Good Morning everybody. Let's try it again please,
good morning everybody. (Good Morning!) Ok! I want
to start with a family photograph. From 1966,
you won't believe this. Yes you want to see this
Jane. This is me and my kid sister in 1966. I was
8 years old, standing next to my Dad's 1966 Buick
convertible. The most striking thing about the
photograph is that as recently as 1966, a
private, everyday family of tourists like ours
could drive our car onto the grounds of the U.S.
Capitol and park it, with no inspection or prior
notice, just a few feet from the building. This is
the same spot, today. The public parking lot is
gone, replaced by a few black Suburbans, police
vehicles, and heavily-armed members of
the Capitol Police. Sadly, there are threats to our
homeland security today that did not exist in
1966. The Department of which I am Secretary is
responsible for addressing those threats. A year ago
I stood here and spelled out my vision for the
future of the Department of Homeland Security. I
was then new to the job. Now, a year later, I'm
here to provide a progress report on our efforts,
with the benefit of a year's experience. I
thank Jane Harman and the Wilson Center for once
again providing me with the forum for this speech.
Jane Harman is a wise supporter, advisor and
mentor. In this town, people like her mean a lot
to people like me. We could not govern without
you. Thank you and the Wilson Center for
everything that you do. Improving the Manner in
Which We Deliver Homeland Security On New Year's Day
I wrote out a set of New Year's Resolutions for the
senior leadership of DHS. At the top of the list
were things that go to the manner in which we conduct
business and deliver homeland security. The
reality is that DHS is a very large conglomerate of
22 components that is only 12 years old. We are a
large bureaucracy. We are still finding our way, but
we are headed in the right direction. Filling the
vacancies. First, over the last year we have filled
almost all the senior-level vacancies
that existed in the Department. Just prior to
the time I took office a year ago, the Department
of Homeland Security had no Secretary, no Deputy
Secretary, and vacancies at a number of
senior-level positions. We now have a new
Secretary (me), a new Deputy Secretary
(Alejandro Mayorkas), a new Under Secretary for
National Protection and Programs Directorate
(Suzanne Spaulding), a new Under Secretary for
Intelligence and Analysis (General Frank Taylor), a
new Under Secretary for Science and Technology
(Dr. Reggie Brothers), a new Commissioner of
Customs and Border Protection (Gil
Kerlikowske), a new Director of Citizenship
and Immigration Services (Leon Rodriguez), a new
Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (Sarah Saldana), a new Chief
Financial Officer (Chip Fulghum), a new Deputy
Administrator of FEMA (Admiral Joe Nimmich),a
new Inspector General (John Roth), a new
Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs (Brian
de Vallance), and a new Assistant Secretary for
Public Affairs (Tanya Bradsher). Unity of
Effort. We are restructuring the whole
manner in which we make decisions within the
Department of Homeland Security. In April I
directed a "Unity of Effort" initiative, which
has brought about a more centralized and integrated
process for making decisions concerning
budget requests, acquisition, strategy and
other department functions. We are moving
away from decisions made in stove pipes. As part of
this initiative, we have created a Joint
Requirements Council consisting of senior
leaders from the DHS components, to identify
and recommend investments to maximize efficiency. We
have also realigned seven major DHS headquarters
functions, to consolidate like functions and promote
efficiency.
Next, as I said here last year, we are committed to greater
transparency. Government transparency breeds
credibility and confidence; government
secrecy breeds suspicion. One of our executive
actions that the President announced on November 20
is to direct our Office of Immigration Statistics to
collect, maintain and report consolidated
DHS-wide data on the number of people we
apprehend, remove, return or repatriate every year,
in a manner that can be made public. Here again,
we've been far too stove-piped in how we
collect and report this information. I applaud
Chief Fisher for making public the Border Patrol's
use of force policy last year, and Commissioner
Kerlikowske for making public the recommendations
of the independent Police Executive Research Forum
about use of force by the Border Patrol, two
documents long sought by the media. Improving
Morale. The Deputy Secretary and I are on an
aggressive, multi-faceted campaign to improve morale
within components of DHS. In October of last year
we restored the Secretary's Awards
Program, which had been dormant since 2008, to
recognize more than 300 employees who have made
outstanding achievements across DHS. Getting off
the GAO High Risk List. Next, DHS is one of 16
departments and agencies on GAO's so-called "High
Risk List." We are on a path to get off that list
soon. Indeed, GAO has informed us that our
interactions with GAO serve as a "model" for how
other federal agencies can work to address GAO's high
risk designations. Improving responsiveness
to Congress. We have improved the Department's
responsiveness to Congress. This, despite
the challenge of -- depending on how you count
-- 92 committees and subcommittees of Congress
who claim an oversight role over this Department.
Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle,
including some of our biggest critics, have
taken note. From Worst to First in Plain Language.
Finally, and my favorite one, which I learned about
last week, in the judgment of the Center for Plain
Language, the Department of Homeland Security has
gone from worst to first among federal agencies in
our ability to communicate in plain language - one of
my personal passions. these challenging times,
management reform is itself a homeland security
imperative. Now, here is where we are on the
substance of some of our important missions: I said
here a year ago, as long as I am Secretary,
counterterrorism will remain the cornerstone of
the Department of Homeland Security's mission.
Thirteen and a half years after 9/11, it's still a
dangerous world. And, in 2015, we must recognize
that we have evolved to a new phase in the global
terrorist threat. Today the terrorist threat is
more decentralized, more diffuse, and more complex.
We are concerned about the so-called foreign fighter
who leaves his home country, travels to
another country to take up the fight there, links up
with terrorist extremists, and may return home -
whether it's this country or one of our allies --
with a terrorist extremist purpose. We are concerned
about terrorist organizations' new, slick
and skilled use of the internet to publicly
recruit individuals to conduct attacks within
their own homelands. AQAP no longer builds bombs in
secret; it has now publicized its instruction
manual, and has called for people to use it. We are
concerned about the domestic-based threat
lurking in our midst -- the so-called "lone wolf"
-- who may become inspired by this extremist
propaganda on the internet, and who could
strike with little or no notice. So, what are we
doing about this in 2015? First, as everyone knows,
we are taking the fight to these groups, in places
like Iraq and Syria. Our intelligence community
continues to detect terrorist plots at their
earliest stages. Domestically, the FBI
investigates, interdicts and prosecutes terrorist
plots in the homeland. In response to the recent
attacks in Paris, Ottawa, Sydney and elsewhere, and
the public calls by terrorist organizations
for attacks in the West, I directed that the Federal
Protective Service increase its presence at
federal buildings in major cities in the United
States. We continue to tailor and enhance our
security through every appropriate method. For
example, the visa waiver program we offer to 38
nations is a valuable tool for international commerce
and travel. It is a program that must
continue, but there are ways in which the security
of the program can be improved. To enhance
security while maintaining the integrity of the
program, last November we identified added
information fields to the Electronic System for
Travel Authorization - or "ESTA" - to learn more
about those who travel to the United States from
countries for which we do not require a visa. We are
considering further security enhancements. We
are engaging our allies in Europe and elsewhere to
encourage them to maintain and share travel
information about individuals of suspicion.
We are sharing more information and training
with state and local law enforcement in this
country. Given the manner in which the terrorist
threat is evolving, the cop on the beat must be as
vigilant as the intelligence analyst. Our
efforts must include public engagement. DHS,
along with the Justice Department, are engaging
communities, organizations and institutions here at
home that are themselves in a position to deter
others who may be turning toward violence. In 2014,
DHS held over 70 of these roundtables, meetings and
other events in 14 cities around the country. I
personally participated in these meetings in Chicago,
Columbus, Ohio, Minneapolis, Boston and
Los Angeles. We are doubling-down on our "If
You See Something, Say Something" campaign.
Yesterday at a pre-Super Bowl press conference in
Phoenix I rolled out this new, enhanced program.
This must be more than a slogan. Our
counterterrorism efforts also include continued
vigilance in aviation security. Last summer I
directed that we enhance aviation security at
overseas airports with flights directly to the
United States. Several weeks ago TSA made further
enhancements, and we are reviewing whether more is
necessary. As Secretary I have made it a DHS
priority to establish pre-clearance by Customs
and aviation security personnel at overseas
airports, before a passenger gets on a flight
bound for the United States. At present, we
have pre-clearance in 15 overseas airports at which
we have screened more than 16 million passengers
before they arrived in the United States. The newest
of these pre-clearance operations, at Abu Dhabi
in the UAE, opened early last year. Since that
time, at Abu Dhabi alone, we have already screened
364,000 passengers and crew bound for the U.S.,
and denied boarding to 571 individuals, including a
number who were in the terrorist screening
database. We want to build more of these, at overseas
airports where it makes sense from a homeland
security point of view, and in a way that U.S air
carriers will support. Last year we put out a
solicitation and received 25 letters of interest
from airports around the world. We are taking
steps to fix our broken immigration system. Some
say we should have waited for Congress to act. Let's
not forget that we did wait, for years, and
Congress did not act. The President continues to
urge Congress to finish the job and pass a
comprehensive, bipartisan immigration bill. He is
willing to work with any serious partner -
Democrat, Republican or Independent - who wants to
fix the system. In the meantime, we must improve
the system within our existing legal
authorities. We did that, and the President
announced these set of reforms on November 20,
2014. We've established a new program of deferred
action for undocumented adults. Those who have
committed no serious crimes, have been in this
country since January 1, 2010, and have children
here who are citizens or lawful permanent
residents, are eligible to be considered for this
program. The reality is that these immigrants are
not enforcement priorities. Therefore, we
want to encourage these people to come out of the
shadows, be accountable, pay taxes, and get on the
books, so we know who they are. Our executive
actions also prioritize the removal of felons over
families, includes a number of measures to
further secure the border, discontinue the Secure
Communities program and replace it with a new
program, streamline legal immigration to boost the
economy and promote naturalization, support
military families, and enhance options for
foreign-born high-skilled workers, entrepreneurs and
businesses. We are taking a number of steps to
further secure the border. I'm on a mission to
strengthen border security, and to also
replace public misperception with the
facts. In June 2013, Pew Research conducted a
survey and asked the following question: "Just
your best guess -- compared with ten years
ago, do you think the number of immigrants
entering the U.S. illegally today is higher,
lower, or about the same?" Amazingly, 55% of
respondents answered higher, and only 15%
answered lower. The reality is on this slide.
In the year 2000, apprehensions on the
southern border-- which are a direct indicator of
total attempts to cross the border illegally --
exceeded 1.6 million. Apprehensions on the
southern border have dropped considerably since
then, to around 400,000 a year in recent years.
Apprehensions are in fact at their lowest rate since
the 1970s. These numbers are no doubt partially due
to economic conditions and trends in the U.S., Mexico
and Central America, but also due to the very large
investment this Nation has made in border security
over the last 15 years. Today's Border Patrol has
the largest deployment of people, vehicles,
aircraft, boats and equipment along the
southwest border in its 90-year history. This
includes a budget of $3.5 billion, a total of 23,000
personnel, and 20,833 border patrol agents.
Without a doubt, we had a challenge last summer,
with the unprecedented number of unaccompanied
children and others who crossed a narrow area of
our southern border into the Rio Grande Valley, in
search of a family member and a better life in this
country. We responded aggressively with more
people and resources on the southern border.
Beginning in mid-June the numbers of unaccompanied
children crossing the southern border declined
sharply, and are now at far lower levels. But, we
are not declaring "mission accomplished." The
President and I are committed to building an
even more secure border, and a smart strategy to
get there. Much of illegal migration is seasonal. The
poverty and violence that are the "push factors" in
Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador still exist. The
economy in this country - a "pull factor" -- is
getting better. There is still more we can and
should do. We are pursuing a risk-based
strategy for border security. This means
focusing resources where our intelligence and our
surveillance tell us the threats exist. This is a
smart, effective and efficient use of taxpayer
resources There are more aircraft, surveillance,
radar technology and other equipment that our experts
have determined we need, which we have requested
for FY 2015. In December we opened a new family
facility in Dilley, Texas that will house up to
2,400 individuals. We are continuing aggressive
public awareness messaging in Central America and
elsewhere. This "know the facts" campaign was
launched on January 5th. On January 21, I wrote
another open letter in the Spanish language press to
repeat the message. Finally, we have launched
a Department of Homeland Security-wide Southern
Border Campaign Plan. We are doing away with the
stove-piped approach to border security. Instead,
we are putting to use, in a combined and coordinated
way, the assets and personnel of CBP, ICE,
CIS, the Coast Guard, toward the goal of border
security. We have established three new
Department task forces, each headed by a senior
official of this Department, to direct the
resources of CBP, ICE, CIS and the Coast Guard in
three discrete areas. The first, Joint Task
Force-East, will be responsible for our
maritime ports and approaches across the
southeast. The second, Joint Task Force-West,
will be responsible for our southwest land border
and the West coast of California. And the third
will be a standing Joint Task Force for
Investigations to support the work of the other two
Task Forces. A key part of our mission is to
facilitate lawful trade and travel. This is vital
to commerce and our economy. President Obama
is committed to this. Last year TSA continued to
expand the very popular TSA Pre-check program,
enrolling 800,000 new participants. At the same
time, TSA screened 653 million total air
passengers -- 14 million more than the year before
-- 443 million checked bags, and 1.7 billion
carry-on bags. Last year CBP screened 374 million
passengers at land, sea and airports, an increase
of 4% from the year before, and enrolled an
additional 1.25 million travelers in the various
Trusted Traveler Programs, to bring total enrollment
to 3.3 million members. In 2014, CBP also processed
$2.4 trillion in trade, an increase of 4% from the
year before, and 25.7 million cargo containers
through ports of entry, a 4.5% increase from the
year before. We are working with Canada and
Mexico on programs and initiatives to facilitate
the lawful and secure movement of goods and
people between our countries. In response to
President Obama's executive order, DHS is
leading a 47-agency effort to create a national,
electronic "Single Window" trade processing system
for importers and exporters to do business
with the United States. We are working to modernize
in other areas to promote lawful trade and travel.
We need to make strides in cybersecurity. Through
our National Cybersecurity and Communications
Integration Center, or "NCCIC," DHS is
responsible for assisting and sharing information
with the private sector concerning cyberattacks
and threats, and for securing the civilian .gov
networks. I was pleased that, last year, Congress
provided bipartisan support for our efforts,
with the passage of legislation which codifies
DHS's authority to assist the private sector,
codifies DHS's authority to assist other federal
agencies, and legislation to enhance DHS's ability
to hire cyber talent. We need to go further. On
January 14, President Obama came to the NCCIC
and announced his Administration's support
for more cybersecurity legislation that will
ensure our economic prosperity, national
security and individual civil liberties. We are
proposing legislation to (1) encourage the private
sector to share cyber threat indicators with the
NCCIC, (2) protect the private sector with limits
on civil and criminal liability when they do,
(3) require businesses to notify victims and the
government when there is a data breach at that
company, and (4) enhance criminal penalties for
cybercrime. The Secret Service is the finest
protection service in the world. No other agency of
any government in the world could protect 135
world leaders all at once when they gather for the
UN General Assembly. The Secret Service does this
each year with great professionalism and
without incident. The Secret Service continues
to enjoy the President's trust and confidence, as
it protects him and his family. It has built
tremendous talent and capability to pursue cyber
and financial crimes. However, recent events
have highlighted the need for change. In October I
appointed an independent panel to take a hard look
at the Secret Service. In December the panel
reported its findings back to me. Those
recommendations were astute, thorough and fair.
A number of security enhancements have already
been made and implemented by Acting Director Clancy,
but the Secret Service must also commit to longer
term and more systemic change. For my part, I am
committed to sustained and encouraged oversight of
the Secret Service, to ensure that it has what it
needs to get the job done. Last year our Federal Law
Enforcement Training Center trained over 59,000
officers and agents from federal, state, local,
tribal and international law enforcement. We are
ensuring that the Coast Guard has what it needs to
get its job done. These are exciting times for the
Coast Guard, as it is replacing its aging fleet
with new vessels. Four new National Security Cutters
are in service and a fifth will be commissioned this
summer. Twelve new Fast Response Cutters have been
delivered and are making a difference every day in
south Florida, and we are more than halfway to
completing the replacement of our fleet of aged
patrol boats. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard is in the
design phase of a new mid-size Offshore Patrol
Cutter. I am committed to ensuring this project is
affordable before going forward with the selection
of a general contractor and production. FEMA has
become the premier emergency management
agency in the country and has earned the confidence
of federal, state and local leaders throughout.
In the year I've been in office, I have personally
had the opportunity to observe this at disaster
recovery sites. Finally, DHS cannot pursue all
these important missions alone. I cannot print
money. I cannot appropriate money. We need
a continued partnership with Congress. We need a
FY 2015 appropriations bill.
At present DHS is operating on a continuing
resolution which expires on February 27. As long as
we are on a CR, we are restricted to last year's
spending levels, and cannot engage in any new
spending and activities. This means we cannot pay
for the added border security that I talked
about. This means we cannot invest in the
things the independent panel recommended to
improve the Secret Service; we cannot hire
new Secret Service agents for the coming
presidential election cycle. This means we
cannot fund new non-disaster grants for
state and local governments that mayors,
police chiefs, fire chiefs, and governors
depend on. Our ability to fund aviation security,
maritime security, port security and homeland
security is severely constrained as long as we
are on a CR. As originally introduced by
the House Appropriations Committee, the FY 2015
appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland
Security was a good bill. It appropriated $39.7
billion for the Department and funded many of the
things we need. On the House floor the bill was
amended to include politically-charged
language to defund all our executive actions to fix
the immigration system. The President has vowed to
veto any bill that includes such language.
The clock to February 27 is ticking. In these
times, the homeland security budget of this
government should not be a political football. I urge
Congress to pass an appropriations bill for
DHS, free and clear of politically-charged
amendments. I will end with the very last two
words I ended last year's speech with. Last year, I
said that, in the name of homeland security, we
should not sacrifice our values as a Nation of
people who cherish privacy and freedom, celebrate
diversity, and are not afraid. Fear is corrosive.
In the final analysis, courage and resolve in the
face of challenge are the greatest strengths of any
nation. Terrorism cannot advance if we refuse to be
terrorized. Whether in response to a terrorist
threat, a natural disaster, a deadly virus,
or in the pursuit of a more perfect union,
courage and resolve will always prevail.
Thank you for listening.