Remarks by Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge at the Vietnam Veterans of America Leadership Conference

Release Date: 08/04/04 00:00:00

Nashville, Tenn.
August 4, 2004
(Remarks as Prepared)

Thank you, Tom for that introduction. It’s great to be here with some of America’s bravest citizens, my fellow Vietnam Veterans. I’ve been a member of VVA since 1994, but I have been part of your company since I was called to serve in Vietnam when I was 22 years old. I am proud to have served with so many of you and am honored to be with you today.

We come together during yet another period of heightened alert for our country. Over the past several days, we have received specific credible information that al-Qaeda would like to attack iconic buildings associated with our financial services sector. And we continue to believe that terrorists wish to strike on a timeline that would disrupt our democratic processes this fall.

As you would expect, we are working closely with professionals in the affected buildings and surrounding communities to layer additional security measures on top of our ongoing efforts put into place before this information surfaced.  The nature of these threats and the uncertainty associated with preparing for what could happen is relatively new to America.

Americans were shocked into a new world on September 11th, and the adjustment continues to evolve with the changing environment of threats and additional security measures.

But in some respects this is something we already understand, those of us who share the important bond of the “Vietnam experience.” It’s a time, and a place, and a common experience that unites us as a brotherhood.

We each have so many memories. Some are difficult to bear and others are bittersweet – memories of buddies who to this day remind me how lucky I am to have known and learned from them, to have served at their side, to have had the privilege to call them "friend."  

I joined Tom as a speaker at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial this year, a humbling opportunity to honor brave soldiers, fallen heroes and lost friends.

Tom will remember that I told the story of Captain "Rocky" Versace who in 2002 became the first Army POW to be awarded the Medal of Honor. His Vietnam experience – capture, torture, and execution – was even more devastating than yours or mine. But the patriotism he displayed, the steely courage and startling love of country, is a common bond to all Vietnam vets.

The last time Captain Versace’s fellow prisoners heard his voice, he was singing “God Bless America” at the top of his lungs from an isolation box. The enemy managed to silence Rocky, but not the voices who remember his unfaltering faith and his unyielding commitment to “Duty, Honor, Country.

We weren’t all lucky enough to know Rocky, but we all know the type. We’ve served alongside them. Walked in step with them. Stood guard shoulder to shoulder. Many of their names are etched on the Wall, and on our hearts.

But their stories – and the great story of our nation’s military – shape the “veteran experience.” As veterans, we are united around a common cause and a common purpose: honor the sacrifices of those who never returned to the warmth of a family embrace, never had the chance to be called veteran.

We have the chance each day to make them proud – by our continued service, by living up to the ideals of freedom and democracy for which they fought and died. I think that is why you see veteran leadership in so many areas.

This organization, and others like it, work tirelessly to protect the interests of veterans – an effort that lifts our entire country to a higher standard of compassion.

So do individual veterans, who return from foreign lands and fierce battles to become CEOs and small business owners to drive the engine of a great economy.

And many also choose public service  -- working to preserve and protect our nation’s commitment to freedom.

For instance, many of my colleagues in the President’s cabinet have served in the armed forces and reserves, including Secretaries Powell, Principi, Rumsfeld, Thompson, and Mineta. More than twenty percent of all our Senators and Congressmen served on active duty at some point, several of them combat veterans, and many more served in the reserves. And the federal government employs nearly half a million veterans, including more than three times the percentage of Vietnam-era vets compared to the civilian labor force.

That means veterans are choosing to continue to serve a great democracy, but we need to make it even easier for them to find the jobs they want and need.

We owe our nation’s veterans more than gratitude, more than respect, more than a pat on the back. We owe them opportunity. That’s why giving veterans the hiring preference they’ve earned is critical as we build a 21st century federal workforce.

It’s especially important at the Department of Homeland Security.

The expertise, background, and experience that veterans offer represent a contribution of tremendous value to the Department every day – whether they work in a headquarters office or on the front lines of the war on terrorism as Border Patrol or Immigration officers.  

That’s why our Department fully embraces federal government hiring policy that enlists a degree of preference for those who have earned it through great sacrifice during service to our armed forces.

Veterans – and veteran-owned businesses – are also vital partners for the Department as contractors. So we are committed to working with service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses in our procurement program.

To turn this commitment into action, we have hired a decorated Vietnam veteran to coordinate our efforts, set aside contracts in our planning for FY 2005, sponsored outreach sessions in concert with Veteran’s Day celebrations in November, and included veteran-owned businesses in our mentor-protégé program.

Going forward, we will continue our dialogue with your Washington representatives to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security will be a model for all federal agencies to follow.

Veterans have demonstrated time and again their commitment to the mission of this Department: preserving our freedoms and protecting America.

And I am thankful, because in the fight for homeland security, we need everyone – governors and mayors, doctors and nurses, fire fighters and police officers, mothers and fathers, citizens in every community across America.

In this way, homeland security is really about the integration of a nation – everyone pledged to freedom’s cause, and everyone its beneficiary.

It has become a defining characteristic of the “American experience” – one that unites the country in the understanding that everyone must accept a role.  

Each of you has taken our flag into battle before – across distant seas, in faraway jungles and foreign lands. Now, in defiance of the terrorist threat we face, we must continue to raise it proudly at home.

Of course, that will not be enough. We must also intensify our vigilance, increase our awareness, and continue to work every day to make this country and our citizens more secure.

Thank you for everything you have done in the past – and continue to do today – to secure America as the world’s greatest home for freedom.

Thank you.

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