Bush was really was interested in stopping terrorism after 2000 election

Bush's priorities upon being elected according to InfoPlease:

"In his first months in office Bush moved quickly to win congressional approval of his tax-cut program, as well as to halt or modify the institution of various regulations proposed in the last weeks of the Clinton administration. Many of his proposed measures were generally conservative and probusiness, as in legislation to modify bankruptcy laws, proposals to fund church-run social welfare programs, and the abandonment of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and of the antiballistic missile (ABM) treaty (see disarmament, nuclear; Strategic Defense Initiative).

In other areas, however, his administration pursued a less traditionally conservative course, for example, securing the establishment of federally mandated nationwide standardized testing for public school students.

President Bush was also unusual in assigning greater policy-making and governing responsibilities to the vice president and members of the cabinet than earlier administrations had."

Bush also eliminated Clinton's counterterrorism office because this was a low priority compared to the above.

Apart from any specifics in the Daily Bulletin in August, it's pretty clear from the record that Bush had other items on his agenda and thus turned out to be lax in homeland security.

In effect, he gambled on this not being a hot problem and lost (we all lost).

He got his tax cuts and NCLB and deregulation, which were his goals.