Remarks by Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge To the National Press Club
Date: November 05, 2003Source: Computer Crime Research Center
MS. LYTLE: This weekend marks the 100-day anniversary of America's newest cabinet agency, the Department of Homeland Security. Its Secretary, Tom Ridge, has chosen the National Press Club as his podium to report the strides this department has made during that time in strengthening the domestic security of our country.
Secretary Ridge has been tackling homeland security since October 8, 2001, when he was sworn in as Director of the brand new Office of Homeland Security. His charge, as America's first Director of Homeland Defense, was to develop and coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to strengthen the U.S. against terrorist attacks.
Today, as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, he oversees some 180,000 employees from 22 combined agencies. They work to strengthen the borders, provide intelligence analysis and infrastructure protection, improve the use of science and technology to counter weapons of mass destruction, and create a comprehensive response and recovery operation.
Before undertaking this challenge, Tom Ridge had twice been elected Governor of Pennsylvania and had served seven terms in the U.S. Congress.
Earlier, he was an assistant district attorney in Erie County, and before that, an attorney in private practice.
Secretary Ridge was born in Pittsburgh's Steel Valley and raised in a working class family in veterans' housing, public housing, in Erie. He earned a scholarship to Harvard, graduating with honors in 1967.
After his first year at the Dickenson School of Law, he was drafted into the Army, where he served as an infantry staff sergeant in Vietnam and earned a Bronze Star for valor.
Secretary Ridge and his wife, Michelle, former Executive Director of the Erie County Library System, have two children, Leslie and Tommy.
The creation of the Department of Homeland Security on January 24th has been called the most significant transformation of the federal government since 1947. That's when Harry Truman merged the branches of the armed forces into the Department of Defense.
The Department of Homeland Security represents a similar consolidation, melding a number of domestic agencies into one department to effectively protect the nation.
We were privileged to welcome Tom Ridge to our podium nearly 15 months ago in his capacity as Director of Homeland Security. How far have we come since then? For the answer to that question, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
(Applause)
SECRETARY RIDGE: Thank you. Thank you.
(Applause)
SECRETARY RIDGE: Thank you very much. Thank you, and thank you, Tami, for that very kind and very generous introduction. Thank you for your warm welcome.
It's certainly my pleasure to speak before the National Press Club membership. In the audience I see there are several friends from my days in Pennsylvania. If I started mentioning you, I'm sure I'd forget some, but to you in the audience as well as to the distinguished men and women reporters and commentators seated alongside me today, thank you for the invitation to join you this afternoon.
Let me first say that the press, the press has become, by way of both trade and talent, an absolutely instrumental component of homeland security.
From threat level changes to citizen preparedness, all of us at the Department not only respect, but you need to understand, we rely upon you and what you do as a vital function in keeping our citizens alert, as well as swiftly and accurately informing America on homeland security issues.
In that spirit, I welcome the opportunity to have this conversation with you this afternoon about the progress we've made since the Department of Homeland Security's historic inception on January 24th of this year.
As we mark the Department's first 100 days, I know some of you are thinking, "Has it been 100 days already?" Well, I'm thinking, "Has it only been 100 days?"
(Laughter)
SECRETARY RIDGE: But, in fact, in a way, it feels as if time has stretched further than the calendar would allow, because frankly, I think we've succeeded in making very significant strides during our first few months in office.
We know we have considerable work to do, and many, many things we seek to accomplish, but in a very short period of time, we think we've come a considerable distance. I can report to you that your nation's newest department has made solid, productive, and measurable progress in a very short amount of time.
What did we do in the first 100 days?
Now, I must tell you that this is our goal every single day, be it the first 100 or the next 1,000. Our job is to turn resolve into results and results into readiness. That's the short answer.
That's the answer that tells of the dedication and the tireless commitment of 180,000-plus employees who go to work every single day protecting our borders, our airports, our waterways, our critical infrastructure, working with the private sector in identifying new technologies to apply, working on emergency preparedness, developing a new strategic product by taking the threat information we have and matching it against potential vulnerabilities that we have in the private sector and, as importantly, working to preserve our way of life and strengthening security and safety for our citizens.
These are the men and women who, last January, were tasked not just with a job but with a mission - to prevent and deter terrorist incidents, to reduce vulnerabilities, and in the event of attack, to minimize the damage and to recover.
And I can assure you that the men and women with whom I work at Homeland Security have embraced this mission. They've nurtured it, they've developed it, and they work diligently to serve it to their very best ability each and every day.
As you know, we all saw that same dedication among members of the press corps during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
From the blustery, sometimes blazing desert to the besieged streets of Baghdad, the best of the best mustered all courage and commitment to get the story, get it right, and get it to the world, and in doing so, the fourth estate lost some of its finest, David Bloom and Michael Kelly, and many others who left us far too soon and as all good reporters do, left us wanting more. At this time, they left us wanting more of them. Their good efforts and their good hearts will be sorely missed.
The last several weeks have been a unique, difficult, and intensely momentous time for America and its allies. Operation Iraqi Freedom was a battle fought against a rogue regime, a terrorist regime - once bullying and brutal, now broken and buried.
Thanks to the brave men and women of the United States military, some whose bravery we will never be able to thank or might not ever even know, we've taken an angry and threatening sword from a country's sinister leadership, dismantled a once ominous capability to terrorize and murder with the most frightening of weapons - chemical, biological weapons of mass destruction - and liberated an impoverished people worn down by intimidation.
Though these are early days, each day we see within Iraq hopelessness is giving way to hope, fear is giving way to free speech, and despair is giving way to the dream of a better country and a better way of life.
I'm very heartened to tell you that the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services granted asylum yesterday to Mohammed Odeh Al Rehaief, who provided critical information to our United States Marines which led to the location and rescue of Private Jessica Lynch.
Mr. al Rehaief, his wife, and five-year-old daughter were brought to America earlier this month, after the Department of Homeland Security granted them humanitarian parole into the country.
Mr. Al Rehaief should know that Americans are grateful for his bravery and for his compassion.
(Applause)
SECRETARY RIDGE: And the Iraqi people should know that America stands beside them.
In fact, the Department of Homeland Security deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the Middle East before the war began. They went into Iraq embedded with military units and are helping to trace the source of nearly $700 million in U.S. currency seized to date.
We also deployed more than 100 - excuse me - 1,100 Coast Guard personnel to the region, marking the largest war effort by the Coast Guard since the Vietnam War.
But now the mission has changed to one of reconstruction. Currently, we have a number of agents in place helping to provide law enforcement assistance to recover stolen artifacts and investigate money laundering and smuggling. ICE agents have also put out information to the Iraqi people about potential rewards for the return of artifacts that were looted from the Iraqi museum, which has already succeeded in the return of some items.
Additionally, our agents are assisting the military in identifying and investigating violations of the United Nations embargo at various Iraqi ports, and also established Operation Iraqi Heritage, an initiative to recover and return stolen Iraqi artworks...
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