Introductory Remarks of Secretary Tom Ridge to the Homeland Security Advisory Council Meeting

Release Date: 10/03/03 00:00:00

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 3, 2003

Thank you very much.  I would just say to my colleagues on the Advisory Committee that we are really linked up pretty well now with my counterparts in the states and the territories.  And they are driving a lot of the changes from the state level down to the local level.  And you take a look across the board, by and large, they're either veterans of the military, or emergency management, or law enforcement, men and women who have had 20 to 25 years experience out there that really know these issues well and know how to organize and mobilize and get things done.  So Mike, you represent the best of the group, and I thank you very much for your kind words.

We will be joined, I think, a little bit later on.  I invited Mayor Kilpatrick in to - from - the Mayor of the City of Detroit just to give you a welcome.  But he's -- I hope he's not tied up in a traffic jam.  Do you have traffic jams in Detroit like they have in Washington?  I don't know.  But when he gets here, I do want to recognize him for a few minutes.

But I'll start with you, Mr. Chairman.  I think we can begin with the meeting.  I've got a few thoughts I'd like to share.  I think I'm going to ask Asa to say a few words, Secretary Hutchison to say a few words and Rear Admiral to say a few words, and then we'll move on with it.

All right, very good.   Well, welcome to Detroit.  I mean, we got greetings from the Governor through the - and you're going to get greetings from the Mayor.  I'm just pleased that so many people who are very busy in their day-to-day lives came to Detroit.  We're here for several reasons, and we're going to move these meetings around the country from time to time and basically for the same reasons.  We need to get the Advisory Committee closer to the men and women in the mission of the Department of Homeland Security.  

You will see, today, and the Colonel alluded to it, the incredible challenges we have on the northern border to balance security and commerce.  I think it's -- I think there's been estimates that about one-tenth of the Canadian Gross Domestic Product probably flows through those bridges and tunnels right over in here because of the nexus between the automobile industry and the integration of manufacturing at our borders, and that's across the northern border.  So - and I will also tell you that I think it's good for the men and women of Homeland Security to see that their Advisory Group, a very busy group of professionals, take the time out to see what they're doing.  And we want you to see the people, see the technology, and better appreciate, I think you will, better appreciate the challenges that we have when we talk about we have to be right a couple of million times every day or over a billion times a year but terrorists don't have to be right once.  And so we really lean on individual co-workers around the country and around the world to do the right thing on a day-to-day basis.  So we did want to get you closer, and that's obviously one of the reasons we have you out.

I will tell you, Mike will tell you, another reason to be in Detroit, it's serendipitous or an unconscious competence, they had an emergency plan, that they developed at the state level, that they implemented at the local level when the lights went out.  I mean, so it not only shows you how good the plan was, but it validates the need to have state-driven - remember, we had the template - to have state-driven emergency plans, but you build them from the bottom up.  And the Mayor had, and the Governor had, some really significant challenges for a couple of days, and they dealt with them.  And as I said before, we didn't know that they were going to have to deal with it, but it's a good city to visit.

I might add, I might add, those who - citizens in Detroit or Cleveland were in the aftermath of the Hurricane Isabel.  And North Carolina, and Virginia, and Washington, who had three days of water, as we recommended, and some can goods, and some flashlights, and emergency batteries during the Ready Campaign, probably did a little bit better than some of their neighbors.  I know we did.  I didn't have power for five days, didn't have water, or sewer, or anything like that.  Well, you know, I mean, it worked for me and I think it worked for a lot of other folks, too.

But Mike, you and the Governor, and the Mayor are to be congratulated because it was a great effort there.  So we got – we wanted you closer.  We also wanted to - we bring you together here to talk about being smarter.  One of the reasons we're having a public discussion about some kind of national recognition for individuals, groups, organizations, levels of government, whatever you think we need to do to talk about innovation and cooperation.  Best practices are really what Malcolm Baldrige is really all about.  And it's a high threshold.  And obviously, it's taken 15 or 18 years to mature, but you got that in from Oct tour of the Malcolm Baldrige award.  It means something to the company and the employees.  It also means something internationally.  And obviously, we're not going to elevate this award.  It can't be elevated to that level of distinction in the first year or two.  It has to be earned and we have to work it.  But your input is very, very important to us on that because we do want to nationally-recognize efficient and effective best practices where we see people coordinating activity among different levels and across disciplines and through the federal system.  And you're going to have a report on that.

And the second thing we wanted to talk about in terms of being smarter is the Lexicon Project.  Whether you are a fireman or policeman at the local level, or you are a Congressman, when you say “first responder,” it should mean the same thing.  Frankly, if you look at some of the regulations of the federal government, and you're going to see that presentation, "first responder," naturally, at the federal government is defined several different ways.  

Critical infrastructure, interoperability, what do we mean by these terms?  And depending on your point of view, your perspective, where you are in the scheme of the Department of Homeland Security, you can probably come up with a different term.  And we're not going to create - the idea is, let's take a look at a half a dozen, or a dozen, terms internally, see how we wrestle with them to come up with that definition, the standard definition, and then develop a process, or recommend a process, though, that -- a dynamic process so that in the months and years ahead as -- that that dictionary can be expanded.  Not something for the Homeland Security Advisory Council to be working on annually, but let's try to develop our own definitions for a couple of key words, and then develop a process.  And whether we do it internally or externally, but that's really very, very important.  The same language, the same meaning, whether it's public or private, policeman, Congressman, that's what we need, that's the goal.  And then it will take us a couple of years to accomplish, and even after we've decided on the process, it will be an ongoing process.  So we wanted to get you closer to the action and talk about being smarter.

And then finally, we do want to talk about being better.  And you're going to see, when you visit the sites today, we are getting better.  We are developing one face at the border under Secretary Asa Hutchison.  We have consolidated several groups, the legacy INS and the legacy Custom.  It used to be if you came across the border, and many of you have had this experience I'm sure, I remember vividly coming in from Ottawa and I was walking in the airport.  The first person that saw me was the INS officer, wearing a uniform, and believe it or not, there was a piece of duct tape - it was before we recommended its varied and several uses.  And then there was a Customs officer in a different uniform, same government.  And then depending if you were carrying any food stuffs or anything else, there was a third officer from the Department of Agriculture.  Well, Secretary Hutchison basically said, this is - we don't need this.  We need one face at the border.  And so, prospectively, we are developing Border and Customs Patrol Officers.  That frees us up.  And those are important missions, but they're not so complicated you can't be trained to do all three.  And you free up, therefore, it least two other people to do other things, you know, longer hours, more lines, search capacity someplace else.  So we're doing a lot of things smarter.

You're going to see the technology that we've got invested here and take a look at the - some of the FAST Program and some of the supply chain security programs that is critical to this effort to enhance security without compromising the legitimate flow of goods and services.

So we're grateful for your presence here.  I'm personally grateful for all of your hard work, and the contribution that you have made to setting up the department, setting the tone, and helping assist with the very critical collaboration we have with not just the private sector and the public sector but together.  

So again, Mr. Chairman, if you don't mind, I'd like my Under Secretary of Border and Transportation Security, who's got really the bulk of the department, rests with Secretary Asa Hutchinson.

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