuing to take steps to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD)."
He said he talked about "how that is a very important priority within our global war on terrorism", adding: "We are working through the Proliferation Security Initiative with other nations."
The President Bush recently talked about some other steps that we are taking to confront the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and make sure those do not get into the hands of terrorists who seek to do mass harm to America, he said.
To a question on 9/11 Commission, the Spokesman referred to "the unprecedented co-operation" that the Bush administration has provided to the 9/11 Commission, which is a legislative body.
"We have worked closely and co-operatively with the Commission. We have worked in a spirit of co-operation with the Commission", he said, adding: "President Bush strongly supports the work of the Commission. If there is something we can do in addition to all the steps that we are already taking to prevent something like September 11 from ever happening again, we want to know about it, and the sooner, the better."
That's why, he said this administration has provided more than two million pages of documents to the Commission; provided more than 60 compact disks of radar, flight, and other information; more than 800 audio cassette tapes of interviews and other materials; more than 100 briefings, including at the head-of-agency level; and more than 560 interviews.
"We have bent over backwards to make sure that the Commission has all the information they need to do their job. The Commission chairman himself has stated that there is not a single piece of information that they have asked for that we have not provided the Commission's access to", said the spokesman.
Obviously, as part of this, he said President Bush will he meeting with the chairman and vice chairman at some point in the near future.
To another question, the spokesman said the threat from terrorism did not happen overnight. It is a threat that has been building for quite some time. You can go back to previous attacks or attempted attacks on Americans, whether it was in America or elsewhere - I mean, the World Trade Center attack in 1993 - these threats have been building for quite some time.
He pointed out the reality that "September 11 is something the US President will never forget it as September 11 events taught us that we must confront threats before it's too late."
"And that's exactly what this President is doing. The President is acting to take the offensive and take the fight to the enemy, to bring them to justice before they can carry out their attacks on Americans or on American soil", said Scott McClellan.
The spokesman said the United States is dismantling and disrupting the al-Qaeda terrorist network, adding: "We have already brought to justice in one form or fashion some two-thirds of the al-Qaeda leadership. We are continuing to take the fight to the enemy. We are continuing to make sure that we are improving our sharing of intelligence, not only within the United States, but with other governments."
The Department of Treasury just had an important announcement yesterday on some of our efforts to crack down on terrorist financing."
In response to another question, he said during the electioneering President Bush is going to reach out to all Americans from all backgrounds.
About free trade, he said President Bush has been a strong advocate of free trade with a level playing field. And the President is also strongly committed to enforcing our trade laws and taking action when necessary to make sure that those laws are fair.
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