Remarks by Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge To the National Press Club
Date: November 05, 2003Source: Computer Crime Research Center
... an initiative to recover and return stolen Iraqi artworks smuggled into the United States.
NextWe're also monitoring threat and vulnerability assessments and joining with other coalition security officials to ensure the ultimate protection of both Iraqi citizens and coalition soldiers. It's an extraordinary joint effort by coalition forces and a newly liberated people to restore order, resources, and promise to a long-beleaguered nation.
And yet, while it goes without saying, it must be said: though we disarmed a dictator and his supporters, terrorism, in all its forms, in all its followers, is still a real and daily threat to this country and countries around the world.
As I've said many times, the mission of the Department of Homeland Security is really a mission with no end, until terrorism should one day meet its own end, and knowing our foes as we do now, the demise of hatred and the threat it carries for this nation is unlikely.
And yet I can assure you, our enemies have been disappointed, because America has never lost its enduring spirit. America has decisively gained ground. Today we are not only a stronger nation, but a more secure nation, as well.
Within the first 100 days of the Department of Homeland Security, we've launched a number of initiatives that have brought this country to its highest level of security and protection than at any other time in our nation's history.
There are many initiatives and achievements to cite. Let me simply offer some highlights. And since I just spoke of Operation Iraqi Freedom, let me begin with Operation Liberty Shield.
Operation Liberty Shield launched March 17th, based on intelligence assessments and successes in Operation Iraqi Freedom, terminated on April 17th. It was a comprehensive national plan designed to protect our citizens, secure our infrastructure and, most importantly, deter terrorist attacks.
This was a unified operation that integrated selected national protective measures with the involvement and, I might add, terrific, unprecedented support of federal, state, local, and private authorities from around the country.
Collectively -- and I must emphasize collectively -- one of the chief missions of the Department of Homeland Security is to develop and sustain partnerships with other levels of government, the private sector, and others.
So, collectively, we deployed National Guard and other law enforcement personnel at critical public and private locations. We increased both covert and overt security at our borders. Coast Guard surface and air patrols covered major seaports 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and also initiated more escorts of passenger ships.
In fact, during this effort, Coast Guard units escorted 1800 ferry boats and passenger ships, conducted more than 1600 air and more than 12,000 surface patrols, and bordered more than 1,000 merchant ships to ensure their safe transit in and out of U.S. ports.
We also strengthened security for our transportation systems during this period, heightened security in airports and rail facilities around the country and, working with private railroad companies, implemented security measures to protect passengers and hazardous cargo. New flight restrictions were also put in place over certain U.S. cities.
Additionally, we increased patrols near our key petroleum and chemical facilities and enlisted more security in sites housing radioactive materials.
We also monitor the Internet for signs of a potential terrorist attack, cyberterrorism, hacking, and state-sponsored information warfare. And, in conjunction with the Department of Treasury, we took immediate steps to protect our financial network and payment systems.
Working with the FBI and the Department of Justice, we monitored and sought to identify anyone -- anyone attempting to facilitate terrorist activity through fundraising, logistical support, and recruitment.
The Department of Health and Human Services alerted state and local health departments, hospitals, and medical care providers to report any unusual disease or disease patterns.
The Department of Agriculture alerted employees and representative throughout the food and agricultural community to take extra precautions to monitor feed lots, stockyards, processing plants, import, and storage areas.
And, finally, response and recovery teams and resources throughout our nation were mobilized, in position and ready.
In partnership with federal agencies, our constituents in state and local communities in the private sector, Operation Liberty Shield proved a successful and crucial element in maintaining a secure America and at the same time -- this is very important -- allowed citizens and industry to go freely and safely about their business.
Also during our first 100 days on the job, the Department of Homeland Security deployed new technologies and tools at land, air, and sea borders, whether used to secure Web portals or ports of entry, science and technology and the unique detection and surveillance tools emanating from research and development labs, both public and private, have quickly become the Swiss Army knives of homeland security, which are helping us meet assessment, monitoring, and detection needs of virtually every possible kind.
As you can well imagine, technology will ultimately be critical in our efforts to account for people who enter and leave the United States. So today I'm pleased to announce that the United States -- or the U.S. Visitor and Immigration Status Indication Technology System -- you know that's leading to an acronym, I don't know if you caught it. But it's USVISIT.
Well, don't sound so disappointed, for crying out loud.
(Laughter)
SECRETARY RIDGE: Oh, that was pretty good. I wish I could take credit for making it up. USVISIT will be in its first phase of operations at international air and seaports of entry by the end of 2003.
This system will be capable of using information, coupled with biometric identifiers, such as photographs, fingerprints, or iris scans, to create an electronic check-in/check-out system for people who come to the United States to work or to study or visit.
USVISIT will also provide a useful tool to law enforcement to find those visitors who overstay or otherwise violate the terms of their visas.
All in all, USVISIT is a crucial new border security and enforcement tool that will capture point of entry and exit information by visitors to the United States.
Now, rather remarkably, a quarter century ago the United States stopped -- we actually stopped asking international visitors to register periodically with immigration authorities. Yet, the responsibility to establish a check-in/check-out system is founded in U.S. law going back to the early '50s, most recently through the middle and late 1990s.
The Department of Homeland Security has taken up the responsibility to establish this much needed system that can enhance monitoring the 35-plus million visitors who come to the United States annually.
The basic idea is fairly straightforward. We want to keep terrorists out without compromising the welcoming mat, since the founding of our country has long invited good people around the world to our shores to study and to work and to live out their dreams.
America remains and must always remain, a welcoming nation, and in that spirit, while the new VISIT system will make it more difficult to enter the United States illegally. Once implemented, it will expedite the process for those who are entering the country lawfully.
And just putting it into perspective for you, I happened to be at a naturalization ceremony in Los Angeles last Friday. Forty-two hundred people from 135 countries made a choice; they made a choice to call America their home. Rather remarkable when you think about it, 200-plus years into this great country. And it seemed to me at that time that homeland security is about preserving everything that has attracted those 4200 people from 135 countries to seek entry and ultimately become citizens in this country. It was quite a ceremony, and it goes to the very heart of what our mission is in the department.
I want to stress that the phase-in of the new VISIT system will provide us with the crucial biometric information needed to end the domestic registration of people from certain countries, which has been conducted for the past several months under a system known as NSEERS.
Yet another initiative launched in our first 100 days was the stand-up of the Homeland Security Center, a national 24-7 critical watch operation based within our Nebraska Avenue complex, launched with great speed, design, and enhanced by intelligence experts from all sectors and monitored with all due diligence. The center is an all-eyes, all-ears approach that significantly increases our ability to assess threats and provide really an unprecedented full spectrum picture of the security status of the United States.
In fact, it marks one of the first and most successful coordinated, unified efforts between various component agencies -- the CIA, Health and Human Services, the FBI, the Department of Defense and others -- to centralize this critical homeland security function. Working in tandem with our state and local...
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