Washington -- US President George W Bush Thursday celebrated the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, saying it was "hard to imagine" there had not been another "attack on our homeland" in the interim -- but also warning of the need for vigilance.

Bush and the department's secretary, Michael Chertoff, noted the work that had been done to improve security at the nation's gateways since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks - work that Chertoff said had frustrated Islamist terrorists and forced them to turn to softer targets such as Europe.

"One of the reasons we're seeing more attacks in Europe is because they think it's easier," Chertoff was quoted as saying by the Washington Post online.

Chertoff cited attacks since 2004 in Madrid, London and Glasgow and disrupted plots in Denmark, Germany, Italy, France and Portugal.

Bush, in a separate speech to DHS workers, warned that the "danger to our country has not passed."

He noted numerous attacks that had been disrupted since the department was established, "including a plot to fly an airplane into the tallest building on the West Coast, and another to blow up passenger jets headed for America across the Atlantic Ocean."

He recalled al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's threat two years ago that "operations were under preparation."

"The enemy remains active, deadly in its intent - and in the face of this danger, the United States must never let down its guard," he said, according to text of remarks released by the White House.

But he also noted the accomplishment of having avoided attacks in the intervening five years.

"I don't think we would have predicted that five years later there had not been another attack on us," he said.

The department was set up in 2003 to pull together 20 government bureaucracies, bringing under one roof responsibility for the security of goods coming in through sea and air ports, passengers coming in on planes, trains, ships and roads, passenger luggage and the like.

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