Remarks by Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff at the Commencement Ceremony of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy

Release Date: 05/18/05 00:00:00

New London, Connecticut
U.S. Coast Guard Academy
Commencement Ceremony
May 18, 2005
(Remarks as Prepared)

Thank you for your warm welcome and for inviting me to be part of this wonderful day. It is my pleasure to stand before the newest officers in the United States Coast Guard and to extend the Class of 2005 the personal congratulations of your Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush.  

I extend those same congratulations from one of the Coast Guard’s finest, Admiral Jim Loy, who couldn’t join us for today’s ceremony. But I know we all wish he was here, so we could thank him and honor him for the many contributions he has made to this country, particularly as a former Commandant of the Coast Guard, a former teacher of this Academy and most recently as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. I wish him fair winds and following seas. Especially since I found a sign on his office door when he left that said “gone fishin’.”

But I’m pleased to hear that his contributions will continue in many new and different ways, including here, as he begins serving as the first Tyler Chair in Leadership, under the new Institute for Leadership and Ethics. That is good news. And that is the way of transition – change, evolution, new times and new chapters for all of us.

As you know, my life has changed. And today marks one of the best parts of this new experience, as this is my first visit to the Coast Guard Academy since becoming your new Service Secretary.

I have to admit, the transition from my old job to the new has taken some getting used to. Like most of us, I’m used to flying commercial. So the day I showed up for my first flight on USCG-1, I stood in front of the flight crew, emptied my pockets and took off my shoes. They not only wave me through – they saluted. It’s a privilege to fly aboard that plane, but, you know, it would really be the thrill of a lifetime to sail aboard the Eagle.

Graduates, today we celebrate your transition - the voyage, literal and figurative, on which you are about to embark as a member of one of the finest service organizations in the world. And we commend you, too, for the hard work and persistence that made this day possible.

I sense many sighs of relief. So let me add what I can to that:  I spoke to the President the other day on the issue of amnesty for cadets still on restriction. We went through the Intel and decided an “all-clear” was in order.

So at the direction of the President, I hereby grant amnesty to all cadets on restriction for minor conduct offenses. I leave it to Admiral Olsen to define “minor.” So be very nice to him.

The noble deeds of the Coast Guard have long served a noble cause – many causes in fact. For even the Coast Guard itself has transitioned during its 214-year history. What began as a revenue capturing entity three days after ratification of the American Constitution has slowly evolved into a service with wide and multiple missions.

Last year alone, the Coast Guard seized record amounts of illegal drugs, conducted more than 36,000 port security patrols, nearly 7,000 air patrols and 20,000 security boardings, all while undertaking search and rescue missions in storm-tossed seas, which saved the lives of nearly 5,500 mariners in distress.

Three and a half years ago, the mission of the Coast Guard again began to transition in a way that few of us could have ever predicted. All of our lives transitioned as we tried to makes sense of a brutal act of terrorism, and make secure our borders, ports, waterways, the very skies overhead.

It is not what your parents wanted for you – to step upon this historic campus your “Fourth Class” year in 2001 and be shaken by an army of 19 men, who used planes as missiles, and stole the lives of nearly 3,000 people in one of the most horrific acts of inhumanity the world has ever seen.

We knew that the implications for all of us, for all of you and for this service, would change forever. We knew that we could no longer look across distant tragedies and decades of tyranny as irrelevant events. What happens abroad has an impact here at home.

Let me be clear: homeland security is one piece of a broader strategy that the President has deployed to protect this nation. That strategy first involves bringing the battle to the enemy. To be blunt, over the past few years, we have forced terrorists to spend more time worrying about how to defend themselves against death and capture, leaving them less time to plot how to get by our own defenses.

Such a strategy pays enormous dividends in terms of diminishing the threat. First, the intelligence we gain is a major tool in disrupting threat. Second, by taking the fight to our enemies, we keep them on the run – limit their abilities to plan, train and act.

But while one key to defense is offense, it is not the entirety of our security picture. For we also need “defense in depth” as part of the strategic whole. That means even as we pursue terrorists overseas, we work at home to prevent infiltration by terrorists and their weapons; to protect our people and places if infiltration occurs; and to respond and recover if an attack is carried out.

What defensive action does not and cannot mean is that we shut down, board up, wall in or become a fortress. Because what we are trying to protect – and at the same time, preserve – is not only our lives, but also our way of life. We are a maritime nation. The entire world is our customer – by trade and travel. And yet terrorism is at sea. We know this all too well from previous attacks upon the French oil tanker Limburg, the failed attack on the USS The Sullivans and the tragedy of the USS Cole.

We know this sadly when we lost 25-year-old Nathan Bruckenthal, who last year became the first Coast Guardsman killed in action since the Vietnam War. He died while trying to intercept three explosive-laden dhows. We have not forgotten his service, his courage, nor his sacrifice so that others might live. Indeed, times are harder and dangers are more prevalent. And the importance of the unique instrument called the Coast Guard has never been greater.

Five former Coast Guard Commandants asked Congress to bring the Coast Guard under the umbrella of Homeland Security. The Coast Guard has protected this nation from its infancy and has served in every conflict since, including Korea, Vietnam and the first Gulf War. And so it seemed not only right, but unequivocally necessary that we return the Coast Guard to that core mission of security, to our mission, to our nation’s collective mission to uphold the good and fight the bad, to defend our liberty and our way of life, with every spark of this nation’s great strength.

At the outset of the 21st century, the new organizational watchword is “networking.” As part of DHS, the Coast Guard plays a pivotal role in the homeland security network. Working with Customs and Border Patrol, with TSA and with other elements of the Department, the Coast Guard operates as part of a seamless network that stands watch at sea, air and land borders. The Coast Guard stands vigilant against maritime threats – whether they are terrorists jumping foreign vessels to enter the United States, or a freighter carrying a cargo of death and destruction.

Whether in pledge to crew or country, the Coast Guard has long set the tone and led the trumpet call of that charge – “Always Ready.” And, graduates, by your good service and good grace, I’m confident that you will help transition us through a challenging, historic and, yes, wonderful future ahead.

Years from now, may you look upon your days at the Academy and know that they served you well.

And may you also remember that it was here that you seized the opportunity to serve a world wider than the width of your own shoulders, a cause greater than yourselves. And we commend you for it now - and will for generations to come. So have faith, have fun and have hope in your journeys ahead. And know that you will sail and serve a grateful nation.

Again, thank you for your kind invitation. And my congratulations to you all. Well done, and God speed. Semper Paratus.

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