| Home | Information Sharing & Analysis | Prevention & Protection | Preparedness & Response | Research | Commerce & Trade | Travel Security | Immigration |
The threat level in the airline sector is High or Orange. Read more.
This information is not current, is not being updated, and may contain broken links.
Release Date: 05/07/03 00:00:00
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Office of the Press Secretary
May 7, 2003
For Immediate Release
(Remarks as Prepared)
I want to thank the Economic Development Administration for this opportunity to speak with you today. I particularly want to thank everyone who attended. You represent such a wide and vital cross-section of our economy and society. We all know that every sector of society is needed in this fight - the fight to protect our economy from the cross-currents caused by terrorism.
President Bush has said repeatedly that his three priorities are "national security, homeland security and economic security." None of those three can be achieved in isolation.
Only by bringing terrorists to justice where they are harbored and funded, as our brave young men and women did in Iraq and Afghanistan, can we truly secure the homeland. And only by securing the homeland can we truly create the conditions that will lead to new jobs and a robust economy.
Your attendance today tells me that you understand what is at stake. And that is half the battle. Too many CEOs and entrepreneurs still believe security is a low priority.
In fact, a recent survey found that almost half of all businesses are still not conducting emergency drills, backing up files at distant locations or tightening background checks on employees.
We cannot get away with the old ways of ignoring security. It will take a unified national effort, a cooperative, public-private partnership beyond any we've seen since World War II.
Fortunately, we've got a great "general" in Secretary Tom Ridge. He doesn't just understand security; he "gets" the economy.
We know that public safety here at home is a prerequisite for economic development. We cannot be "ready" to grow economically if we are "afraid" of our environment - or of what lies ahead.
So what will it take -- both from businesses and from our Department -- to be prepared and protected in this new era? Let me try to define it from where I sit, in charge of Border and Transportation Security for the nation.
First, our borders and ports are not just "openings" to be secured. They are economic doors that must remain open. We must always keep both goals in mind.
Immediately following 9-11, the Coast Guard placed "security zones" around key ports and port infrastructure - and required ships to report information about their cargo and crew 96 hours in advance instead of 24. It was the largest security operation since World War II - done without sacrificing the Coast Guard's other traditional duties. These measures pushed our borders outward while keeping our ports safe harbors for commerce.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the Coast Guard, Customs officials and others who have done such a terrific job protecting our ports - not just in the face of terrorism, I might add, but, sometimes, in the face of criticism. It's sometimes charged that we inspect only 2-3 percent of shipping containers. The implication is that these dedicated public servants ignore the other 97 percent. That does them a grave disservice.
In fact, to protect our ports, these men and women tap into data systems containing detailed information on every shipment that has entered the United States over the past 10 years. That helps us spot patterns of behavior, and allows us to identify and flag both High-Interest Vessels and high-risk containers. Such containers are then subject to further screening or, if necessary, physically being opened.
Second, we are pushing our borders out even further -- all the way to foreign shores. Our tough Container Security Initiative is placing U.S. officers at up to 20 international "megaports" that handle two-thirds of the cargo destined for the U.S.
These governments have agreed to allow us to target these containers, labeling them either high-risk or low-risk. That way we know what we're dealing with long before these containers enter U.S. waters.
We're in active discussions to deploy CSI in many more ports around the world. And we will continue to work with the private sector to upgrade security in all modes of transportation and trade, including the adoption of unified, national standards where appropriate. It's all in keeping with our sound "risk management" philosophy.
According to some estimates, it would take six months to hand-inspect every single container that arrived in our ports every day. We must not "shut down" our economy in order to save it!
That brings me to our borders.
America's "just-in-time" delivery economy was hit hard by 9-11 and the aftermath. Much of that economy relies on free and fast movement across the borders.
So we have concentrated on turning them into "smart borders," ones that stop terrorists and smugglers in their tracks but allow legitimate trade and travelers to cross.
We have made great progress with the governments of Canada and Mexico in a short amount of time. Just this week Deputy Prime Minister Manley announced the expansion of Nexus, a system that expedites frequent travelers across the border, and FAST, which does the same for pre-cleared commercial trucks, to six more crossings apiece. And this progress will be abetted by the hiring of hundreds of new U.S. border patrol agents and inspectors this year.
Our efforts to create "smart borders" send a dual message to the business community: first, we will work with you to protect your industries from terrorism and economic dislocation. Second, you will be expected to take the lead and help shoulder the load. I am pleased to report that you are doing just that.
"Exhibit A" is our Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, now one year old. Nearly 3,000 companies - including 60 of the top 100 importers by volume - have agreed to secure every step of their supply chain in exchange for benefits and incentives such as reduced inspections and dedicated "FAST" lane travel.
The C-TPAT Validation Process is a tough one - requiring a company to check physical, procedural and employee security, as well as train key personnel. If they can meet these guidelines, developed jointly by our office and industry, the rewards are great.
We're exploiting America's historic edge in technology in several ways. Our Science and Technology Directorate, led by Dr. Charles McQueary, is currently working on a system to evaluate and rapidly prototype entrepreneurs' new products and solutions.
More immediately, we are providing hand-held radiation detectors to every primary border inspector in the nation - more than 15,000 in all. We're also arming border officials with $45 million in new non-intrusive inspection systems - isotope-based, acoustic, you name it.
One of those is called VACIS. It's a mobile device that uses gamma rays to inspect containers, tankers and trucks for contraband in just minutes. VACIS units have helped us seize more than 400,000 pounds of illegal drugs - music to my ears!
Technology also helps us verify that the 35 million annual visitors to this country are who they say they are, and leave when they're supposed to leave. Our new U.S. VISIT system will use traditional information - coupled with biometric identifiers such as photographs and fingerprints - to create an electronic check-in-check-out system for foreign nationals working or studying in the U.S. It will complement our SEVIS system, which is helping university officials keep track of their students, so our Department quickly learns of any change in their status.
We take our mission of protection and enforcement seriously.
This is why we restructured our border enforcement functions into two separate entities - the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, to provide a single "face" for those seeking to cross our borders - and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which investigates violations of immigration and customs laws at and within our borders.
At the same time, we realize that we have to be customer-oriented, like a business.
Last month the Department's Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services -- led by Eduardo Aguirre [ah-GEAR-ay], who became a U.S. citizen himself 33 years ago - announced new, more convenient electronic filing for two of the most popular immigration applications.
The Bureau will treat applicants with fairness and respect, preserving our tradition as a warm and welcoming nation that values the contributions of immigrants.
The key to this effort, as always, is information. Information helps us measure risks and verify truths. Accurate, timely information helps us decide where to deploy finite resources and manpower. Information is essential to homeland security.
The U.S. VISIT system is a good example of this. Another is CAPPS II. CAPPS II will help us protect air travelers by confirming passengers' identities and measuring their risk potential, all in the blink of an eye. It will use existing public information to help airport screeners measure risk and push their security perimeter outward, adding an extra layer of security where needed.
We cannot be everywhere at once. But technology such as this, used properly, can multiply our force strength and effectiveness many times over.
Of course, it's one thing to put these protections into place. It's another to test them to make sure they work. As the great Yogi Berra once said, "You can observe a lot just by watching."
On Monday, Secretary Ridge announced the launch of TOPOFF II - testing our nation's response to fictional attacks involving weapons of mass destruction against the cities of Seattle and Chicago. Dozens of state and local officials, two dozen federal Departments and agencies, the American Red Cross and the government of Canada will be involved.
We want to set an example for the private sector. Your response to an attack will be as critically important as any government agency's. After all, you own and operate 85 percent of the nation's critical infrastructure.
Terrorists seek not just to kill innocents, but to destroy our way of life. And they will try to do that by targeting any one of these sectors - transportation, agriculture, telecommunications, financial, energy, and more.
The DHS has released our National Strategies to Secure Cyberspace and our Physical Critical Infrastructure. And we look forward to working with the business community to put those plans into action.
I want to take this opportunity to thank those businesses that mobilized for Operation Liberty Shield. You really came through for your employees, your customers and your communities. And our Department is coming through with hundreds of millions of dollars to state and local governments to help defray the costs.
The more you do now to identify your vulnerabilities, the more we can do together to fix them. The sooner you test your response to a fictional crisis, the safer you will be in a real one. And the more partnerships you create, both within the business community and with the public sector, the less afraid you will be.
And justifiably so. For your confidence will be based on the solid ground of experience - not on the quicksand of complacency!
Making your businesses more secure makes your industry and your community more secure - and that's good for everybody's bottom line. And the Department of Homeland Security looks forward to helping you make it happen.
Thank you.
This page was last reviewed/modified on 05/07/03 00:00:00.
