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Release Date: 07/23/03 00:00:00
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 23, 2003
** As Prepared **
San Francisco, CA - Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I appreciate your warm welcome and your invitation.
And may I say, congratulations to the Commonwealth Club for a century of outstanding civic - and civil - dialogue.
I always enjoy coming to California, a state well known for its innovation and progress. That's been true since Mark Twain's day, when the great writer called it a state of "astounding enterprises" and "magnificent dash and daring." "When she projects a new surprise," Twain wrote, "the grave world smiles and says, "Well, that is California all over.""
A century-and-a-half later, California still has the capacity to astound, over and over again. That spirit is especially welcome in this "grave new world" in which we now live.
Our nation is at war with terrorism. And the terrorists are at war with us. It's a different kind of war, one whose battlefields stretch from Afghanistan to Alameda County - a war in which the doctor and scientist, the computer programmer and community leader, are as crucial to victory as the general and sergeant and ensign.
Today terrorists seek with every means to destroy our lives, our liberty and our economic leadership around the world. The upshot of these three tightly woven elements of American life is that threats to one pose enormous consequences to all.
And, as we know all too well, these threats are real and demonstrated.
Nearly two years ago, on a shocking September morning, some 3,000 people lost their lives.
We lost family, friends, fellow citizens - many at the World Trade Center, many at the Pentagon.
We lost those brave passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, who - rather than let their hijackers speed toward our nation's capital - chose to steer their plane to the everlasting.
That day, many a soul was lifted high into the arms of angels, never to pass our way again. They left with our prayers - as they left us too soon.
There's no question - America was forever changed by that experience. In a once-inconceivable instant, we came face to face with a new kind of enemy, a new reality and a permanent condition - terrorism on American soil.
And while it goes without saying, it must be said: 9-11 may have marked this nation's first battle of the war against terror. But it will not, and for some time will not, mark its last. Terrorism is a tragic prologue - an unwelcome but immutable reality of life in the 21st century.
Terrorists come in many forms and factions - but they are not deterred by time. Blinded by centuries of hatred and absent any respect for human life, they are simply determined to do us harm.
And yet, we have made great progress to secure our nation, our way of life and our freedoms from terrorism.
The best way to deter terrorism, of course, is to go after terrorist networks where they live and operate.
And we should all be proud of our men and women in uniform who have served that cause - and their country - so well.
In Iraq alone, 95 percent of schools are now open, and all universities are open. All pre-war hospitals are operating. And 85 percent of towns have a governing council. This demonstrates that we're making strong progress toward our three goals for Iraqi post-war construction - security - essential services - and governance.
These successes have turned what was once a late-night knock on the door by militant Iraqi soldiers - into a knock of opportunity - and freedom - and hope for a better life for the Iraqi people.
What's more, these successes have significantly improved our national security, and that goes hand in hand with homeland security.
For the surest sign of that, we need only point to the President's decision to create the Department of Homeland Security.
It was a bold decision, the right decision, to unify our people, priorities and programs under a single line of authority to get this country to its highest level of protection in history.
Before then, no one department had homeland security as its primary charge. Now it is ours, after the biggest reorganization of government since Harry Truman established the Department of Defense 50 years ago.
It's been said that the most fatal illusion is the settled point of view. This is where danger finds easy sanctuary. This is why America's security must always be consistent with changing times. This is why the Department of Homeland Security was created.
The "new normalcy" after the terrorist attacks on our nation, and our determined efforts to deter and prevent them from ever happening again, are a new theme of life after 9-11.
But more than that, they are a signal - a signal to freedom's enemies that we will do everything possible, using every means possible, to defeat terrorism and all its many vices - murder, disorder, disruption.
Terrorism is provocation. Its design is to elicit fear through chaos and destruction. Weapons can come packaged in the form of threats alone - and threats carried out.
In many ways, terrorism is the "shadow enemy."
Its followers dot many nations around the world - in cities and cells across the globe. But, unlike the openly acknowledged enemies of history's largest battles, today's terrorist can be but one suicide bomber - one rogue regime that releases pathogens in the air - one crude cell of zealots in a cave with the ability to obtain weapons of mass destruction.
We can never guarantee that we are free from the possibility of terrorist attacks such as these. But we can say this: That today, the American people are more secure and better prepared than ever before.
I say that because we are more aware of the threat of terrorism, and more vigilant about confronting it. I say that because all across this nation, we work hard to rise to a new level of security and readiness each and every day.
As you can imagine, the challenge of this effort is enormous. The sheer depth and breadth of this nation, the magnitude of what occurs here, from sea to shining sea, means that one slip, one gap, one vengeful person, can threaten the lives of our citizens, at any time, in any number of ways.
Let me give you a typical day in the life of Homeland Security:
Today, more than 1 million people will cross our borders, some by car, some by sea, some by plane.
Today, 95,000 miles of coastline will meet our agencies' watchful eyes.
Today, 2.4 million pieces of luggage will pass through this country's 429 commercial airports.
Today, tons of imported food products will be inspected.
Today, thousands of visa and green card applications, some legal, some suspect, will reach the desk of immigration offices.
And today, our TSA employees will screen about 1.5 million passengers before boarding their aircraft. And, while doing so, they will offer countless smiles to harried travelers, who have responded to these new security measures for the most part with patience and good cheer!
This is just a small slice of a typical day in the life of homeland security.
Let me assure you: It makes for a very bad day for criminals and smugglers, not to mention terrorists.
And we're doing everything we can to make sure that continues to be the case. Every day, we collect more intelligence, share more information, inspect more passengers and containers, guard more territory and equip and train more first responders.
And we've made great progress toward these goals.
First, you can see the progress in our efforts to reduce threats through intelligence sharing and infrastructure protection. Through the President's initiative to create the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, analysts now have access to sensitive information generated by the entire intelligence community. Just as important: The Intelligence Analysis and Infrastructure Protection unit within the new Department focuses exclusively on threats to the homeland and how we can reduce our vulnerability to attack. And the Department has systems in place to share critical intelligence with key individuals at the state and local level.
All of these actions improve our ability to prevent terrorist attacks and protect our critical infrastructure.
Second, you can see the progress at our borders. We've significantly improved our coordination and cooperation with Mexico and Canada with our "Smart Border" accords - which were designed to keep criminals, smugglers and terrorists and their contraband out, without restricting the flow of commerce.
We're also hiring 1,700 new inspectors and hundreds of Border Patrol Agents and equipping them with state-of-the-art technology, including non-intrusive inspection machines and radiation pagers. And our $400 million US VISIT system will be underway at select locations by the end of the year. US VISIT is essentially a "virtual border" that will use biometrics to confirm the identity and status of all travelers, both to and from the United States.
Third, you can see the progress we've made at our airports - from the curb to the cockpit.
We've begun to arm our pilots and have hardened all cockpit doors. Thousands of air marshals fly the skies with us, while passenger and baggage screeners are better trained and better equipped to do their jobs. We've also hired federal security officers to oversee security at our airports. We've strengthened perimeter security - and initiated fingerprint-based criminal background checks on all workers who have unescorted access to secure areas within the terminal.
What's more, under federal law, all air carriers now must provide advanced passenger information on international flights. This enables us to identify high-risk passengers attempting to enter or leave the United States.
Fourth, you can see the progress we've made at our ports and waterways. For one thing: We're building layers of security protection around commercial shipping. After all, our first line of defense begins thousands of miles away - long before a container is first loaded on a ship.
For another, we've launched our Container Security Initiative, which means that U.S. Customs inspectors are stationed at the world's major ports to target and label high-risk containers - also long before they reach our shores. Additionally, we board and inspect 100 percent of the high-interest vessels identified by the Coast Guard. And we've begun working to increase the force level of the Coast Guard, as well as modernize and expand their fleet. Bottom line: All of these measures equal more protection.
Fifth, you can see the progress we've made in our efforts to combat the medical fall-out of terrorism. We've stockpiled more than a billion doses of antibiotics and vaccines, already inoculated thousands of health care workers against smallpox and upgraded our emergency "push pack" kits. We've installed sensors at locations around the country that can identify certain biological or chemical agents. And more help is on the way, if Congress approves the President's $6 billion BioShield Initiative, which will provide incentives for pharmaceutical companies to invest in new treatments for anthrax and other deadly diseases.
Sixth, you can see the progress we've made in communities around the country, including those here in California. With strong bipartisan support, we've provided more than $4 billion in equipment, training and communications to our "first preventers" and "first responders" across the country.
If you total the dollars among several programs, California alone will receive at least a quarter of a billion dollars to strengthen your protection and preparedness.
And, finally, let me say that we're making great progress as we work to harness America's innovative spirit and develop technologies that will better secure the homeland. That spirit of innovation starts with education. At DHS, we believe we have an opportunity as well as a responsibility to encourage some of our brightest students to use their talents to make America more secure. And we are. In fact, our Department will soon award the first annual Homeland Security Fellowships and Scholarships, in time for the upcoming fall 2003 semester.
But we're also asking more universities to get involved, to develop coursework and majors in homeland security. We plan to give this effort a boost with our forthcoming homeland security "Centers for Excellence."
It's a wonderful effort - and a wonderful partnership. With the help of selected universities that specialize in cross-cutting fields - such as the social sciences and biotechnology, we will create an intellectual resource to support the homeland security mission.
Similarly, we are continuing to build and sustain partnerships with the private sector. Albert Einstein once said that "everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom."
To those thousands and thousands of businesses and entrepreneurs who so labor - we have created the "Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency."
This is a cousin to the Defense Department's DARPA agency, which, as many of you know, helped launch the Internet. Under our Department's new initiative, we will help steer the private sector to our highest-priority needs.
Several months ago, in fact, we sent out to the business community what's called a "Broad Agency Announcement," asking for specific capabilities that can be rapidly prototyped and procured.
More than 3,000 businesses have submitted proposals through our website - www.tswg.gov. Our initial review of these proposals is nearly complete. And we've got $30 million ready to award to the most promising ideas among them.
As the President has said many times, homeland security is not a federal strategy. It's a national strategy.
As you can see, we must work together - all of us - all the while concentrating on outcomes and performance. We must make use of the "astounding enterprises" and "magnificent dash and daring" Mark Twain saw so clearly here in California.
We must look to the wider perspective - and exploit to the fullest America's long-held spirit of innovation and free enterprise.
This is key.
For America itself is a product of innovation - an ideal - one born and emboldened - preserved and protected - by our Founding Fathers - an ideal that stands today as a beacon of freedom and hope throughout the world.
Freedom is our charge to keep. So together, let us continue to do all we can to provide for it, protect it, preserve it - with all the courage and compassion this great republic deserves.
Let us focus our resources - together as one nation - to protect our way of life.
Let us work to build better and higher barriers to the terrorists who attempt to do us harm.
And let us work to build more bridges between each other: from our nation to our neighborhoods - from our companies to our communities - from free people here at home to freedom-loving people all across the world.
The leaders who graced the Commonwealth Club podium one hundred years ago would expect nothing less of this noble country. May we expect nothing less of ourselves.
Again, thank you for inviting me to join you today. It's been a great pleasure.
This page was last reviewed/modified on 07/23/03 00:00:00.