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Homeland Security 5 Year Anniversary 2003 - 2008, One Team, One Mission Securing the Homeland

Remarks by Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge at the Homeland Security Advisory Council Meeting

Release Date: 09/22/04 00:00:00

Washington
Homeland Security Advisory Council Meeting
September 22, 2004
(Remarks as Prepared)

Thank you Joe.  It's a pleasure to be with all of you today.  I am consistently grateful for the efforts and insight that this Council provides to Homeland Security.  I am honored to have this opportunity to meet with you and hear from you about the work this Council and its Senior Advisory Committees are undertaking.  

I am also happy to introduce you to the new HSAC Executive Director, Dan Ostergaard. A former United States Coast Guard Officer, Dan has been actively engaged in various aspects of Homeland Security since 1990. Chris Furlow left big shoes to fill but I'm confident that Dan is just the right man to take the Council and these Committees to the next level.  I would also like to congratulate Dick Andrews on his recent appointment as California's Acting Homeland Security Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger.    

Since the tragedy of 9-11, this Council has been a valued partner in our efforts to secure our homeland and protect our citizens from the threat of terrorism.  

At the Department, we depend on your leadership and valuable input as we address the difficult issues and challenges that come with ensuring the security of a country as diverse and vast as ours is.  

For example, earlier this summer you provided a series of constructive recommendations on how to improve the federal homeland security funding process.  

Many of these recommendations we are already in the process of implementing including:

  • Establishing our own Comptroller, creating an integrated grants management database that will allow for real-time queries of the distribution and use of ODP funds
  • Authorizing operational overtime costs to be paid for UASI jurisdictions operating under Code Yellow
  • Working with Congress to modify the 1990 Cash Management Act to provide up-front funding.

While there is still more work to be done, thanks to your help we are streamlining and improving a process to ensure that the more than $8 billion in funding we have allocated is getting down to where it is most needed and can be put to best use.  

I understand that all four Senior Advisory Committees are hard at work on additional issues -- continuing the tradition of this Council to provide substantive and actionable recommendations on Homeland Security.   And, I'm looking forward to listening and learning from the various reports given by the Chairs of these groups today.  Homeland Security greatly appreciates your contributions to our work.  Ours is a partnership that exemplifies the philosophy of homeland security that we are working to put forward.  

A philosophy of shared responsibility, shared leadership, and shared goals of preserving our freedoms and protecting our country.  For our homeland to be secure, everyone must play a role, and I thank you for doing your part to serve your states and communities and to aid this Department as we work to integrate all of our separate efforts and achieve a standard of unprecedented protection for all our citizens.  

Thank you.

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This page was last reviewed/modified on 09/22/04 00:00:00.