--- title: President Obama's National Security Speech: Read Transcript description: President Obama the final national security speech of his tenure, sharing counterterrorism recommendations for the struggle against ISIS canonical: https://time.com/4592692/president-obama-national-security-speech-transcript/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-06T22:50:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:55:58.742Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read the Full Transcript of President Obama's National Security Speech og:description: The president touted victories against al Qaeda and strategies for taking on ISIS og:url: https://time.com/4592692/president-obama-national-security-speech-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd66df991c083d04b/6988b1f5cd1bbac18e70350e/barack-obama.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6016 og:image:height: 3384 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-OBAMA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read the Full Transcript of President Obama's National Security Speech twitter:description: The president touted victories against al Qaeda and strategies for taking on ISIS twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd66df991c083d04b/6988b1f5cd1bbac18e70350e/barack-obama.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read the Full Transcript of President Obama's National Security Speech > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f4f85fbb-6225-4caf-94bb-464ccfd7ad48&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Obama Delivers Last Major National Security Speech [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama Delivers Last Major National Security Speech](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cHKOaLU0.m3u8) (2:22)  _Published 2016-12-06. President Barack Obama gave his last major national security speech as Commander-in-Chief on Tuesday. He summed up his administration’s counter-terrorism efforts over the past eight years._ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 6, 2016 10:50 PM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 6, 2016 10:50 PM UTC President Obama gave what is expected to be the final national security speech of his tenure on Tuesday, discussing his administration’s accomplishments in spheres like battling [al Qaeda](http://time.com/4586536/ohio-state-university-attacker-isis/) and killing [Osama bin Laden](http://time.com/4307301/5-years-osama-bin-laden/), as well as counterterrorism recommendations for the ongoing struggle against [ISIS](http://time.com/4582049/isis-car-bomb-hilla-iraq/) and other extremist groups. “While we have made it much more difficult to carry out an attack approaching the scale of 9/11,” he said, “we face a threat that will endure.” Nevertheless, he urged open-mindedness toward those fleeing from conflict zones, arguing, “we need to help [refugees](http://time.com/4569787/greece-refugees-migrants-syria-winter/) who escaped the horrors of war in search of a better life.” Read the full text of his speech below: --- > “” --- ## Transcript I was just told that was going to be the last Hail to the Chief on the road and it got me kind of sentimental. As we speak, ISIL faces an offensive on Mosul from Iraqi troops and coalition support. That's the largest remaining city that it controls. Meanwhile in Syria, ISIL's self declared capital in Raqqa is being squeezed. We have attacked ISIL's financial lifeline, destroying hundred of millions of dollars of oil and cash reserves. The bottom line is we are breaking the back of ISIL, we are taking away its safe havens and we have [ APPLAUSE ] And, and we've accomplished all this at a cost of $ 10 billion over two years. Which the same amount that we use to spent in one month at the height of the Iraq war. We should take great pride in the progress that we've made over the last state years No foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland. [ APPLAUSE ] And it's not because they didn't try. So rather than offer false promises that we can eliminate terrorism by dropping more bombs, or deploying more and more troops, or fencing ourselves off from the rest of the world, we have to take a long view of the terrorist threat. 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