US still faces the threat of a catastrophic attack with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons and it should be more determined to fight the challenge, President George W Bush has said.
"America faces the possibility of catastrophic attack from ballistic missiles armed with weapons of mass destruction," Bush said in his weekly radio address on Sunday.
"Terrorists and terrorist states are in a race for weapons of mass murder, a race they must lose. They are resourceful -- we must be more resourceful. They are determined -- we must be more determined," he said.
The September 11, 2001, attacks on the US had shown what hijackers "could inflict upon our country, armed with box cutters, mace and 19 airline tickets," Bush said.
The best intelligence is necessary to win the war on terror and to stop proliferation, Bush said raising the case of Pakistani nuclear scientist AQ Khan accused of selling sensitive weapons technology.
"Khan and his associates sold nuclear technology and knowhow to rogue regimes around the world, such as Iran and North Korea," the President said.
{{/usCountry}}"Khan and his associates sold nuclear technology and knowhow to rogue regimes around the world, such as Iran and North Korea," the President said.
{{/usCountry}}He praised the work of US and British intelligence in dismantling the network and urged the United Nations to toughen anti-proliferation laws and reiterated the proposals he made earlier this week to prevent proliferation.
Bush said a loophole in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty allowing countries to seek nuclear weapons under the cover of civilian nuclear power programmes should be closed.