Remarks by Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge at the Public Preparedness Symposium

Release Date: 07/20/04 00:00:00

Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
July 20, 2004
(transcript)

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Thank you very much.  Thank you, John, for your kind introduction.  Thank you for hosting the event and for sponsoring what appears to be a really wonderful luncheon.

I hope everybody -- look, scheduling a luncheon speaker during lunch should not be a problem.  My job is to speak, your job is to eat and listen at the same time, so feel free.  Dig in and enjoy yourselves.  But it's great to be back again at George Washington University.  You've been a real partner in this effort, John, and we thank you.  We're going to rely on the academic community around the country as we try to integrate the nation, bring certain capacities to this community and nationally as well.  So we thank you for that.

Marty Evans, President and CEO of the American Red Cross.  Thank you.  We've been at this together for quite some time.  Under Secretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response, Mike Brown.  He's been preaching preparation, preparation, preparedness, preparedness, and FEMA's been doing it for literally decades.

Pat McGinnis, great to see you.  We did several town meetings around the country.  A great report on preparedness and citizens' awareness generated from our work together.  Thank you very much for your contribution.  I think we still have some other things we can work on together, and we look forward to that as well, including preparedness.  So we thank you for that.

And I get -- too much credit comes my way for working so hard around the issues of preparedness, but we have a terrific Office of Public Affairs under the leadership of Susan Neely.  That whole effort, not only within the Department but developing the partnerships with the other levels of government and the private sector has really been -- she's been the driving force behind all of that.

Yesterday I did table top exercises with 25 governors, about 25 governors.  We made it very provocative, to let them understand the decisions that have to be made when events are fluid, when you don't have all the information you'd like to have, but you have to do something.  You can't wait until you have it all.  

And as part of that process, we shared with them the importance of public information.  And Susan and her team had prepared an incident communication emergency reference.  And so we were trying, in addition to prepare citizens, to prepare governors and their staffs and the political world as to their specific role in the event that another incident occurs.

So we've got a lot of people working very hard on preparedness, and I'm grateful that you're giving me the opportunity to spend a little time with you to talk about this subject during your luncheon.

John, you've identified our co-sponsors, the Red Cross, the Council for Excellence in Government and the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington.  We've been working together with these groups.  My good friend, Frank Cilluffo as well.  And we again applaud your leadership in hosting this conference.  

You're all vital partners in our important mission of security and preparedness for this country.

I think that's why you're here today.  We use the word “partnership” because homeland security is really about the integration of a country.  You can't secure the country from Washington, DC.  You need partners all around the country in order to make it safer and more secure, and you're just the kind of partners we'd like to have and we actually need.

Much like homeland security in general, America's preparedness requires everyone's help.  That's why we've called you together, to continue to build an important partnership, one that will result in an enduring -- an enduring and successful strategy for the emergency preparedness across the country.  I've said many times, you cannot secure America from inside the beltway.  Neither can we prepare citizens from an office or a board room.

Homeland security, as John pointed out, must be a priority in every home, every city, every neighborhood across America.  And while this may be true during any time, it's especially true during the summer period of heightened alert.  And we know that the efforts of citizens across the country to increase their vigilance, to use their common sense and their eyes and their ears to notice and report suspicious activity or behavior does make a difference and will make a difference in identifying and stopping terrorists.

Some of you have heard me say this before, actually just a few seconds ago, but I've got to read the script because they prepared it.

It also bears repeating.

I got myself out of that one.  All right.  Good.  Homeland security is about the integration of a country.  It's not just 180,000 men and women, good, decent, hard working, loyal men and women working for Homeland Security.  It's about the integration of a nation  State and local governments, communities, businesses, nonprofit organizations, academic community and citizens all coming together around a shared goal of protecting our nation and safeguarding our people from those who would seek to do us harm.

Our goal is to achieve seamless protection; a nation knit tightly together by shared vigilance, readiness and communication.  Vigilance, readiness and communication.  And nowhere is this more important than in the area of emergency preparedness.  

It's striking how much emergency preparedness has changed through the years.  We've all witnessed an incredible evolution of our nation's resources and dramatic increases and improvements in the tools available to us.  We have equipment that can detect the presence of a bomb; sensors that can pick up trace amounts of biological agents, storm tracking systems that give us precious warning and preparation time.        

Especially since 9/11, ladies and gentlemen, our country has made tremendous technological progress and added important technological layers of security.  Yet the greatest resource, the greatest asset, and that which we must focus on and sustain our focus is the individual citizens.  You can have all the technology you want, but unless you have a vigilant, aware, America and a prepared citizen, the technology is not going to get you as far down the road as you need to go.

No government entity, no organization, no information expert can replace individual responsibility.  Citizens must choose to take actions.  And our job is to make the choice an easy one.  The success of our preparedness efforts and ultimately the entire homeland security mission depends on the involvement and work of individual citizens.  Because if our communities are to rise to new levels of preparedness and security, each individual American must choose to make emergency planning a priority -- a priority in our homes and our places of work and in our schools.

Our history as Americans has been marked by citizens ever ready to lend a hand and answer the call of those in need.  The spirit displayed so prominently in the wake of 9/11 can be our most powerful tool in the fight against terrorism, and I think it's up to all of us to harness that power, focus that energy and effectively use that tool to make preparedness part of the daily lives of Americans.

It's interesting.  If you ask people in South Florida or the Outer Banks of North Carolina about preparedness, they already know about buying supplies, keeping extra batteries handy and even having a hurricane evacuation route planned.  They get it.  They hope they're not going to be hit by a hurricane.  Chances are pretty good -- it depends on they may or may not, but they're not going to wait for chance.  They get prepared.  

If you ask the people in Northern California about preparedness, many of them know exactly what to do if an earthquake begins or a fire threatens their home.  Chances are perhaps remote, not remote, but they're not going to take a chance.  They are prepared.  I'm just amazed that more people don't think of it in terms of providing some peace of mind to their own lives and to their own families.

If you ask people in Oklahoma or Kansas about preparedness, they already know how to stay away from windows or head for the basement or other low areas to avoid tornadoes.  If you've ever watched The Weather Channel when they talk about some of those individual stories in the midst of some of these horrific natural events and how the people actually saved themselves because they knew what to do before the event occurred and they just did it; it was a reflex.  They had it prepared.  They had thought about it and did it.  

Well, that's the kind of reflective response that we want people to reflect on the need to do it, get it done, and then just respond when they have to without thinking about it.

Preparedness is already part of the daily lives of so many Americans, and we must apply these principles to the threat of terrorism as well.  Like natural disasters, terrorists strike indiscriminately, without regard for innocent lives, and often with devastating results.  

And the Department of Homeland Security and this has got to be the key of our preparedness efforts as well, is an all hazards agency.  We're an all hazards agency.  I was just talking to Under Secretary Mike Brown about the Riverside fires and the Carson City fires and the other 246 fires that are burning right now 24/7, excuse me, that are burning out there.  I mean, we are an all hazard agency.  We have to be prepared for them, and we must continue to educate the public about the important of being prepared for all emergencies, whether they're wrought by design or disaster.

Fortunately, it is our view, and it was confirmed as we did these town meetings, it is our view there is a willingness on the part of Americans to take on this responsibility, and it's certainly what we confirmed with the Council for Excellence in Government as we moved around the country.

It's no surprise that Americans want to help.  It's a natural impulse.  We're a very giving and mutually supportive country.  They just need to know how, and our preparedness efforts answers that question.

We began to inform them about preparedness and awareness through our Ready Campaign.  With the help of many of the people in this room, literally millions of Americans have responded and put together emergency kits and communication plans.  

So you have contributed to the singular success of the Ready Campaign.  But I think all of us believe we can and must and will do better, and I think we're going to.

We've laid out a public goal, and you've got to help me meet it, please.  I said several months ago, knowing that I would be able to enlist your support, that by the end of this year, we want at least 50 percent of Americans to have accepted their responsibility to be ready.  It's a communication plan; some form of training to assist at the time of a disaster, the kit set aside, the readiness kit.  We need to get 50 percent by the end of the year, and I think we can get it done.

We will add strength to our existing Ready Campaign by launching two new endeavors, Ready for Business, Ready for Kids.  We will continue to work with the Citizen Corps to encourage participation from families across America, whether by preparing family ready kits and emergency plans or volunteering to aid in disaster planning or engaging in CPR and training exercises to help people in a life threatening situation.

I've been amazed at the number of people who have come forward to serve on Citizen Corps councils.  All walks of life, all backgrounds, all communities.  I think we're near 1,000 communities that have a Citizen Corps.  You meet some fascinating people.  One fellow is in charge of the emergency radio network.  You've got a bunch of HAM radio operators in a tri-state area.  He's got them networked together.  

You got another woman who's got a full time job.  She's very busy, but whatever spare time she has, she works on the ERT teams to train people to respond to life-threatening situations.  I mean, it's just rather remarkable the people that are out there.  

Ran into a couple retired military folks.  You'd think they'd want to just kind of chill out after 30, 35 years, but you know, they're patriots to their soul.  They're not wearing the uniform, but they still believe red, white and blue, and they figured, well, since 9/11, I can help country.  How am I going to do it?  They joined the Citizen Corps and they just direct all their energy.  Some of them do it full time as volunteers to help people get ready, to get prepared.    

It's really rather remarkable out there.  I think we're very unique as a country.  I'm not sure that any other country has such a spirit of volunteerism that's very much a fabric of their culture and their individual personalities.

The Emergency Response Teams, medical personnel and neighborhood watch volunteers who are part of the program form the backbone of our national preparedness efforts at the local level.  

But until every community has prepared for a potential attack, until every business has an evacuation or shelter in place plan, until every school child knows what to do an emergency and mom and dad know what they're going to do in an emergency, and until every American is ready, we still have more work to do.  And I'm confident that when we face these challenges together, we can get it done.

For in this fight it's not enough just to mount an army.  It's not enough to build a department.  It's not enough to work in isolation.  To defeat an enemy that lurks in the shadows and seeks relentlessly for some small crack through which to slip their evil designs, victory requires the vigilance of every American, the diligent preparation of every community, and the collective will of an entire nation.  Everyone pledged to freedom's cause.  Everyone is beneficiary.  Therefore, everyone must accept a role.  As tiny and as limited as it might be, everyone who is freedom's beneficiary ought to accept the role of being freedom's protector.  And what we basically ask individual citizens to do, your share of protecting freedom is to protect yourself and your family and be ready.

And I'm confident that we will achieve the victory and will continue to rise to new levels of security and protection and preparation, and we've come quite a long way together, ladies and gentlemen.  And frankly, we couldn't do it without your help.

We can design all the programs and all the brochures and have all the best ideas and the most effective communication tools, but unless we have people and organizations such as yours who are willing to commit themselves and your organizations to preparing America, we won't achieve our goal of having every citizen in every community prepared.

There's a certain sense I think of not only satisfaction of a personal satisfaction that people get by taking the issue on, but hopefully a quieting and a salutary effect that that individual at home or that small businessman or woman who has done these extra things can say to themselves, I've done what I need to do to protect my family and my fellow employees, and there's not only great personal satisfaction, but you've made a significant contribution in strengthening your country in the process of doing so.  

So I thank you for all the work that you've done.  And actually we're going to ask you to keep working hard.  

We've got more things for you to do, because we do want to achieve the goal of having at least 50 percent of Americans engaged in some form of preparatory work in our Ready Campaign between now and the end of the year, and we look forward to accomplishing that goal, quite frankly confident we can accomplish that goal, with your support.  

So I thank you very much.

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