    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [June 7, 2002]
    [Pages 940-942]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Congressional Leaders and an Exchange
    With Reporters
    June 7, 2002

    Department of Homeland Security

        The President. I want to welcome Members of the Senate and the
    House, members of both political parties, to the Cabinet Room this
    morning to discuss how best to implement the strategy that I talked
    about last night, that other Members of Congress have been talking about
    for awhile, and that is the development of the Department of Homeland
    Security.
        We've got a lot of work to do to get this Department implemented.
    There's going to be a lot of turf protection in the Congress. But I'm
    convinced that by working together, that we can do what's right for
    America, and I believe we can get something done.
        To this end, I'm going to direct Tom Ridge to
    testify before Congress about the need for the establishment of this
    Cabinet agency. I feel strongly that he is the--he can represent the
    interests of the administration on the Hill, and he can bring our
    message to the Hill.
        And I look forward to working with Senators Lieberman and Specter and Members
    of the House to get this important legislation passed. Obviously, the
    sooner the debate begins, the sooner the passage of this bill can
    happen. And that's good for the country.
        Again, I want to thank the Members who are here. I want to thank you
    for your leadership on this issue. Thank you for your willingness to
    speak out about the importance of protecting our homeland.
        I'll answer a couple of questions. Yes, Ron [Ron Fournier,
    Associated Press]?

    Situation in the Middle East

        Q. Thank you. If I could look ahead the next couple days, it's been
    a couple months now since you asked all the parties to step up in the
    Middle East, and there are still suicide bombings, still the incursions
    by the Israelis. Is there any hope for any progress in the next couple
    days with the President of Egypt and the Prime Minister of Israel?
        The President. Yes, I mean, we're going to have good discussions,
    and that's always important. George Tenet
    has just come back from the Middle East. Ambassador Burns is coming back from the Middle East. There's been
    consultation with all the parties. And after my meetings with President
    Mubarak and Prime Minister Sharon, I'll talk to our country about how I think we should
    move forward.
        Progress is being made. The Arab world now understands they need to
    be involved in pushing for peace and fighting against the terrorist
    actions that have--that make it very difficult to achieve a peace.
        I still am disappointed in Mr. Arafat's
    leadership. He needs to cut off the terrorist activities.
        Q. So you're talking about a speech on the Middle East?
        The President. Well, I don't know if it'll be a speech. It may be a
    discussion. It could be a paper. I haven't decided the forum.
        Q. But you'll lay out a new vision?
        The President. No. I'm going to lay out--listen, if you're
    interested to know what I think, go back to the April 4th speech.

    Department of Homeland Security

        Q. Mr. President, how are you going to deal with some of the turf
    battles that come up? And what led you to change your mind about a
    Cabinet agency?
        The President. Well, first of all, I have always been--ever since we
    first got going, I've been exploring this idea. My mind was never made
    up one way or the other. I knew I needed to act right after September
    the 11th, and that's why I called upon Tom

    [[Page 941]]

    to serve in the capacity in which he has served. We needed to do
    something very quickly right after the attack.
        We've been exploring this idea for awhile. I've been listening to
    Members of the Congress, who have been quite articulate on the subject.
    And after doing a lot of work on the feasibility of setting up this
    Cabinet position, we decided to move forward yesterday.
        Now, in terms of turf battles, there's nothing wrong with a good
    turf-battle fight. And one way to win that argument is to call upon the
    good services of effective Members of the House and the Senate. And
    that's what this meeting is all about; it's the beginning of winning the
    turf battle.
        I think most Members of Congress understand the need to act. I know
    Members of Congress know that we're in a new type of war, and there's
    been precedent. As I talked about last night, Harry Truman moved--asked
    Congress to move, in the reforms of our war-fighting capacities, and we
    need to do the same thing for the homeland.
        And we've got Members here--if you look around this table, we've got
    Members here with plenty of seniority and plenty of stroke and plenty of
    credibility to move this package through both the House and the Senate.
        Q. Mr. President, many Americans, when they hear about this plan,
    may think it is a growth in the size of Government, in the bureaucracy,
    another layer of bureaucracy. What do you say to people who might have
    that concern, might be concerned that this is just a shuffle and
    reshuffling of the deck?
        The President. Well, I would tell them that there's going to be
    savings by--when we combine accounting units and savings when we combine
    people in place to worry about administration. You see, when you combine
    agencies that are scattered throughout the Government, there are
    inherent savings, which means that we're going to be able to have more
    money on the frontline of our homeland security.
        There is--one of the things that's important about Government is
    that there be accountability within Government. And as I mentioned last
    night, there's over 100 different agencies involved in homeland
    security. In other words, the ability to protect the homeland is
    scattered throughout, so there really is no accountability.
        I mentioned the example of Customs. You know, they collect tariffs,
    but they report to the Secretary of Treasury, who really isn't in charge
    of homeland security. And so the idea is to configure those existing
    agencies into a--that are responsible for pieces of our security into
    one agency, so that accountability is clear.
        And obviously--Harry Truman said, ``The buck stops here,'' in the
    White House. I understand that. But if that's the case, I want to make
    sure that accountability to me is clear, that we've aligned
    responsibility and authority. And so this is a very important
    reorganization to--it'll enable all of us to tell the American people
    that we're doing everything in our power to protect the homeland.
        Q. Mr. President, we were told yesterday that this would lead to no
    substantial changes at the FBI and the CIA. Since those are the two
    agencies under the most scrutiny right now, how can Americans rest
    assured that this reorganization will really do anything to address the
    root intelligence failures behind the September 11th attacks?
        The President. Well, first of all, the FBI and the CIA are changing.
    They understand that there have been gaps in intelligence sharing. If
    you listen to the testimony of FBI Director Mueller, you will understand that the FBI is making changes.
        Now, FBI Mueller came to work one
    week before September the 11th. He'd been here one week on duty. And he
    has taken the testimony of the lady, the FBI woman out of Minneapolis, very seriously. He's looked at the
    report from Arizona. And he's reacted with reform.

    [[Page 942]]

        The CIA and the FBI--I've said this in many, many speeches--that is,
    if you were paying attention to them--that the CIA and the FBI now talk
    like they've never talked before. In other words, we've learned lessons
    from what took place prior to September the 11th. And so the reforms,
    they're already going on, and they're making great progress and
    communicating in a much more seamless way, in a much more--in a way that
    will help protect the homeland.
        Thank you all.

    Death of Martin Burnham

        Q. Mr. President----
        The President. Yes, one question. I want to answer this. Yes?
        Q. Are you satisfied that the Philippine troops did all they could
    in the rescue attempt of the Burnhams? And have you contacted their
    family here at home?
        The President. First, let me say how sad we are that Martin Burnham
    lost his life, and I will call his parents. I'm pleased that Mrs.
    Burnham's alive; that's good.
        I talked to President Arroyo of
    the Philippines. She told me that she had called the Burnham parents, and I thanked her for
    reaching out. She assured me that the Philippine Government would hold
    the terrorist group accountable for how they treated these Americans,
    that justice would be done.
        We are obviously going to look at all the particulars and the facts,
    and the State Department will be talking about that later on today.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:31 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt;
    Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel; Chairman Yasser Arafat of the
    Palestinian Authority; Minneapolis, MN, FBI Agent Coleen Rowley; and
    President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines. He also referred
    to Martin Burnham, an American missionary who was held hostage in the
    Philippines by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group and killed on June 7
    during a rescue attempt; his wife, Gracia, who was held hostage with Mr.
    Burnham but rescued; and Mr. Burnham's parents, Paul and Oreta Burnham.