Remarks by Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge at a Press Conference Announcing Homeland Security Grants

Release Date: 12/03/04 00:00:00

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact 202-282-8010
Chicago, Illinois
December 3, 2004
(Remarks as Prepared

 Good afternoon.  What a nice facility.  People feel pretty safe in Chicago.  Mayor Daley and his team have done a great job. So great, in fact, that most citizens in Chicago are more worried about how the Bears are going to protect their quarterback on Sunday than they are about homeland security.

And that’s because the good people in this room work hard to protect our nation every day.   They are committed to protecting every citizen from the threat of terrorism, and I have been fortunate to work with them during the past three years.  Many thanks for your partnership.  We are not yet safe, but we are safer.  And with your continued commitment and partnership, we will prevail and preserve our freedoms from those terrorists who seek to destroy it.  But simply being committed to that task is not enough to make us safe.  

We know that you cannot achieve our collective mission without the tools that help you do your jobs.  Our job at the Department of Homeland Security is to get you the resources, the funds, the technology, the technical assistance, and the training you need as quickly as we can in order for you to fight terrorism.  

So we are pleased to announce that the Chicago urban area has been awarded $48 million in new fiscal year 2005 Urban Areas Security Initiative funding.  We are also pleased to award more than $54 million to the state of Illinois through other parts of our Homeland Security Grant Program.

These grants are part of the more than $2.5 billion in 2005 grants awarded to states and urban areas that we are announcing today – funds that will provide local communities and first responders the resources they need to prevent, respond to and recover from acts of terrorism and other disasters.

Chicago’s 2005 grant awards are in addition to the $85 million that the Chicago urban area has received since 2003.  Including the Urban Areas Security Initiative funds, the State of Illinois has received over $336 million since 2002.  And you have used those funds well.  The new operations center that we toured today is a great example of that.  It strengthens information sharing, incident coordination, decision making and technology integration throughout the city of Chicago.  In other words, the OC enormously enhances the ability of Chicago’s first responders to defend your hometown.

Chicago’s new camera system, technology to identify cell phone call locations for 911 calls, and plans for new HazMat robots, respirators and filters for fire fighters –as well as radio interoperability initiatives – will help Chicago protect the community and the first responders who serve it.  The key to disaster recovery, and much more importantly, the key to prevention, is mutual cooperation and coordination; sharing resources – equipment, information, supplies, training…and people.   We at the Department thank you all for your ideas, cooperation and commitment.

And with input from all of you – and state and local partners across the country – these new grants will get the tools to fight terror more quickly to those who need them most – first responders on the front lines.  Working together, we have continually improved the grant process.  Working together, we have streamlined funding procedures, expedited the flow of funds, and established greater accountability measures – all of which will enhance the capabilities of our nation’s first responders to prevent terrorism and respond to emergencies.

In the end, it is our collective commitment as a country to confront terrorism that will mean the ultimate difference in this war.

Every day we work to make America more secure.  Every day the memories of September 11 inspire us to become even more secure.  For the hopes of the world still rest with us to protect liberty and defend the innocent from gutless killers who seek to destroy lives and undermine a way of life that is a beacon for millions around the globe.  We will not be afraid, but we will be prepared – thanks to you.

Thank you.

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Related Information

Department of Homeland Security Announces Over $2.5 Billion in Grants Nationwide

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