Cheney Says Terrorists ‘Still Lethal’

Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking to the first Naval Academy graduates to begin classes after the Sept. 11 attacks, laid out a grim picture Friday of enemies “still desperately trying to hit us again,” as he defended President Bush’s anti-terrorism policies.

Addressing 980 midshipmen on a steamy day, Cheney said terrorists were working to “establish a totalitarian empire.” They are hoping, he added, to acquire unconventional weapons, “to destroy Israel, to intimidate all Western countries and to cause mass death here in the United States.”

Battling terrorism will “define much of your career,” Cheney told the class.

Cheney defended the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance program as “absolutely essential to the security of the United States” and as part of the government’s “urgent duty” to track down terrorists.

He sought to stoke the graduates’ enthusiasm for joining the anti-terrorism effort, saying that although “the enemies that struck us may be weakened and fractured, they are still lethal and still desperately trying to hit us again.”

“They doubt our strength, and they believe that America will lose our nerve and let down our guard,” Cheney said.