By the time President Obama took office, Guantánamo was viewed internationally as a symbol of a counterterrorism approach that flouted our laws and strayed from our values, undercutting the perceived legitimacy - and therefore the effectiveness - of our efforts.

We know from the material that was recovered from the bin Laden compound that bin Laden was looking at the 10th anniversary of 9/11 as an opportunity to strike yet again at the U.S. homeland.

How you define a problem shapes how you address it.

Poverty does not cause violence and terrorism. Lack of education does not cause terrorism.

We are in this business, whether it be intelligence or the government, to protect freedom, democracy and liberty, not to violate that.

We will use all lawful tools at our disposal, and that includes authorities under the renewed PATRIOT Act. We firmly believe that our intelligence gathering tools must enable us to collect the information we need to protect the American people.

Al-Qa'ida is the antithesis of the peace, tolerance and humanity that is at the heart of Islam.