Remarks by Secretary Ridge to the National Association of Counties

Release Date: 03/03/03 00:00:00

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Office of the Press Secretary
March 3, 2003
For Immediate Release

Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
2660 Woodley Road
Washington, D.C.

12:52 P.M. EST

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Thank you very, very much.  Thank you.  First of all, I want to thank Karen for that wonderful introduction, and to my Pennsylvania friends who applauded -- (laughter and applause) -- I thank you for helping me make Pennsylvania a leader among states and a competitor among nations.  We couldn't do it without our fellow public servants, regardless of party affiliation, at the local level.  And I'm grateful to have the opportunity to talk to county officials from around this country today.

And my first words are of thanks for the leadership of this organization and for the contribution that not only this organization has made, but each and every one of you make on a day-to-day basis back home in our war against terrorism.

After September 11th, all levels of government and the private sector forged a new partnership that has improved our country's security and certainly made it more difficult for our enemies to attack us.  Together with the help of our brave men and women in uniform, we will continue the hard work to defend and protect our nation from harm.  We do have to tip our hat to those fearless men and women of the CIA and the FBI and their counterparts in Pakistan who apprehended Khalid Sheik Mohammed over the weekend.  (Applause.)

The President has said, and you've heard him say it from time to time, that our enemies may be relentless and resolute, but they'll never be as relentless and as resolute as the United States of America.  Never.  (Applause.)

And he has also reminded us in this new war, the first war of the 21st century against a shadow enemy, the nature of the war itself means that from time to time, while we may round up groups of them and may engage them in a traditional military way, from time to time, going after their leadership, we're going to get them one at a time.  And we just did, and we got a big one this past weekend.  (Applause.)

And, on Saturday, the same day we announced the apprehension of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, we marked another milestone in our progress.  The majority of the agencies that make up the Department of Homeland Security officially joined the Department on Saturday.  (Applause.)  I'm glad you feel good about it, because I do, too.

Today is the first Monday that we all reported -- all of us reported to work, not just as Customs and Border Patrol and Coast Guard or TSA or FEMA professionals or elsewhere, but we all reported as members of one team.  The new team is the Department of Homeland Security.  Same team, same fight, same enemy.

So the structure is in place.  Now we must provide the right resources and the leadership.  And the resources that go directly to protecting Americans from terrorism and leadership at all levels of government, federal, state and local.  

I'd like to take a moment to share with you what will be spent this year on homeland security.  We nearly doubled federal spending government wide for homeland security from the year before.  Remember, this is the 2003 budget.  But more important than what we're spending -- and inputs are important, dollars are important.  But equally as important is how we're spending those dollars.  This investment will create new capabilities to protect us against terrorism and it will integrate traditional security functions in a new and better way.  Much of it builds on and expands on the significant progress we've made over the past 18 months.  The bottom line, we believe this investment improves our ability to prevent a terrorist attack, not just prepare for one.  The strategy that Karen alluded to and the President's directive when I served him in the White House as an Assistant to the President for Homeland Security said, there are really three missions:  prevent a terrorist attack, reduce vulnerability, and then be prepared to respond as quickly and effectively as possible if one occurs.

So certainly, we want to prepare for an attack, but the front side, most importantly, we want to prevent an attack from occurring in the first place.  We think that's an important distinction to remember.  It's also important to remember that part of this function begins at our very borders.

The new investment in 2003 includes funding to hire more than 1,700 new inspectors at our ports of entry, land and sea and air.  We'll hire more than 600 additional men and women at our airports, nearly 700 along our northern border, 100 in the southwest, and nearly 300 additional personnel at our maritime ports of entry.  They will be joined by nearly 600 additional border patrol agents, and all of these will join the tens of thousands of inspectors and patrollers we've hired since September 11th, 2001.

Now, formerly split between several agencies, part of our reorganization of this department and part of the flexibility that the President desired and Congress provided was the ability to take multiple organizations and coalesce them and create stronger entities and more capacity at the borders.  So we're going to blend some of these agencies into two distinct bureaus.  One is the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the other is the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, organized to protect both the security of our borders and the integrity of our immigration laws.  We're certainly going to begin supporting them by an additional $36 million for border infrastructure upgrades to make it more difficult to cross illegally.  And we see down the road in the future a combination of not only additional people but more technology, as we seal our borders and at the same time facilitate the legitimate flow of people and legitimate goods across those very same borders.

Another $380 million will go toward continued development of an entry/exit visa system.  The President has talked about that over the past couple of years.  The Congress has funded it.  This is a system to track visitors, track them.  It's a privilege, we believe, to visit this country.  We want to remain open to visitors.  Our economy depends on it, our country depends on it.  After all, we are a nation of immigrants.  A lot of interaction, economic interaction because of visitors.  Same thing applies to temporary residents.

But once the time has expired, once their leave has expired, as it were, once the visa has expired, then we have to monitor and make sure, unless there's legitimate reasons for them to stay, that they leave as scheduled.  We haven't had that kind of system before.  (Applause.)

This is a huge undertaking, but we continue to develop it with an additional $400 million.  There's $10 million additional to be used to investigate and deport many of the thousands of alien fugitives who have just failed to leave the country, even though they're under orders to do so.  Again, we are an open, diverse, trusting country.  But the reality of the new world means that those who enter, when their time has expired, must leave.  And the entry/exit system is designed to do just that.

Now, identifying and removing terrorists is only part of the battle.  We must be equally adept at spotting their deadly cargo.  And we must do so without putting a halt to global trade.  Again, distinguishing between legitimate goods and people and illegitimate goods and people at our borders is one of the critical responsibilities of this new agency, and it's an enormous challenge.

But here again, we've made great progress over the past 18 months.  We have forged agreements with Canada and Mexico to create smart borders, 21st century borders, to keep terrorists out while letting legitimate goods and people through.  One key to this is our Nexus program, which reduces border delays for people known to both sides as non-terrorists, and which is now in operation at most of our major crossings along the northern border.

Another key is our Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, which reduces the delay for cargo.  If you're a county official in a border community or a border state, you understand in a meaningful, real world way the importance of that kind of economic integration and interaction at the borders.  Your communities and families depend upon the economy being sustained by that kind of activity and people and cargo across the borders.      

Now, with the Custom Trade Partnership Agreement, we have 1,100 companies have joined the program, which provide incentives for self-policing every step of the supply chain.  We need private sector partners.  We set up a very rigorous protocol.  These companies have to agree to the protocol, have to agree to certain preventive measures all throughout their supply chain.  And if they're willing to comply with these measures, if they're willing to be audited, occasionally a spontaneous check just to make sure, a random check to make sure, then we can give them speedier service at the border.  And if they're not willing to do it, they're just going to have to wait in line.  In the just-in-time economy, we've found that it hasn't been that difficult to get 1,100 companies that agree to the protocol.  Our job, of course, is to measure and to monitor that they're complying with the new requirements.

These efforts will be aided by more than $300 million this year for the automated commercial environment and the international trade data systems.  They help us screen more cargo without slowing trade.

We have to make smart choices and smart investments.  Technology is one.  We will spend $45 million this year for non-intrusive inspection systems, portable radiation detectors, isotope identifiers, handheld acoustical inspection systems, and our mobile machines for inspection of rail containers.  Because of targeting and because of technology, targeting methodology along with technology, we do not need to inspect every single container.  We can therefore focus with targeting and technology on high-risk cargo.

Now we have the capability to screen every person and vehicle that comes across the border for radiation.  We're giving portable radiation detectors to each one of our primary inspectors, the first person you see at the border.  That's more than 15,000 men and women who will be equipped with these.  It's a first step.  It's the first deployment of this kind of technology at the borders.  We will deploy more technology and we will deploy better technology as it is refined and as it's developed by the private sector.  But, again, a very important first step.  By the end of the year, we intend to have complete radiation screening of air and sea cargo as well.

Another real success story is our cargo -- container, excuse me, security initiative.  It will improve the security of our ports by stopping dangerous cargo before it ever gets to American shores.  Twenty-one major international ports in Europe and Asia have agreed to meet the tough new standards required by the initiative.  For your benefit, you should know that about 65 percent of our container traffic into this country is generated through about 20 megaports around the world.  And so, obviously, as we're trying to reduce the risk and manage the risk, the first ports we sought to create an agreement with were these 20 megaports.

Now, cargo coming out of these ports, once we have our Customs officials assigned -- and they will be assigned there -- and there is non-intrusive technology that is assigned there, we will be able to take a look at these, prescreen them, inspect them and label them, either high risk or low risk, and then inspect them accordingly.  We're in the process of expanding that number beyond the 20 megaports as well.

So there is very sophisticated interaction between certain targeting mechanisms that we have and the technology that we possess.  Again, it's a first step.  First time we've had to do it.  Our job is to make sure that the technology improves and that we continue to refine our targeting initiative.  But it's a great way to take at least a look, a quick look at 65 percent of the containers that come into this country.

No one knows how to secure a port better than our own Coast Guard -- I would say probably one of the most undervalued and underappreciated assets in this federal government.  They're now part of the Department of Homeland Security.  The United States Coast Guard has been helping to secure the homeland for more than 200 years -- I think it's about 213 to be exact.  And, after the attacks of September 11th, that became their primary mission.

Now, it's pretty remarkable, but since that time, the Coast Guard has -- in the past couple of years, the Coast Guard has conducted more than 35,000 port security patrols, 3,500 air patrols, and they boarded more than 10,000 vessels.  The investment in 2003 provides the largest increase for Coast Guard operating expenses since World War II, enough to place an additional 2,200 men and women on active duty, develop 44 port security response boats, and six new maritime SWAT teams will be funded by this 2003 appropriation as well.  In addition, the deepwater fleet modernization program will be fully funded for the year.  Again, building stronger capabilities -- we're building on strong capabilities and we're making them even stronger.

The deepwater fleet program is a very interesting program.  Again, if you're a local official and you've got a major port in your area, or a coastal state, local official where you've got -- I mean, the Coast Guard has 95,000 miles of coastline and navigable waterways that they are to oversee.  One of the acquisitions will be the deployment of some technology that you've read about in the newspapers that we use on the battlefield.  And that is the deployment of unmanned air vehicles.  You probably heard about the Predator in Afghanistan.  But it basically extends the eyes of the Coast Guard along our waterways and along our coasts.  They're unmanned pieces of equipment.  They'll be able to detect illegal traffic -- legal or illegal traffic, and they'll be able to respond to it.  It really expands their presence, their domain awareness, much further than they're physically capable of doing now.  Again, the integration of a good plan, terrific group of men and women with technology, is a huge, huge step forward.

Now, our first objective is obviously and always to prevent terrorism.  Our second is to reduce our vulnerability to an attack.  So this year, we're investing $184 million on programs in our new Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate.  It's a perfect example of integrating old functions in a new and better way.  For the first time, we will identify and assess threats to the homeland, map those threats against critical vulnerabilities we see in critical infrastructure, issue warnings to the states and localities, and organize protective measures -- primarily with the private sector that owns about 85 to 90 percent of the critical infrastructure.  But we'll be able to take a look at that threat, match it, and then map it against the vulnerabilities, determine whether or not adequate protective measures have been taken, and then work to see that they are done.

This process will be substantially enhanced by the President's decision to create a terrorist threat integration center.  For the first time, all intelligence-gathering agencies will have a central place in which their information is delivered and we'll have groups of analysts to be able to tie all that information.  It is a huge asset that the Department of Homeland Security can use, because we have our own information analysis and infrastructure protection unit, and it also gives us access in our shop for our mission to even raw data that we might need in order to map out protective measures.  So, again, another very significant step in our war against terrorists.  We're working with other Cabinet departments and agencies on long-term national protection plans for our critical infrastructure ranging from transportation and energy to food and water and financial institutions.

Then finally, our third objective, response and recovery.  For the first time, again, in the Department of Homeland Security, what has been known as FEMA -- many of you have worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- and, by the way, FEMA will retain both its name and its mission, although it will have an expanded mission.  It will become the nation's all-hazard incident manager.  So whether it's a naturally occurring event or a terrorist event, FEMA will be the incident manager at the scene, providing funding and command and control support in a disaster, whether caused by man or by Mother Nature.

We've combined these federal resources, as I said to you, under men and women you know well.  You've worked with FEMA.  You've worked with Mike Brown, who succeeds Joe Allbaugh.  He's the President's choice and mine to lead this effort within the Department.

Let me share with you a few of the new capabilities that will be funded this year.  Under the 2003 budget, state and local governments will receive nearly a billion dollars for anti-terrorism equipment, training and exercises.  We will add to that $750 million for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, which is an historic increase, the largest in American history.  You can add to that nearly $150 million for the pre-disaster mitigation fund, money for urban search and rescue teams, for interoperable communications, for help -- $25 million to help states and localities modernize their emergency operations centers, and $20 million for the popular Community Emergency Response Training Program.

Again, as you see, we are beginning to build in very significant ways different capacities both at the local, state and national level that, at the end of the day, under our strategic plan, are integrated in the partnership that we're trying to develop with you and your colleagues around the country.  Our efforts will be aided -- and I think this is very important -- with more than a half a billion dollars that's being transferred into the new Department to spur research and development on projects to protect Americans from biological, chemical or nuclear attack.  We aim to attract the very best minds from the private sector and the academic community and get them working on high stakes, high-payoff projects.

We want to take a look at some of the prototypes that may be on some of the shelves, either in some of these companies or in some of these research laboratories or institutions of higher learning and take a look at their capacity, maybe develop a few prototypes, test them.  And if we like what we see, if they actually do the job we want them to do, then figure out ways to get them deployed around the country.  When you think about these dollars going out to these communities and to all these people, take a moment to think about the people behind those numbers, people whose jobs will be made easier and whose lives will be made safer.

Now, let me say a final word about the first responder aid package that was approved by Congress for 2003.  The good news is that there is substantial new money to assist you in your efforts to improve security.  Unfortunately, there's not as much exclusive terrorism-related money as we had hoped.  The President had requested a 1,000 percent increase on first responder dollars with the money specifically directed toward anti-terrorism plans, equipment and training.

Now, in the end, some of these dollars were deflected to other priorities.  To the extent that we can use the flexibility that Congress gave us around those programs to shift some of them back specifically to counterterrorism spending, we're going to do that.  But I assure you, regardless of whether they have a direct impact on combating terrorism, or their other means of support for state and local government, if it comes into our agency, we will do everything we can to get the money out the door as quickly as possible and in your hands.  We hope to, by the conclusion of the 2004 budget -- because there are several grant programs that we inherit in the new agency -- we hope to create a one-stop shop so whether you're at the local level or at the state level, you won't have to run around to different places within the new department to get access to these dollars, and we look forward to working with your organization on addressing that critical piece of the relationship that we have with one another.

One other thing I'm going to mention to you, there was some anti-terrorism funding out there in years past we've uncovered over the past several weeks.  I'm going to write your individual governors and say, you still have some money in some accounts from 2001 and 2002, and you might want to access those dollars as well.  So I urge you, as county officials, to work with your state governments to tap into this existing resource.  We've seen a little bit of money out there.  It was authorized and appropriated.  We're going to try to drive that out to you as quickly as possible.

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, we built a great partnership with the nation's counties over the past 18 months.  On a personal level, I want to thank your leadership for being as accessible as any organization in this town.  When we talked about our organizational plans for the new department, whether we are talking about funding initiatives, be it technology or first responders, your team represented you well and was very much a part of what we have been able to accomplish over the past 18 months.

Now that we are a full-fledged department, I'm convinced that we can build on that relationship and confident that we can do even better.  And I certainly commit to you that as we build the new department, we seek to have even better coordination, better preparation and better and easier access to funding.  Because in the end, we all know that the money that goes into Homeland Security is only part of the solution.  Equally important is how we spend those dollars.  Equally important is the capability that we create with those dollars.

Your neighbors and constituents, all Americans want and deserve to see outcomes, to see reforms, to see visible results.  Working with you through this new department, I believe we can achieve all of that.  One by one, the terrorists will see that our doors are closing to them.  Fewer and fewer opportunities, our hardening of targets, our protection of critical infrastructure, our enhanced ability to prevent terrorist attack, continued work to reduce vulnerabilities as our counties and communities and families become better prepared.

I'm reminded of what one of our citizen soldiers said to General Eisenhower as he prepared to take part in the D-Day invasion.  General Eisenhower asked this young man, this citizen soldier, whether going into battle on D-Day, if he was scared.  And the young man, in typical citizen-soldier American form said, "No, sir, I'm not scared.  It's Hitler's turn to be scared now."  (Applause.)

As you well know, we literally have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of citizen-soldiers wearing different kinds of uniforms but, again, all citizen soldiers, professionals, combating al Qaeda, combating international terrorism.  And we think it's the terrorists' turn to be concerned and to be worried and fearful of what we're up to.  (Applause.)

Again, and in recognition of the work that I was able to do and was fortunate to do as both a member of Congress and as governor, I know the role that you play in your communities, how vital it is.  At least if you're in Washington for three, four, five days a week most weeks out of the year, you are removed a little bit from your constituencies.  But if you're a county official, you take your office with you, whether you go to worship, whether you go to play, whether you go to the supermarket.  A critical intersection of your communities and you, I know they rely on you for leadership.  The Department of Homeland Security is going to rely on you for leadership as well.

We've established, I think, over the past 18 months a great partnership and we'll continue to do everything we can to not only sustain it but to improve it.  Because at the end of the day, your leadership and the interaction you have with your community and with the families that you represent is every bit as important as the interaction that anybody at the national or federal level has with the same group.  Because we understand in the Department of Homeland Security that the homeland is secure when each and every home town is secure.  So to the extent that we can work together to secure your hometowns and your home counties, we will just further our national commitment to secure our homeland.

So I thank you for the opportunity to share these thoughts with you.  I wish you the very best during your assembly here today and your national meeting.  And I look forward to working with you in the months and the years ahead.  Thank you very, very much.

1:20 P.M. EST

END

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