Obama: I absolutely reject the notion that preparation and prevention are mutually exclusive. The security of the American people—including preventing terrorist attacks—is and always has been my highest priority. And since I took office, we’ve continued to strengthen our counterterrorism efforts. We took out bin Laden and thousands of terrorists off the battlefield—terrorists who will never be able to threaten us again. Devastating blows have been dealt to the al Qaeda core in the tribal regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. We’ve taken out leaders of al Qaeda affiliates in places like Yemen and Somalia. We’re leading the coalition against ISIL, pushed that terrorist group back in both Syria and Iraq and taken out more than 120 top ISIL leaders and commanders. Over the years, our intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement professionals have prevented many terrorist attacks, around the world and here at home. And we’re going to keep doing everything in our power, every day, to prevent future attacks.

But even as we’re relentless in preventing terrorist attacks, part of keeping the American people safe is making sure we’re ready for all contingencies. So it’s not “either or”—preventing attacks or being able to respond to and recover from attacks. We have to do both. In fact, to focus solely on prevention while ignoring response and recovery—or vice versa—would be irresponsible. And so, even as we devote extraordinary resources to going after terrorists overseas and preventing attacks here at home, we also work with our state, local and private sector partners to make sure we’re prepared in the event of an attack. I’m confident that my successor, whoever it is, will do so as well. After all, from Boston to San Bernardino to Orlando, we’ve seen how important it is for communities and first responders to be ready if and when tragedy strikes. That’s a critical part of preventing attacks from causing even greater loss of life. It’s a key part of our resilience. It’s one of the ways we can show terrorists that they will not succeed—that Americans get back up and we carry on, no matter what.

Brill: Why is fear of terror different? If a teenager gets an assault rifle and shoots up a movie theater and kills a half-dozen high-school kids because he is mentally ill and hates his English teacher, the media and the public will react differently than if the same teenager goes into the same school and shoots the same number of kids and yells out an ISIL phrase that he learned online. Does this difference in the public and media reaction make sense?

Obama: There’s no doubt that many people often react differently to a shooting or massacre depending on the identity or motives of the killer. We’ve seen this repeatedly in recent years. If the perpetrator is a young white male, for instance—as in Tucson, Aurora, and Newtown—it’s widely seen as yet another tragic example of an angry or disturbed person who decided to lash out against his classmates, coworkers or community. And even as the nation is shaken and mourns, these kinds of shootings don’t typically generate widespread fear. I’d point out that when the shooter or victims are African American, it is often dismissed with a shrug of indifference—as if such violence is somehow endemic to certain communities. In contrast, when the perpetrators are Muslim and seem influenced by terrorist ideologies—as at Fort Hood, the Boston Marathon bombing, San Bernardino, and Orlando—the outrage and fear is much more palpable. And yet, the fact is that Americans are far more likely to be injured or killed by gun violence than a terrorist attack.