Remarks by Secretary Tom Ridge to the Council for Excellence in Government

Release Date: 09/16/03 00:00:00

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 16, 2003

Well, good morning, everyone, and thank you, Pat, for that overly generous and very kind introduction.  Thank you for your warm response, and thank you for the opportunity to spend a few moments with you today as you launch, what we consider within the Department of Homeland Security, a very important national initiative to engage the ultimate stakeholder in the enterprise of securing the country, and that's the citizens -- our friends and neighbors, get everybody involved in this.

A couple of acknowledgements at the top, if I might, a couple of my colleagues in public service, my good friend the Governor of Massachusetts.  Governor Romney and I met when he was doing such a superb job after he was given the reins of dealing with the Olympics, incredible winter Olympics way back when, and his leadership turning it around fiscally and turning it into one of the most spectacular winter pageants we've ever had translated into great political success.

He also co-chairs the National Governors Association task force among the governors that deals specifically with homeland security issues.  So it's great that he's here.

I don't see Congressman Turner.  Is he here yet?  He's the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee.  And I do want to say hello to Mayor Barger, who's been serving on the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

All my friends in public service that are participating today in the panel discussions, I thank you for being here to add your insight and your perspective on this very important issue.

For me it is a pleasure to participate in the launch of the Council for Excellence in Government's new homeland security initiative, an initiative that will address citizen concerns as well as highlight the integral role of every American. I think that's very important.  There's an integral role for every American to help secure our country.

At the Department, and Pat was kind enough to mention it, we recognize that homeland security is not a federal strategy, it's a national strategy.  You cannot secure -- I know this may be blasphemy to some people in this town, but you cannot secure the country from the nation's capital.  Can't be done.

You can provide leadership, you can provide resources, you can do a lot of things to help secure the country from the United States capital, but ultimately, it's building the partnerships with the states and the locals, with the governors and the mayors and the sheriffs and the first -- other first responders and first preventers in building partnerships with the private sector and lifting all together, building those partnerships and then sustaining it over a period of time.  And we can be the focal point in Washington,, D.C., but we really need to get everyone involved, including every family and every citizen.

We depend on scientists to develop state-of-the-art technology to combat terrorism.  We depend on state and local government officials to coordinate emergency action plans.  We depend on businesses to take the necessary measures to protect our critical infrastructure.  

We depend on all these different parts to come together around a shared goal, and the shared goal is obviously homeland protection.  And as a department, our efforts are directed toward ensuring that each part, whether it's the academic community or private citizens or local and state government, is engaged -- and not only engaged, has the necessary tools to get the job done.

The initiative the council is announcing today taps into this very idea.  It brings together all of our homeland security partners to sustain a two-way dialogue with the most important constituency in this effort, and that's our fellow citizens, our friends and our neighbors.

I want to thank all the corporate patrons and sponsors who have volunteered to support this initiative.  Couldn't do it without you, and we're certainly looking forward to the town meetings and the result of the polling and everything else that you're going to provide.  A very unique perspective for us in the Department of Homeland Security, so we thank you for that.

Citizen participation is certainly a very important spoke in the wheel of homeland security.  In order to achieve the type of seamless protection we are striving toward, it is critical, absolutely critical, that we reach out to our citizens and empower them to play a more direct role in securing their families and their communities.

Over the next few months, through town halls and working groups, we will have a valuable opportunity to gauge the security issues that are uppermost in the minds of our fellow citizens.

But I would guess that the two thoughts highest in their minds have not changed since we witnessed the horror of September 11th.  And I say that, not in the capacity as a member of the President's cabinet, but as a spouse and father.  Because I have the same two concerns today that I did on September 11th, and I suspect I'll have them in the years and the decades ahead.

Is anything being done by everybody that has a role in this to protect my family? Is anything being done?  State government, local government, federal government?  And how can I help?

I think, by and large, as we move around the country, citizens from all around the country will be asking basically the same questions.

So when we talk about homeland security from a citizen's perspective, we do so by answering these two questions and addressing our efforts to both protect as well as engage the public because I know homeland security is a deeply personal issue.  All of us, myself included, want to feel and know that everything is being done to protect the ones we care about, the ones we love, protect our well-being and protect our way of life.

Nearly two years ago our lives were forever changed.  In an instant our belief in America as an impenetrable stronghold was shattered, gone.  Instead, we came face-to- face with an enemy with no regard for the innocent, no concept of the just, and no desire for peace.

On that day terrorism became palpably real, and within ourselves, within America, we felt a shift to a new normalcy shadowed by the threat of global terrorism, but certainly also defined by our determination to defeat it.

It is a testament to the resiliency of this country that, while knocked down and battered, the American spirit was not broken.  As Americans, we have rallied to the cause of freedom as surely as we have risen to meet the challenges of the world, where the possibility of a terrorist attack on American soil remains a stark reality.  And we can never guarantee that we are free from the threat of terrorism.

The sheer depth and breadth of this nation, the magnitude of what occurs in this country, from sea to shining sea means that one slip, one gap, one vengeful person can threaten the lives of our citizens at any time in any number of ways.

And so while there are no guarantees, we can say this: the American people are more secure and are better prepared than ever before. And just as this country and its citizen's adjusted priorities and tactics to defeat the enemies of old, we have developed strategies to meet the current and the constant threat of terrorism as well.

To see that citizens are better protected today one needs only look back to the way things were on September 10th.  Before September 11th the idea -- the very idea -- I know because I raised it a couple times as Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security -- but the very idea of reorganizing a group of federal agencies, let alone major federal agencies, to rationalize, to pull together, to consolidate the government's ability to protect the homeland was viewed by everybody -- intellectually this is a very provocative idea.  I've been studying it for 50 or 60 years, sounds very interesting.  But before September 11th, the likelihood -- the likelihood of that happening, to Pat's point, was probably as holding a town meeting in Upstate New York in January, February without snow.

(Laughter.)

And yet on March 1st of this year, 22 agencies and 180,000 employees were merged into the United States Department of Homeland Security, the largest government reorganization in 50 years.

Before September 11th, four-inch knives and box cutters were allowed on planes.  You remember those days.  Remember what baggage security was like?  Ticket agents asked who packed the bags.  "Anybody give you the suitcase when you walked in the airport?"  But little else was done to examine the contents of luggage accompanying those boarding passenger aircraft.  Few security measures were in existence on the actual aircraft itself.  

Today, 50,000 highly trained and professional federal employees are at work to increase the security and facilitate the flow of passengers in our airports.  Cockpit doors are reinforced, and thousands of federal air marshals fly on a regular basis alongside their federal passengers and citizens.

Before September 11th, we never looked in a container of cargo until it got to our shores.  And when we did, the occasions were rare.  Nearly 20,000 containers on cargo ships arrive in our ports every day.

Today our shores -- and this is one of the goals of the Department of Homeland Security -- we want to make sure our ports and our shores are the last line of defense, not the first line of defense, which means we push our perimeter out as far as we possibly can.

When you got up this morning and had breakfast and either took the kids to school or took them down to the bus so they could go to school, there were U.S. inspectors in Rotterdam and in Singapore and in Hong Kong who had been on the job for hours ensuring the safety of cargo before it ever left for the United States.

In addition, sea marshals now board high interest and other ships before they enter our ports to protect the port and the ship.

Before September 11th, our national stockpile of medications to protect Americans against a bioterrorist attack was drastically under-supplied.  Today we have stockpiled a billion doses of antibiotics and vaccines, including enough smallpox vaccine for every man, woman, and child in America.

Before September 11th, agencies in the federal government saw very little need to share information and intelligence, not only between themselves, but with state and local government.

Today, secure communications technologies and expanded security clearances for representatives of state and local governments, along with the shared language of the color-coded homeland security advisory system, create a powerful and constant two-way flow of threat information.  This certainly means that more effective actions can be taken by homeland security professionals at all levels to protect the country.

So I think you can see that in two years we've made measurable progress.  We are safer and we are more secure.  When I think of where we were before September 11th and where we are today, I'm very proud of the work we've done as a nation and very proud of the work we've done in the past six months, just about six months, since the Department has stood up.

However, one of the most interesting things or the toughest things about the Department of Homeland Security is the notion that it is a job that will never end.  We'll never get to the point where we can say to ourselves we're absolutely, positively safe against any and all potential terrorist attacks, regardless of their nature, regardless of where they occur, today, tomorrow, and further.  We're never going to get there.  

So, in a sense, it's a job that never ends.  There will always be a job where more can be done, and with each new day that dawns, we must press ever forward, taking ourselves every single day to a higher level of readiness and a higher level of preparation.

And we must maintain the momentum and that sense of urgency that has driven our efforts and continues to steer our course.

When I first came to Washington as the President's homeland security advisor, it became immediately clear that the task of securing our nation would not be one of easy solutions and quick fixes.  You just can't get there from here.

This is a unique country, this America that we live in, and we must secure our nation and our people, but we must also secure our freedom and ensure that liberty thrives.

Our security strategy can never be one of closed borders and high fences.  It must be one of open borders and welcoming shores.  That's who we are as a country.  We have been open and welcoming and diverse, and we want to maintain that about us.  We've done it for 227 years, and we need to do it for at least another 227.

It may seem counterintuitive, but it is our freedom.  It's our freedom that terrorists seek to destroy, and so it's freedom we must strive to uphold.

Fortunately, I believe we can remain free and open without sacrificing safety and security.  We are certainly determined to do so.  We will continue to build bridges to one another as we protect our freedoms, and at the same time continue to build barriers to terrorists who threaten them.

The complexity of that task is that the federal government can't do it alone.  Homeland security does not and cannot take place solely in Washington, D.C.  It must be a priority in every city, every neighborhood, every state, and every home across America.  

That is why, just as the measures taken to protect citizens are important, so, too, are your efforts and our efforts to engage citizens.

A few days we reflected on the events of September 11th.  The vivid images of destruction and loss seared into our consciousness were once again brought to the surface.  I dare say that everybody in this room closes their eyes -- or I would say every American seven or eight years of age or older closes their eyes, they can see September 11th again.  Many people saw the second plane hit the tower, live.  In classrooms and -- we were stunned with the first.  Everybody turned on the television, and then we saw it happen again.  And you see the smoking Pentagon and that rural field in Pennsylvania.  If you close your eyes, you can see it.

There are other images as well of heroic courage and incredible sacrifice, images of first responders running up burning flights of stairs and fellow workers rushing to their aid, risking their lives at the Pentagon to help their trapped colleagues.  Citizens rushing the cockpit of Flight 93.

These are the images that resonate deep within.  These images motivate and they inspire when the road seems long and full of obstacles.  These are the images that remind us that ordinary Americans, our citizens, our friends and neighbors, people we meet at the schools when we have parents' night, go to church with.  These are the kind of folks, ordinary citizens, who were called upon and did extraordinary things on September 11th.

And the spirit displayed by Americans in the wake of 9/11 is a powerful force that I think we still haven't harnessed yet, and we must harness it and bring it our aid in the fight against global terror.

When I was younger, the threat we lived under was the possibility of nuclear war with the Soviet Union.  I see just a few -- only a few of you in the audience can remember the duck-and-cover routines.  Most of you are much younger than that.  I didn't know too much about science then, but when I got a little older, I realized that ducking and covering under a desk really wasn't going to do me much good, but --

(Laughter.)

It certainly seemed to be the right thing to do at the time, particularly with a sister standing there telling you had to do it.

(Laughter.)

Those of you students in parochial school understand exactly what I'm talking about.

There wasn't much of a direct role a citizen could take to address the threat of nuclear war.  We admit that.  However, I think in the war against terrorism the opposite is true.  Citizens are just as important to fighting the war as soldiers on the battlefield.  For terrorism is insidious; it's unpredictable.  The terrorists seek to infiltrate our communities, to learn our weaknesses, and wage war on our streets and in our cities.

So citizens can join this fight.  They can be vigilant, they can be prepared, and they can be proactive.  They can do certain things to help us as a country secure these freedoms that are so precious to us.

As we've seen time and time again, citizens can and they want to be involved.  Through our Ready Campaign -- you probably remember that six, seven months ago -- we stressed the importance of having a family emergency plan as well as an emergency supply kit.

Many Americans responded and put together their kits.  We have one in our house.  And you remember all the discussion; it was focused on duct tape.  I remember it. I have an assortment of duct tape cartoons that are probably the envy of political cartoonists around the country.

(Laughter.)

I've got the best assortment of cartoons of anybody.  I don't particularly caricatures of the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.  If you're going to, at least make me look young and thin, not quite that bad.  

(Laughter.)

But anyhow, I think it's interesting to point out those folks who have the emergency kits, when the lights went out a couple weeks ago in Detroit and Cleveland and New York, said, "Hey, it's a pretty good thing I had those batteries and those flashlights," in a couple of those cities.  “It’s probably a good thing I had an extra stash of water."

And I'll just guarantee you, there are going to be a lot of folks here in 48 to 72 hours that are going to be glad that they had flashlights and batteries and water and three days' worth of canned goods.  And, yes, indeed, duct tape might even be helpful.

(Laughter.)

The fact of the matter is people who were prepared, who did the simple job of putting together a few things to help them out in case an emergency occurred, were able to help themselves and their family out when an emergency occurred.  It makes a lot of sense.

They had their kits, they had their action plans, which were of great comfort and help during the blackout, and I think it would be a great help trying to deal with Hurricane Isabel.

So we believe in the Department of Homeland Security that a strong national security strategy is one that includes strong citizenship programs and participation.

We are grateful at the Department for the opportunity to partner with the Council for Excellence in Government to find ways to more actively and effectively connect with citizens.  

Through the Council's initiatives, citizens have a chance to let their voices be heard. And all of us, from the federal government to the private sector, will be listening and better informed.

Our history as Americans has been marked by citizens ever ready to defend the cause of freedom.  And once again citizens are prepared to answer that call.

Terrorists believe that freedom is a weakness, a vulnerability to be exploited.  Yet, Americans know it's our nation's greatest strength.  

Since September 11th our world has changed and America has changed, but much of what is important has remained the same, and will continue to remain the same.  We are still a welcoming nation that opens her borders to citizens from all around the world.  

Immigration in the year after 2001 was higher than the year before.  Think about that for a minute.  And if you ever -- and I've had the opportunity to engage Americans in a lot of different forms and venues, but one of the ceremonies that sticks out most vividly in my mind as to what we're fighting to protect and preserve was a naturalization ceremony that I participated in California, where 4,200 men, women and children from 120 countries in a post-9/11 environment, said this is still the place where we want to -- where we see our future, where there's an opportunity for us to do things for ourselves and our family that we could not have experienced in our place of birth.  Very special place.  We all know that.  

And our strength as a nation still rests on our respect for the vast diversity of the peoples and cultures that enrich our lives.  Freedom is still the hope of many, and terrorism the choice of just an embittered few.  

So as we move forward to reach new levels of protection every day, we are guided by our commitment to freedom.  Freedom must flourish.  That must be the defining measure of success.  The triumph of liberty will mark the ultimate defeat of terrorism.  

In standing together, united as a nation, as citizens, we will overcome our enemies.  And we will win through to a day when peace and security are no longer threatened.  Again, in the Department, we're grateful to work with the -- with you on this initiative to not only inform our citizens, but to engage them in what they can do to help us secure their homeland, as well as in our way of life.  So we thank you very, very much.  

(Applause.)

I have time for a few questions, and others in the audience have time for a few answers, so I'll be happy to be the conduit.  Now, do you have a few minutes for questions before your panel discussion?

Mr. McGINNESS:  Yes.

QUESTION:  Good morning, Secretary, my name is Amanda Dory.  I'm from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  

I wanted to ask a question about one of the initiatives that you didn't mention, the Citizen Corps Council Initiative, which is very important in terms of engagement of citizens.  And that program is a very valuable effort that so far hasn't met with much success in terms of funding on the Hill.  And I was wondering if the Department is working closely up on the Hill to try to get that funded.  

And also the funding for the Ready Campaign.  The Sloan Foundation was a critical supporter in that regard, and I'm curious whether the Department will continue to fund that adequately.  Thank you.

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Thank you very much.  I suspect many of you know, but perhaps all of you don't know, that the Citizen Corps is a very specific program we are promoting through the Department of Homeland Security to engage citizens to participate in giving them options to serve their community at the local level.  

We're reaching out to medical professionals, active or retired, to be part of an emergency medical team.  We're looking for citizens to come in and volunteer their services, support services for the local police and fire department.  And as we develop -- we're working with the states, who will submit by the end of this year, strategies for the Homeland Security, we're asking them to include as part of their overall strategy their own outreach programs to get people engaged, to include Citizen Corps.  

So, it's been very, very successful.  We're in hundreds and hundreds of communities around the country.  We just want to expand it, and then we have to sustain it.  

I believe there is an increased appropriation for them in the '04 budget, but I'm not -- I don't think it's close to what they asked for.  But it's basically a volunteer organization, so if they give us a little bit more than we got last year, we can make it work.  It's our job to make it work.

And the second part of your question?

QUESTION:  The funding for the Ready Campaign.

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Oh, the Ready Campaign.  I didn't hear that.  The Sloan Foundation and the Ad Council and several other patrons were very helpful in getting us public and visible with the Ready Campaign.  We've got a website up.  We are developing literature in Spanish for distribution.  And we will have the continued support of the Ready Campaign by the Sloan Foundation as well as other patrons.  

So again, the Ready Campaign was our first effort to engage citizens.  And basically it was to encourage them to have an emergency kit, have an emergency plan, and a contact plan.  And we had early success registered by literally millions and millions of hits on the website.  The numbers have been reduced over the past couple of months.  We still have people looking at the website to do what we've asked them to do as family members -- take a little time, get that emergency kit, have a communications plan, and then get on with your life and let the security and law enforcement professionals worry about taking care of global terrorism.  

Yes?

QUESTION:  Yes, Mr. Secretary, we all realize what a massive undertaking it is to wield the diverse agencies in the Department of Homeland Security into one effective organization. What accomplishment are you most proud of in that effort?  

And what has been your biggest frustration in making that a really fully-functioning organization?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Well, from the very first day, as of March 1st, we began to make some internal changes.  I mean, just drawing lines again on an organizational chart doesn't excite anybody.  But you've got all these people and all these resources.  So how do you reposition them so you're better, smarter, and stronger as a result of it?  

So the very first day, we made significant changes at our ports of entry, because our goal was to create one face at the border, so that instead of having three different representative from three different departments of the federal government, wearing three different uniforms, having separate and independent jurisdiction -- that might have been okay in the 20th Century world, but in the 21st Century world, we think more people ought to be trained to do more things, which gives us an expanded capacity to deal with terrorism, whether it's the border, in airports and the like.

So, we have begun making those very, very important changes.  We've seen some significant improvements in information sharing that I can't say it's attributed solely to our presence, but we are now part of the intelligence community.  We get information, we generate information.  

I'm very proud of the fact that, again, since March 1st, one of our challenges has been -- I need to make sure that Governor Romney's Homeland Security advisor knows, where appropriate, as much as we know in the Department about potential threats and the kinds of threats.  

So, we've sent out between 40 and 50 bulletins and advisories about specific threat information, and the kinds of things that the terrorists could use.  So we're starting to make that linkage, communication linkage, which is very important.  That's very robust.  And frankly, I think we're going to see some benefit.  

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is in our department, and we haven't missed a beat.  We're still dealing with terrorism, but we have primary responsibility to deal with all incidents, whether it's man-made or natural.  And the fact that we work with the police, we work with the fire departments, we train and exercise with them, we're working with them to get communications equipment to respond to a terrorist event -- we're just much better prepared to deal with a natural disaster, as well.  Just across the board.  

The ability to ramp up and to secure the airports, smart border agreements with Canada and Mexico.  We've got pilot programs as we exchange information about people coming back and forth across the borders that we know they're in a fast lane.  Cargo coming back and forth across the border that we know something about.  Their ease of transit is much, much better, so we can concentrate our people and our technology on things we don't know about.  

So, we're making, I think with a sense of urgency, some very significant changes at our borders, at our airport, our outreach to foreign countries since March 1.  Getting advanced passenger information, so we know and can check the folks -- the passengers that are coming in from -- on foreign airlines before they land.  And we're working with the European Union to get even more information, passenger name records, so we can better identify potential problems, individuals, that may have terrorist connections before they come into the country.  

So, every single day, whether it's the border -- we've got a science and technology unit.  You've given us several hundred million dollars. There's very promising technology out there that can help us detect chemical or biological agents and will protect the first responders, or people who have to go into that environment to save lives and protect property.  

So again, whether it's reaching out to the academic community, the national labs, or the private sector, or dealing with the sharing of information with the states.  Again, we've only been operating for six months, but I’m very proud.  

We're not authorized to be frustrated, so we don't get frustrated.  We're just authorized to keep moving ahead.  Take two salt tablets, and drive on.  

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, I'm with a hospital and health care system in New York City, so those images are very vivid to me.  

I want to follow up on your comment that the job will never end, and I think you're absolutely right, and it seems that a lot of the effort, as it should be, is concentrated on prevention.  But if for some reason we're not successful in that part of our effort, we're going to be the recipients.  And I just wonder what kind of plans you have to shore up our hospital infrastructure so that we're always there to be able to help from our perspective.

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Well, you're right.  The tip of the spear is prevention.  But we have to spend the same amount of time in the event that an attack occurs.  And to that end, we've begun that process about a year ago with an excess of $1 billion that Secretary Thompson distributed to the states and local governments to begin building up, identifying needs with a surge capacity with hospitals, and identifying communities that might need not only additional epidemiologists to deal with the identification of the threat, but decontamination chambers and equipment to deal with an incident after it occurs.  

And again, trying to take a look at all the resources -- the hospital resources we have in a community and develop plans for mass casualties -- is something very much that we are engaged in the major urban areas around the country.  It is clearly a work in progress.  It began with a substantial infusion of dollars.  There will be more dollars down the way.  But again, it's -- pre-9/11, the hospital community, the medical community -- nobody was really thinking in terms of mass casualties or whether -- how we could maximize the use of this resource to help our community.  

Post-9/11, hospital administrators and medical directors around the country are saying -- playing "what if."  And it is -- we need, in our working with the Department of Health and Human Services and with mayors and folks in local communities, to play that scenario, and begin to build the capacity within each urban area to respond to a mass-casualty event.  

We'll be able to do it, and it will take some time to do it.  But we're on top -- we understand the need, and we're building that infrastructure.

SECRETARY RIDGE:  I'll try to make my answer shorter, so we can take two.  I've never been a good sound bite.  I apologize.  This is complicated stuff; you can't say yes or no.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, going through your presentation, you have outlined the breadth of activity that you've been involved with, not just for six months but for over two years now.  And I'd like to switch to a somewhat personal question.  

Two years ago, after September 11th, the President contacted you and offered, or asked you to come and serve in this administration.  I'm curious, if you could share with us, how he described what he wanted you to do, and how he got you to say yes.

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Do you have caller ID on your phone at home?  Well, I picked up the phone not knowing it was the President.  And I had no idea -- actually, I'd been -- received a call earlier in the day from Chief of Staff Andy Card, that the President would give me a call that night -- and asked me to serve within his administration as a special assistant for homeland security, outlined some of the parameters.  

And obviously, when your President calls you, you say yes.  It was pretty straight forward.  I did ask for 24 hours to think about it, but I knew as soon as he asked the question what my answer would be.  So -- and I'm glad I did.  And I thought being Governor of Pennsylvania was the greatest political job in America.  I still think it is.  It's a great state.  I was proud to serve there, but serving my President, my country at this time -- I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve him.  

Yes?

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary --

SECRETARY RIDGE:  You can have the last word.  You can end it, okay?  I'm cutting everything --

QUESTION:  The initiative being announced today, what percentage of it will be actually eliciting comments from citizens?  And what part will be perhaps encouraging people who may not believe that they have some sort of individual role in this effort?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  I suspect there'll be both, and I'll let Pat -- but we really need for folks to do both.  I mean, we spent a great deal of time on the Ready Campaign because people were saying what should we do to help?  And we say the first thing you need to do is be prepared to help yourself.  

And that's why you just do these little -- put together that emergency kit, have a contact plan for the kids.  Because if you're like my household, the only time the family is together, and the older they get, the hours are less and less, is when you're at home at night sleeping.  

And so if something happens, you want to know how to get a hold of the kids, or your spouse, or people care about.  If you live in the same community with your parents and the like -- so we ask them to do that.  

But the other, I think, very encouraging characteristic of this initiative is that one of the most important communications skills that is often lost in this town is the ability to listen.  And this is a group of folks who want to listen to the concerns and the ideas around the country.  And that will be an enormous benefit to us.  You want to be engaged.  How do you think -- one of the questions would be how can we best engage you to help us secure the country?  

So I think we're going to encourage them, going to show them a few things.  We're also going to listen to them to see how they think they can be engaged.  

One final question.  Yes, sir?

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, you said a few times earlier in your talk that everything is being done, and I absolutely am congruent with that, and I agree that everything is being done.  And my question is, how can you, as a department head, as a major player in the homeland security field, ensure that the citizenry is given the message in a way that they understand what's being said?  

Professionals have no problem whatsoever understanding mechanisms, but the average citizen needs to hear words from you or from the administration in such a way that they understand and believe what's being said.  

SECRETARY RIDGE:  One of the primary responsibilities of the Department, and I take it upon myself for all of us who have the opportunity to speak publicly to the rest of America, is to engage them in that kind of conversation and information sharing.  This kind of initiative is very, very helpful to accomplish that goal.  

The Ready Campaign, and the support of the Sloan Foundation and the Ad Council -- we’re going to be having town meetings around the country.  We've got websites.  I mean, so I think -- and we're actually engaged right now with the members of print and broadcast journalism to engage them in the kind of discussion and conversation to inform America not just at the time of the event, but give them good, solid, sound information before an event occurs.  

We can never underestimate the power and the ability of an informed citizenry.  Knowledge is power in our business of homeland security.  If we have actionable intelligence that we can move on, we can make a difference.  

Knowledge is very empowering to Americans.  And so the more we can share with them, the safer they will be, and the more inclined they will be to engage on a personal level and do the kind of things we're going to ask them to do as a country.  

So you've highlighted a very important responsibility of the Department.  There's no single answer to it.  We just have to proceed on multiple fronts to engage the country in a conversation about their own security.  

Thank you all very much.  Everybody have a good day.

This page was last modified on 09/16/03 00:00:00