| Home | Information Sharing & Analysis | Prevention & Protection | Preparedness & Response | Research | Commerce & Trade | Travel Security & Procedures | Immigration |
| About the Department | Open for Business | Press Room |
The threat level in the airline sector is High or Orange. Read more.
Release Date: 10/15/04 00:00:00
Columbus, OH
2004 Ohio Conference on Law Enforcement
October 15, 2004
(Remarks as Prepared)
Thank you for that kind introduction, Jim. And I want to thank everyone here today for that warm welcome. I’m honored to be here in the Buckeye state with the men and women who stand on the front lines to defend our homeland every single day.
If Ohio State’s defensive line was as sturdy as the State of Ohio’s homeland security line of defense, the Buckeyes would still be undefeated. They’re still in the hunt though – a big win tomorrow against Iowa can turn it around and Michigan is still on the schedule. Many congratulations and sincere thanks also to those you will recognize later today at the awards luncheon for their bravery and excellence in law enforcement. Your professionalism, courage, and commitment to your communities remind me of the words Admiral Nimitz used to describe the soldiers at Iwo Jima – “Uncommon courage was a common virtue.”
At Homeland Security we feel the same way about our soldiers today – those brave men and women at the tip of the spear in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.
Their efforts are pushing the perimeter of our defenses out away from our shores, and defeating terrorism at its roots. May we remember their courage today and every day, and pray for their comfort and safe return.
We know that there are many fronts in the war on terrorism. There are a lot of people who wear uniforms here at home who protect us. They wear nurses’ scrubs, scientific lab coats, police blues, fire suits, emergency responder uniforms. And we find that uncommon courage is a common virtue in all of these citizen soldiers – in all of our law enforcement officers and first responders in all of you.
Our mission at Homeland Security is to lead the unified national effort to secure America. Notice it is not to lead the federal effort. Washington, D.C., alone cannot secure the homeland. When federal state, local, and private sector partners – and particularly law enforcement – work together, we defend our homeland best. Ohio’s commitment helps make this national effort work. Together, with your help, we have made America safer today than it was yesterday – and will make it safer tomorrow than it is today.
We know the same gutless killers who flew planes into buildings on September 11, 2001, are determined to hit us again. But we are more resolved to stop them.
We see our resolve and our efforts to stop them in our many accomplishments in the three years since 9-11:
Before September 11th, ticket agents asked who packed a traveler's bags, but little else was done in the airport or the aircraft to provide security. Today we have deployed newly trained screeners and thousands of federal air marshals; we've hardened cockpit doors on the aircraft and introduced state-of-the-art technologies, which, from the curb to the cockpit, have made airline travel safer.
Before September 11th, we never looked in a container of cargo until it reached our shores, though nearly 20,000 containers arrive in our ports every single day. Now, as I speak, there are U.S. inspectors in Rotterdam and Singapore and Hong Kong and 23 other international ports of trade, working alongside our allies to target and screen cargo.
Before September 11th, our national stockpile of medications to protect Americans against a bioterrorist attack was drastically undersupplied. 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, our first preventers and first-responders lacked the financial resources and equipment they needed to respond together to a crisis. Today we have awarded more than $8.5 billion dollars for our state and local partners across the country.
All across the nation, this money funds much-needed equipment purchases and training – all critical assets that help our first responders on the frontlines perform their duties quickly and safely at any emergency scene.
Before September 11th, agencies in the federal government saw very little need to share information and intelligence between themselves, let alone with state and local officials. Today, secure communications technologies and expanded clearances, along with the shared language of the Homeland Security Advisory System create a powerful and constant flow of threat information between the federal government and our partners at the state and local level, and with our international partners around the world.
Today, we both give and receive this information through the Homeland Security Information Network. This is a real-time collaboration system that is already being used here in Columbus and by more than a thousand individuals to report incidents, crimes, and potential terrorist acts to one another and to the Department of Homeland Security. It enables us to communicate with our state and local partners on a daily basis, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, sharing information to enhance security.
Communication is key. We all remember that before September 11th many fire department radios couldn't transmit to police department radios. Firefighters rushing in from other cities and even neighborhoods were, in some cases, unable to assist because the couplings that attach hoses to hydrants simply wouldn't fit without an adaptor. Today, we have developed standards for interoperable communications equipment and protective gear.
We’ve also undertaken immediate steps in the short term to improve connectivity in a crisis. Earlier this year, we identified technical specifications that will allow first-responders to communicate with one other during a crisis, regardless of frequency or mode of communication.
But we are also working together toward a permanent solution, one that will not only help us respond to terrorist incidents, but also a criminal event or a natural disaster. And your input is critical to ensuring that the standards we set work for the people who will be using them on the ground.
So, we’ve made progress. But we know that to defend the homeland, we must start by defending the hometown. Our job in the federal government is to get resources to local officials quickly so they can purchase tools, provide training, and protect their communities.
Nationwide, the Bush Administration has allocated more resources to homeland security than any prior administration. The President’s 2005 budget request of $40.2 billion for homeland security is an increase of $20.4 billion, or nearly 30 percent, over the 2001 level.
The Administration has provided Ohio with more than $266 million in homeland security funds. And you are spending those funds wisely. Ohio has purchased and distributed more than 13,000 sets of personal protective equipment for first responders.
The Buckeye State Sheriff's Association (BSSA) is enhancing interoperable communications at the local level throughout the state of Ohio. The Association is developing and staging mobile command vehicles regionally throughout the state in order to provide rapid deployment and on-scene interoperable public safety communications.
Ohio State Highway Patrol is purchasing compatible radios to allow for immediate interoperability of communications with public safety agencies statewide. This statewide project will ensure that all responders are on the same 800 MHz system and can talk to each other. Right here in the Columbus urban area, you are implementing a strategy to reach out to local businesses on homeland security issues and provide critical information on evacuations, sheltering in place, and formulating emergency operations plans.
And finally, a project that all of you in this room have contributed to in some form, Ohio’s Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program. Over $15 million in homeland security dollars will fund this program to enhance information sharing and radio communication capabilities of your law enforcement. And though all of these purchases and projects will enhance security in Ohio and in our nation, they are not the most important aspect of Ohio’s homeland security efforts.
For you can have all the money, all the programs and projects, all the training in the world, but if there is no guidance, if there are no standards, if there is no plan, then you’re running toward the end zone without the football. Thankfully, the people working to secure Ohio understand this. That is why Ohio’s homeland security strategic planning committee early on created a strong, coordinated strategic plan for your state:
The attacks on our country three years ago changed everything for all of us, and yet, in some ways, changed nothing at all. Amid extraordinary challenges, our determination, our courage, and our common purpose remain steadfast. We possess these virtues just as assuredly as those who came before us and built this country and fought for its ideals. All of you in this room, and many others in this great state, are the ones who are helping to make Ohio’s homeland security plan work.
And Americans around the country are grateful for your actions. Yes, we know, the war on terror will not be won with a decisive battle. Terrorism will not be eradicated tomorrow. We have a long, hard struggle ahead. But as Franklin Roosevelt said when the outcome of World War II was still in doubt: “We Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing through a period of supreme test. It is a test of our courage – of our resolve, of our wisdom – our essential democracy. If we meet that test – successfully and honorably – we shall perform a service of historic importance which men and women and children will honor throughout all time.”
This is, indeed, the test of our times. But I am certain that, together, we will meet this test – just as we have met many great challenges in the past. Because throughout our vast nation, uncommon courage is a common virtue. And it is by that courage that we will prevail. Americans do not live in fear. We live in freedom. And we will never let that freedom go.
Thank you.
###
This page was last modified on 10/15/04 00:00:00