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Release Date: 03/25/04 00:00:00
Glynco, Georgia
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
March 25, 2004
(Remarks as Prepared)
Thank you all. I appreciate your warm welcome...and the warm weather.
I just enjoyed a fascinating tour today of the Training Center. You have everything from mock roadways for high-speed chases...to mock villains for search and capture...to mock parks and waterways for pursuit and rescue.
It's a Hollywood set - with a lot of true action heroes! I think the Governor of California would be quite impressed...and a little jealous. Though I hear he loves his new job.
I know that I'm impressed. Among nearly 3,000 members of your class, you represent some 76 different agencies - an incredible demonstration of cooperation and partnership and a sense of mutual mission, so vital to keeping our people and our country safe.
Since 9-11, you moved to an intensive 6-day class schedule - now training anywhere from a week to five months. You commit to time away from family and friends to undergo physical training, firearms instruction, investigative techniques, evidence recovery, hostage negotiation, whatever it takes to respond to the important new missions that will come your way upon graduation.
Homeland security starts with training. We must know where to look, and where terrorists hide. We must know how to disrupt their actions and impede their growth. We have to know how to prepare for any catastrophic emergency - whether an act of man or Mother Nature. In other words, we have to know how to save lives - and our way of life.
When you graduate, your fellow citizens will count on you to keep them safe. But I want you to know that you can count on the Department of Homeland Security to support you in your efforts. Helping this nation's many agents and officers stay safe and effective is a Departmental goal.
We do that in any number of ways - by analyzing the vulnerabilities of our nation's critical infrastructure...enhancing our capacity to treat potential victims of bioterrorism...spearheading the next generation homeland security tools and technology...and much, much more. We do all of this with a determination to get this information, these tools, this support to the people who need these resources most, those who work daily on the front lines of terrorism - as many of you are...or soon will be.
From 9-11, 2001, in America...to 3-11 of this year, in Spain, we have seen the damage wrought by those who make loss of life the number one goal of their own. But here and around the world, we've also seen the clear and collective resolve of people who value freedom over fear...security over savagery and destruction.
America will not abdicate its freedom and security to anyone or any nation -- ever. Instead, as many an enemy has discovered, we will meet the threat of terrorism wherever it seeks to hide, be it on foreign soil or our own.
We know that America has adapted many times to the changes brought by time and events. And we have done so again. Nowhere is that more evident than in the daily tasks carried out by the men and women of Homeland Security.
It's been just more than a year since 22 agencies merged under the umbrella of a new Department - 180,000 people all united under a single mission, to lead the coordinated effort to protect our country from those who wish us harm.
During our first year, we made great progress in widening a base of protective measures to make this nation safer.
As many of you know, we significantly enhanced aviation security, deploying thousands of federal air marshals, newly trained screeners and state-of-the-art technologies. We strengthened security at our borders - ensuring the free flow of good and people and giving our agents better tools to keep terrorists out. We also launched US-VISIT, which uses the "smart technology" of biometrics to speed the entry of millions of legitimate travelers and halt the entry of terrorists and criminals. We also made important changes to our STUDENT VISIT program...retooled it, so that foreign students are not delayed upon entry - and so that those posing as students, seeking fraudulent entry, are stopped in their tracks.
Across the board, we've improved communication and coordination between every major sector of our country - public, private, academic - throughout and between our neighborhoods and communities...throughout and between the international community worldwide.
This hard work of preparation and prevention has meant faster deployment of resources and manpower; greater information sharing among our partners; added layers of protection at our ports, borders and skyways...without doubt, a greater sense of purpose and preparedness for those who do this hard work every day.
You are vitally important to this hard work. The role and relevance of every person trained to protect our citizens has grown exponentially since 9-11. And so has the role of everyone who calls this great country home.
Homeland security is a national strategy. It is and must always be a priority in every city, every neighborhood, and every home across America. More than anything, keeping America safe and free in the 21st century is about the integration of a nation, and nations, led by citizens and freedom-loving people everywhere.
And that's important. Because we all know - there is much more to do. As you've learned here at FLETC, in anything you train to do, you have to weigh many variables, determine risk...and drive the fundamentals. You want to aim - shoot - and hit your target.
The Department of Homeland Security has set its own new targets for the next year. Our goals going forward are to accelerate stronger information sharing and infrastructure protection, drive new standards to make sure that equipment and communication tools work together, across frequencies and jurisdictions. We're working to integrate our nation's border and port security systems, improve customer service throughout our nations immigration centers, increase citizen preparedness and drive the development of new technologies, most notably, technologies that can combat the weapons of high consequence.
It's an aggressive agenda. But in a 21st century threat environment, nothing less will do. And so, with our partners, Homeland Security will do everything we must to keep planes flying, bring loved ones closer, enable sports fans to gather, help businesses stay open - in other words, to keep this country moving.
We all know - since September 11th, our world has changed. America has changed. But much of what is important remains the same. America is still a welcoming nation that opens her borders to citizens from all over the world. Our promise still rests on a respect for the vast diversity of people and cultures that enrich our lives. Freedom is still the hope of many, and terrorism the choice of an embittered few.
As one observer calculated, the men and women of homeland security have to be right each and every day -- about a billion times per year. What motivates them is what motivates you - and everyone in this country since September 11th. The images of 9-11 resonate deep within. We shall never forget. Terrorists should not think America would ever do otherwise.
There is an old maxim: Strength in numbers. Perhaps, if there is anything we have gained from 9-11, it was a national understanding that we are all called to serve as long as we call ourselves free. We are all pledged to freedom's cause ... we are each its protector.
We know now, more than ever, that our responsibilities to one another must reach from a national crisis to an individual need. They must extend from community to community, citizen to citizen, in a nation that is itself, the greatest community ever formed.
I have every confidence that this sense of mission and commitment is abundantly present in each of you -- and, that together, we will keep this country secure and successful.
My thanks to everyone for this warm welcome, this wonderful visit ... and for everything you will offer in the days and years ahead to serve your communities and your country, this great republic we call The United States of America.
Thank you.
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This page was last reviewed/modified on 03/25/04 00:00:00.