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Release Date: July 7, 2008
Ignacio, Colo.
Southern Ute Indian Tribal Headquarters, Leonard C. Burch Building
Secretary Chertoff: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for that, Mr. Red, for that prayer which I think expresses sentiments that we can all agree with and subscribe to. I want to thank the other tribal leaders, Presidents and Chairmen, who met with me and came from some distance to meet with me. And I want to thank all of you for turning out and giving me a warm welcome.
It’s a tremendous honor for me to be here with you today. I guess we could have been outside - they were a little worried about the rain, but I’m happy to see that it’s sunny skies. I also want to thank the Southern Ute tribe for hosting this event as -- and of course, particularly the Growth Fund for letting us use this wonderful facility, and for being very welcoming to me and my staff in Indian Country.
And we did have the opportunity, over the last hour, to sit down with tribal leaders, and myself and my staff, to talk about some of the challenges that are faced and some of the common challenges that are faced here in Indian Country as it relates to homeland security.
The tribes are important partners in our department. We’re a new department. We haven’t fully broke down all of the processes and procedures that some of the more mature departments have, but we’re working now. We have a Deputy Assistant Secretary to deal specifically with tribal issues, Stephanie Tennyson. We want to do a partnership with the tribes, as we do with the states, on a whole host of issues related to homeland security -- prevention, preparedness and response to man-made events and to natural events as well.
One of those core principles is our department’s recognition that expertise does not reside in Washington D.C. alone, but that protecting our country is a team effort and a partnership in all levels and in all regions and parts of the United States. Tribes are a vital part of this network and of course, we’re in an area here where tribes have responsibility for a very significant amount of the land, a very significant number of people that have, of course, a lot of economic activity, including critical infrastructure. That’s why I wanted to come out here to make sure that you understand we are working very hard to bring you into our partnership in planning various efforts, as we do with the states and with the private sector as well. And I’m hoping that today’s meeting enables us to really invigorate this effort, particularly with -- Stephanie is our point of contact to make sure we are fully integrated across an entire range of responsibilities that we have in Homeland Security.
I’d also like to recognize members of the regional Four Corners Homeland Security Coalition, which includes not only the tribes here today, but the members of the National Native Law Enforcement Association, state and local authorities, (inaudible) U.S. attorney, and members of the private sector. This consortium, this coalition, recognizes the importance of regional planning in doing everything with Homeland Security. Terrorist attacks, natural disasters, all kinds of challenges -- disease -- don’t stop at jurisdictional boundaries. They affect everybody within a region, and that’s why a regional approach is the most sensible approach and the most efficient approach to Homeland Security.
In many cases, of course, it’s a regional response that’s necessary. We all see that when there’s fire, a flood, a disaster, we reach out not only to do the community afflicted, but to the communities surrounding and some not surrounding, to send their responders to help get control of the situation. We see that now in California where we’ve got literally hundreds of fires and tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of acres, and we’ve got not only the California authorities, but authorities from all around the country and federal authorities, working together as part of our incident management system to quell those fires and -- ultimately to respond, when the fires are put out, to the natural consequences and the human consequences of those fires. Likewise, if we look at the recent floods in the Midwest, we see how the floods cross state lines, jurisdictional lines, affecting people in a wide variety of communities, but they all came together in order to fight those fires in some very heroic and difficult circumstances.
And as I head back to Washington this afternoon, I’ll be in Missouri, hoping to meet some of the people as I was earlier in Iowa in the last couple of weeks. The regional Four Corners Homeland Security Coalition, which has been funded through DHS grants, has fully embraced this idea of regionalization, so I want to commend you for coming together to develop plans and programs in a coordinated fashion for the entire four corners region. I know you’re addressing interoperable communications, information and intelligence sharing, and protecting critical infrastructure and key resources through an all hazards, multidisciplinary approach. In fact, I was able to tour the natural gas facilities here a little earlier this morning. It’s a very efficient operation which the growth fund operates here, but it’s also one in which safety and security are obviously very much on the minds of plant operators, and so that’s a very good model for the kind of things we need to do.
I also know that the coalition has formulated a plan of action to assess capabilities and resources and compare them to our national preparedness goal and try the capabilities list to identify any gaps that need to be filled. In working with FEMA, working with Stephanie, we’re going to have more to fill those gaps once we’ve got these gaps identified.
What I say, though, wherever I go in the country, whether it’s here, whether it’s in the Gulf Coast, whether it’s in the northwest, is that in the end, preparedness is not just a governmental responsibility. Whether at the federal government, state government, tribal government or local government, it is able individual responsibility, down to the family level and the local business level. We know that disaster can strike at any moment, and taking steps ahead of time is the best way to increase your chances of survival and effective response if you mitigate the harm of the disaster.
You know, when I was at the plant, one thing struck me. The people who are working there -- there are signs and reminders of the importance of safety and the importance of proper procedures and being prepared, having the right tools, all over the plant. And every day, there’s – the plant manager said, every day, we live this. We practice it, we rehearse it, so that we know what to do if there’s a gas leak or a fire or something that goes on at the plant.
You can do this. People can do this. I was disheartened to read an article in the newspaper the other day where some sociologist had surveyed a bunch of people and they were saying, “Well, you know, it’s just too complicated. We can’t do it. We can’t pay attention to it. It’s too hard.” I don’t believe that. I think if you look at the spirit -- not just the plant, obviously, but the spirit of this country and this part of the country, and the spirit that the people bring to living in a land that can sometimes be inhospitable and harsh, I have no doubt that we can do this, that we know -- we can figure out a plan, we can practice the plan, we can prepare ourselves and we can take it as seriously as the people who work in that natural gas plant, or as all of our ancestors did, in facing some of the hardships of living in a part of the country that is beautiful, but where nature can also be very challenging.
So I think, again, it’s a great opportunity to remind all of us to lead by example, about the importance of individual preparedness. And I want to again remind everybody that we’ve got www.ready.gov and Citizen Corp – are two ways in which people can learn how to do this. It’s not hard. They can learn to do it. They can make the plan. They just have to put the dedication into it that I saw at the plant that you all operate up here at the Arkansas (inaudible).
So I’d like to conclude by commending the work of the Coalition and the concept of networking that is really the key in the concept of partnership - it’s the key. We’ll continue to reach out to tribes. We’re working on institutionalizing our tribal policy, with which we have in draft form and want to talk to you about and consult with you about that. And we’re going to continue to have a point of contact that can direct to you and you can direct to us when we need to communicate.
So thank you for inviting me, thank you for honoring me as you did upstairs, and honoring me again as you did down here. It was a privilege to be here to see some of what you’ve done and now I’ll be happy to answer questions.
Yes.
Question: Sorry. We -- one of the leaders of the largest Russian oil company just made an announcement that he -- they -- think it’s possible that the price of oil gas -- the price of oil could go to $250 a barrel the next year. Is there going to be any reallocation of funds within DHS to cover all those numerous soft targets in America that could impact the price of oil?
Secretary Chertoff: Well, you know we actually have — it does not have to get to $140 for us to focus on that. We have actually looked at the significant infrastructure -- refineries, other elements, pipelines. We’ve actually mapped it out. We actually know where the major vulnerabilities are. And we have worked with -- of course, a lot of it in the private sector. If you look at the private sector, take on its responsibilities for protecting its assets. But we have worked on plans to identify them, to protect them both in terms of description and loss of assets, but in terms of -- but also in terms of the ability to protect against an explosion that might impact people.
You know, I’ll give you a perfect example of this. When we had Gulf Coast hurricanes we were very focused immediately on the possibility of either natural disaster or somebody taking advantage of a natural disaster, with damaging or destroying refineries. You know, (inaudible). And so we’ve put an enormous number of assets into protecting those. So there is something -- I hope it doesn’t come to $250 a barrel. We’ve been working, even when it was down to $30 a barrel, at protecting oil facilities.
Moderator: We have time for two more questions.
Question: Earlier, you had mentioned some of the challenges that Southern Ute tribe and other tribal states -- tribe states as well. What are some of those that you discussed earlier this morning?
Secretary Chertoff: Every -- every (inaudible) area faces its own issues. And I hope there’s -- I mean, from a natural hazard standpoint, fires are -- have traditionally been a big issue here. I gather flooding is a big issue in parts of this region as well. The vast spaces mean that the ability to communicate is more difficult than it might be in an area that’s more densely populated. So I think, you know, these are all areas where planning capabilities, you know, communications capabilities, things of that sort, are really pertinent to protecting the security of the people in this -- in this tribe, and in this entire region.
Moderator: Thank you.
Secretary Chertoff: All right. Thanks a lot.
This page was last reviewed/modified on July 7, 2008.
