--- 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: 2026-02-23T02:10:38.397Z 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 by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 6, 2016 10:50 PM UTC  US President Barack Obama speaks on counterterrorism at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida on December 6, 2016. US President Barack Obama speaks on counterterrorism at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida on December 6, 2016.Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images 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: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4592692/president-obama-national-security-speech-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4592692/president-obama-national-security-speech-transcript/"},"headline":"Read the Full Transcript of President Obama's National Security Speech","datePublished":"2016-12-06T22:50:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:10:38.397Z","description":"The president touted victories against al Qaeda and strategies for taking on ISIS","url":"https://time.com/4592692/president-obama-national-security-speech-transcript/","keywords":["National Security","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd66df991c083d04b/6988b1f5cd1bbac18e70350e/barack-obama.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd66df991c083d04b/6988b1f5cd1bbac18e70350e/barack-obama.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-OBAMA","caption":"US-POLITICS-OBAMA","creditText":"Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/national-security/","name":"National Security"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4592692/president-obama-national-security-speech-transcript/","name":"Read the Full Transcript of President Obama's National Security Speech"}}]}] ```