Press Briefing by Secretary Ridge

Release Date: 02/14/03 00:00:00

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
February 14, 2003

11:43 A.M. EST 

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Good afternoon.  Good afternoon.  Sorry I'm running late, apologize for that.

While we have been at war with terrorists for the last 17 months, it has been one week since the national threat level was increased, so I would like to use this opportunity to give you an update as to where we are.

The federal government, state and local authorities and the private sector have all taken very important steps to ramp up protective measures to do whatever they can to prevent a terrorist attack from occurring.  We have not received any additional intelligence that would lead us to either raise or lower the threat level at this time.  

We assess all of the available information several times a day.  But I would like to remind everyone again that the information we have to work with, more often than not, is very vague.  It does not tell us when, where or how the terrorists might try to harm us again.

I assure you, however, that if we get detailed, credible intelligence that we can act upon, we will certainly let the appropriate authorities know and, in many instances, work with them to act upon it.  But, for now, we must take steps across the board to protect our fellow citizens and our way of life.

Now, in addition to the many efforts government and the private sector have taken to strengthen security and to enhance protective measures, last Friday we also suggested some steps that families and schools and businesses should take.  I can recall basically making those suggestions, not only as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, but as a parent and a spouse.  And I think we talked about having a communication plan with your family, not unlike a communication plan that you would have, hopefully, in a home with children to, say in the event that there's a fire or some other emergency, these are the kinds of things we as a family want to do.  I recall correctly we talked about putting together an emergency supply kit    not that you'd need it but there is some sense, I think, of personal satisfaction and sense of control over being able to have access if you need it in the unlikely but remote possibility that certain kinds of terrorist attacks would occur, that you would have already had an emergency supply kit available to you.

And then I think we used that opportunity to say to everyone that now, and the weeks and months ahead, I think we should get as informed as we possibly can about the kinds of terrorist attacks that might require the use of that communication plan, the use of that supply kit, just get better informed generally.

Now, included in the emergency supply kit that was recommended by a lot of emergency management officials. I think FEMA on its web site includes duct tape and plastic sheets. I want to make something very, very clear at this point.  We do not    we do not want individuals or families to start sealing their doors or their windows.  It is very appropriately listed in the list of supplies for an emergency supply kit.  Those supplies could be used in response to certain kinds of terrorist attacks.  Frankly, a lot of folks out around the country that have taken our suggestion to build up that supply kit, we're grateful that they have taken our recommendation, but we want to emphasize again that's part of an emergency supply kit.

There may--God forbid, there may come a time when the local authorities or national authorities or someone will tell you that you've got to use them but, for the time being, we just don't want folks sealing up their doors or sealing up their windows.  Unfortunately, dealing with that kind of possibility is part of the new reality we live with.

So next Wednesday, I will formally launch the Department of Homeland Security Ready Campaign, which we've been working on in conjunction with the Ad Council for quite some time.  While your government is doing everything it can to prevent an attack, citizens also should know what to do because, in the end, being prepared, knowing what to do can and will save lives.

Hopefully Americans look at it this way.  The worst case scenario, something happens, you've got your supply kit available.  You've made the preparations, you're in a position to help yourself and your family.  Best case scenario is, nothing happens.  Save a little extra water, some batteries.  Who knows, you may have to pull some of that stuff out in the event you get four to eight inches of snow and you can't go anywhere for a day or two.

Bottom line is, it's an emergency supply kit.  We don't want anybody using it right now.

I'd certainly like to highlight a few things the administration has done in the past week or two on homeland security.  Some of these weren't just completed in the past week or two; some of these are a product of almost a year's work.

The White House today is releasing the National Strategy to Security Cyberspace, as well as the National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets.  These two documents are the product of the extraordinary work of several individuals in the Office of Homeland Security and the Department of Homeland Security, involving the private sector, involving public town meetings, and they will be available after my remarks and our question-and-answer period to answer    respond to any inquiries you might have.  But these documents will be critical in their application to the new department.

Remember, we have an Information Analysis Infrastructure Protection Unit.  And having a strategy, having a way ahead to deal with the critical infrastructure and cyber infrastructure    basically they're interdependent    will be very helpful as we chart the course for that particular unit within the Department of Homeland Security.  These road maps will help guide government and business as we continue to improve our protective measures.

The National Strategy for Combating Terrorism is also being released today by the National Security Council.  It discusses our accomplishments and what additional steps will be taken in the future.  The new Department of Homeland Security will obviously be working to implement its part of these new strategies.

Now, the Coast Guard has recently developed the capability to deploy what they call new Fast Rope Teams, allowing us to push our borders out even further.  These teams can board ships from helicopters many miles offshore.  The Customs Service is now entering Phase II of the Container Security Initiative, expanding into additional European and Asian seaports.  The Customs Service has also begun using explosives dogs, specially trained dogs, that can detect chemicals that can be used as weapons.  These are now available at certain ports of entry within our country.

And while I'm pleased the new congressional leadership has finally finished work on the '03 budget, I do think it's important to note that they have placed some constraints on the distribution of those dollars.  The $3.5 billion in grants that the President requested was to help state and local governments fund their plans specifically to respond to terrorist attacks.  We have been working for almost a year with the state and local governments so they developed statewide plans, beginning from the local level up, so that when the dollars were forthcoming, because we knew Congress would ultimately appropriate substantial dollars for homeland security, so that the dollars could be distributed to the states and the local communities according to the plan that they drew up.

Unfortunately, that flexibility isn't available, isn't attached to all the dollars that we've received from Congress.  We're grateful.  There's a substantial amount of money.  But while the overall number may add up to $3.5 billion, only about $1.3 billion, we believe, can be used for the broad-based, needs-based grant program that the President had originally sought.

In spite of this, we know that there is new money available to help secure the homeland and, within the confines of the law, as it relates to the other $2.2 billion, to the extent that there's flexibility to issue those dollars to the states and locals according to their plan, we're going to do everything we possibly can to see that those dollars are distributed in that fashion.  Ideally, we would want the $3.5 billion targeted specifically and exclusively to needs generated by local and statewide assessments.

Unfortunately, because--and it's predictable.  I mean, it happens; I'm not being critical.  It happens all the time in every budget.  We don't quite have that flexibility.  So, again, working with Congress in the 2004 budget, we certainly hope that, one, we can get the budget done and not have a five-month delay in the 2004 budget.  And then, two, we can build in the kind of flexibility that allows the states and the locals, the governors and the mayors and the first responders actually to access dollars, to build up their own capacity according to what they view as their needs.

Clearly, in the months ahead, we will continue to improve and upgrade our homeland security to meet the challenges that we continue to confront.  I see evidence every single day at all levels of government throughout the private sector that America is responding to the challenges that we've had to continually face during the past 17 months.  And as the President said time and time again, it's because of our -- that spirit, that resolve we are confident at the end we will prevail.  Thank you.

Questions. Sir.

Q: Governor, do you see a danger that Americans may be overreacting to the earlier threats?  Is there an irrational behavior that you think needs to be countered?

And, secondly, what is the status now of the threat tied to the end of the hajj pilgrimage?  Do you believe there are operatives in the United States?  Even if you are not changing the alert level, do you think an attack is more likely than maybe you thought a week ago?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Well, to answer the second part of your question first, we still, at this point, today, based on the intelligence that we've received, keep the level and keep the warning level at orange.  Again, we've received no additional information that would have us think of raising it or lowering it.  But, again, those assessments are made on a day-to-day basis.  Literally, we have people in the intelligence community that are reviewing it constantly and several times a day they get together to review it collectively.  So, again, that determination is made on a day-to-day basis.

I think Americans have accepted, as difficult as it is, this new reality of being the primary target of a worldwide terrorist organization such as al Qaeda in a very rational, responsible way.  I know there have been comments and observations made about how people have responded to the notion of putting together an emergency supply kit.  Frankly, I think that's fairly rational behavior.

If someone suggests to you that there are things you could do to protect your family in the unlikely but possible event something could occur in your community or in your neighborhood that you might have to use some of these supplies, I think it's pretty rational for people to accept that recommendation.  And so I applaud what they've done.  And hopefully all Americans would take us up on that recommendation.

That's one of the reasons we're going to lay out that Ready Campaign that we're starting on Wednesday, to just make sure all Americans are better informed.

Q: Mr. Secretary, there has been a report in the past 24 hours or so that one of the key informants in leading to the decision to raise the threat level failed a polygraph test.  Does that change your view in any way about whether the threat is still at the right level?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  The decision to raise the threat level was based upon multiple sources and various pieces of information.  And part of the ongoing assessment process is to either verify, continue to verify the credibility of the information or there are occasions when you learn over a period of time that it either was not as accurate or was totally inaccurate. And so I'm not going to comment on any particular piece of information. That is very much the process that we go through on a day-to-day, hour-by-hour basis. And the totality of the information that led us to raise the threat warning will constantly be scrutinized.  And if there is a change based on either additional information or we learn that some of it wasn't as accurate as we thought initially, we will accordingly make a recommendation to lower it.

Q: Even some of the state and local governments are saying even the $3.5 billion is nowhere near enough, that they've spent well in excess of that trying to beef up their homeland security.  They want more money.  What can you tell them about the future?

And, secondly, how will you be expediting the delivery of the money that has now been approved by Congress to the localities?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  First of all, we know that building up capacity is certainly going to take more than the $3.5 billion of this year.  That's why the President in the 2004 budget has additional $3.5 billion.  And one of the best ways for the federal government to respond to the cries for additional money from the federal government is to maybe set priorities in the    authorization appropriation process and get those measures reviewed and out the door so we can continue to help build that national capacity.  I think that would probably be the best thing for us to do.

Q: But they say they've spent $2.6 billion as opposed to  

SECRETARY RIDGE:  I think the, in my conversations with the mayors and with governors and obviously I have a special interest in trying to support my colleagues in public service, I do think there is a shared public safety responsibility.  The commitment that the President made and continues to make is a substantial sum of money.

Unfortunately as we combat the threat of international terrorism, there will be shared responsibility.  And part of that is also financial.  I know they need more money.  The President recognizes they need more money.  That's why in this budget, he's asked for an additional $3.5 billion which will hopefully be appropriated in a way that we can respond to the specific needs and requests of the state and locals.

Q: Mr. Secretary, what can you do, even not having the $3.5 million, what can you do to get this money out into the localities fast?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  That's the second part of your question.

Q: Right.

SECRETARY RIDGE:  And thank you for reiterating.

Q: How do you expedite?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Well, we are -- some of the dollars are coming in through a program at the Department of Justice called the Office of Domestic Preparedness.  Part of those dollars are going to be distributed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  We have been working for the past several weeks in anticipation of getting the appropriation from Congress, working on a means through which we can    to make this distribution as quickly as possible.

Q: Weeks, months?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  It's difficult to say.  We're going to get it out as quickly as we possibly can without putting any time constraints on it.  But we know that they're anxious to use it.  We know they've got immediate needs and it's our job to get it out as quickly as the system will allow.

Q: -- a little bit more about the Ready Campaign?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  I beg your pardon?

Q: Could you speak a little bit more about this ready campaign?  Are you talking about a media blitz telling people to prepare for a terrorist attack?  Do you think that might cause a panic?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  No, it is a, if I tell you too much, you might not show up for the announcement on Wednesday.  I've got to be careful how far I go down that road.  But we have been working for almost a year with the Ad Council and the Sloan Foundation and professionals and trying to devise a way that we can be involved and work to inform and educate America about this new reality without alarming them, to let them understand that there are certain protective measures that they can take as individuals or as families or as businesses, and to do it in a way that they recognize that, as individual citizens or families, whatever, that's all we really want them to do.

I mean, the war on terrorism will be won by the professionals.  It will be won by the professionals at the borders, it will be won by the Coast Guard and the Customs officials and by the military and the CIA and the FBI.  They are the front-line troops.  But there are things that individual citizens and families can do to help protect themselves and their families, which we think are appropriate and necessary.  And so this is an educational campaign.  We are going to sustain it over a long period of time.  And we have had, I think, terrific support from a lot of people so we can get the message out.

Q: Aside from some of the measures you have already suggested, can you give us some specific examples of how you think the word is really getting to the critical infrastructure, both in the public and private sector, that things are really changing, in terms of how they're being prepared or things that they're doing to change their  

SECRETARY RIDGE:  I'll give you a good example.  Two quick examples come to mind.  We got a report from the city of Chicago, shortly after we went up to orange, the different measures that they were taking to enhance their security.  We got a report on from the state of Utah the different things they were doing.

We know what the federal government does when we ramp it up.  And that is a report, I'm sure, that could be replicated in cities across the country.  We focus on New York and Washington surely.  But I've been in Charlotte and I know what they do in Houston and I know what the mayor is doing out in L.A.  They are very much on top of organizing and responding to our call to vary security or enhance security.  It's across the board; the private sector does the same thing.

Q: Can you give us some examples of --

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Well, the federal government, for example, would    and a lot of the state and locals have followed up    on public buildings, they will limit entrance    ingress and egress into facilities.  They'll change the traffic flow around.  They'll put more guards out.  They'll change their pattern of surveillance.

 We've got we, ourselves, at our borders, have -- we're doing more searches.  We do a lot of random searches at the borders.  We're doing more of those.  The Coast Guard has ramped up its security.  More patrols, a variation of patrols.

It's just a variety of different things that people do automatically when we go from yellow to orange.  And when we revert back to the yellow status, they will modify appropriately.

Q: Sir, is it true that more National Guard has been deployed in the southern border to help the Coast Guard and the INS to do the search to people and cargo when they come into the United States?  And would you be willing or in favor of deploying U.S. forces to secure the southern border    the border if the United States go to war with Iraq?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  We have been working with our friends and our allies in Mexico since September 11th to accomplish two goals.  One is to improve our security, but also to enhance the flow of legitimate goods and people across the border.  There are no plans to militarize that border.  There are plans    regardless of whether or not we go to war with Iraq, we need to do more and to do better at those borders.  And we are in the process of working with the Mexican government to do precisely that.

Q: Is it true that the National Guard is assisting Customs and the INS right at this point  

SECRETARY RIDGE: The National Guard has, on occasion    on occasion    been called in to assist with inspections both at the Mexican border and at the Canadian border.  And if the -- if the flow of traffic became so backed up that we needed to employ other people there to help facilitate the flow of people and goods, we could conceivably do that again.  But working with our Mexican allies, we're trying to deploy different kinds of security measures, many of them away from the border, so there's a lot less delay at the border.

Q: Given the statements attributed to bin Laden regarding solidarity with Iraq, I'm curious how much of the threat information that you are receiving now suggests an attack timed to coincide not with the hajj but with the commencement of hostilities in Iraq?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Well, our estimation, our review of the intelligence and the conclusion to raise the threat warning level was based specifically on information about how al Qaeda operates.  And we will continue to make a threat-driven intelligence assessment as to whether we either raise or lower levels of warning.

The notion al Qaeda will attack, al Qaeda will operate when they deem themselves ready to move.  They didn't need us to be engaged militarily in another part of the world on September 11th.  They will act when they are prepared to act.  It may coincide with our military involvement elsewhere if and when that decision is made.  But we see    there was no nexus.  We raised the threat level last Friday because of what we learned through the al Qaeda network as to how they were going to act, what they might do.  And it wasn't predicated on anything related to Iraq.

Q: Governor Ridge, back to duct tape, please.  Thousands and thousands of people went out and bought duct tape and plastic and they now have it at home.  And the message from you is, don't use it yet.  Can you  

SECRETARY RIDGE: There was never a message to use it.  The message was, put together an emergency supply kit.  And if you looked at the FEMA web site that's been out there for several months, and I think there are several other sites you get from emergency management players, is if you are assembling a supply kit, that's on the list, pick some of it up and put it with other things and leave it alone.

Q: Can you be specific, though, about    are you saying there's a danger of sealing up a room now?  People are asking how long can they actually survive in a room that's sealed up?  How do they know whether to pick a basement room or an upper storey room?  And is there some specific trigger that they should be listening for in order to start doing whatever    in other words, this stuff is in many people's homes.  What do they do now?

SECRETARY RIDGE: Sure. Sure. What they should do now, if they've secured their supply kit is they ought to go pick the kids up at school because it's Friday and they ought to go to the soccer games and they ought to go to work, because they've done all we want them to do now.  A very appropriate question.

There are occasions that emergency management experts, terrorism experts will tell us that specific kinds of attacks where the best thing for an individual or family or group to do is to remain in the building.  And it is that kind of information and those kind of scenarios that we are going to make available as we roll out this Ready Campaign, because it's a very appropriate question.

When are the circumstances to use it?  You don't use it for every conceivable terrorist attack. And that is the kind of question that people ask and we will answer.  But you can't, there are so many scenarios. That's why we say, we just need to launch this campaign to get people better informed.

Q: This Ready Campaign wasn't ready in time for the increase in the terror alert. I mean, did you unnecessarily scare people?  People have made that charge.

SECRETARY RIDGE:  We -- I think we've tried to explain to the American people that once we went to a national warning system that when the men and women who you have entrusted with your security to protect yourself, your family and your way of life, have information that they view as credible and they believe warrants raising the level of alert, that's precisely what we're going to do.

We know, we know that enhanced security and broader awareness is a deterrent.  We know that there will be circumstances, because of this new reality, where there will be this fluctuation.  Look, we started at a pretty high level of threat, elevated level of risk, is a yellow level.  I don't want to get into this, but it's a new reality.

September 11th, 2001, it's a significantly new reality.

But the reason we went to the threat warning system, the reason we were talking about emergency supply kits, the reason we're going to a Ready Program is just to help better educate and prepare Americans in the unlikely but the possible event that one of these many forms of terrorist attack occurs in their country.

So it was designed to keep the public informed and I think the public has responded quite well.

Q: Can you go through the procedure for vetting informants in these matters?

SECRETARY RIDGE: I beg your pardon? I didn't hear the question.

Q: Could you possibly outline the procedure for vetting informants in these matters?

Q: And what led to the verification or the orange alert this time around?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Well, there are multiple sources of information that obviously the intelligence community is able to accumulate and upon which it makes its assessments and upon which decisions are made.  And, as you know, because of the continuing success of the war against international terrorism, it's not just people that we are able to apprehend but our allies have apprehended and interrogated a couple of thousand individuals as well.

So as we continue to prosecute the war, we have access to more and more information, we will continue to have access to information from individuals.  We'll continue to conduct interrogations.  But that's just one of many sources of information.  And I don't think it would be appropriate to tell you anything other than the    the assessment and the evaluation of the information goes on continuously.  And there will be an assessment    several assessments done today, over the weekend, every single day.  And it's based on those collective assessments that we raise or lower the threat warning level.

There is no additional information that we have that suggests we are going to raise it or lower it today.  It could change within 24 hours.

Q: How about schools? You obviously spent a lot of time on critical infrastructure in this country.  But the Department of Education says it won't have a crisis plan, template for schools that involves terrorism, until early this spring.  Has the federal government spent more attention dealing with threats to the economic infrastructure than it has to children?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  The federal government has    including the Department of Education, has taken its responsibility to do everything it can to protect everyone, everywhere, regardless of whether they're in school or at work, in airplanes or crossing the border.  Developing these protective measures involves considerable work with experts and we know that there's a constant ongoing process to    to develop protective measures and to respond to inquiries from school principals to businessmen and the like.

So I think, again, this is very much work that we have done and will continue to do.  And the plan that we put out for any group or for any particular sector of the economy is subject to modification down the time    down the road.

Q: Can you tell us, sir, how many of the anti-aircraft missile batteries have been set up around Washington and any other extraordinary security like that?  And to get back to Pete's question, has there been discredited some information that was provided early on that led to the raising of the security threat to high and might you be thinking of lowering it because of that?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Well, we would    again, the intelligence assessment process goes on constantly on a day-to-day, hourly-by-hourly basis.  And the measures that took us to the orange are reviewed.  They may be substantiated or sustained over a period of time.  Further review, we may reassess the relevance or the importance we gave to them.  But, in the overall mix    and remember, this was an aggregation of information    there is nothing that leads us to raise or lower it.

Q: How about the missiles, sir?  How about the missile batteries?  How many are here?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Pardon me?

Q: How many anti-aircraft missile batteries    can you tell us that, the number?

SECRETARY RIDGE: You notice that there are a couple out there, and I think that's all we need to say.  We also know that one of the things that terrorists have occasion to do is use the same methods of attack as they've used before.  They went after the Cole, the U.S.S. Cole in a raft and explosives; they went after the French tanker that way.  They have a tendency to repeat themselves.

And if you believe that terrorists are inclined to strike out at nationally significant targets, and you think that one of the means they may still try to use would be an aircraft, and one of the potential venues would be Washington, the fact that in a heightened level of alert there are some defensive measures positioned around the community should be  should be reassuring.

Q: What about, sir, what about schools and children? What about schools and children? You mentioned a little bit about that. But I spoke yesterday with several parents because I was doing a story in different schools. And they were upset in a way, because they haven't told anything, what they're supposed to do.

SECRETARY RIDGE: Much of the, much of the advice that we give to individuals and families has an application at the different schools. As someone mentioned in an earlier question, the Department of Education has been working with schools and the academic community to help them devise some specific plans.

But remember, depending on the nature of the attack, there are certain measures that we would want individuals, families, schools and a community to do.  And as we develop these plans, we work simultaneously with those we would ask to implement the plans.  We work with the private sector to develop plans on infrastructure.  And we work with the technology community to develop plans on cyber security.  We're working with the scholastic community to develop plans on how we deal with the potential threats to schools.

And so, again, it is the federal, state and local governments, working with all theses constituencies and organizations, to develop the plans in the unlikely but possible event that something occurs.  We can never absolutely predict when and where, but we can always prepare.  We can't always predict, but we can always prepare.  And that's what we're trying to do, and that's at the very heart of the Ready Campaign.

Thank you.

12:18 P.M. EST

END

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