    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [February 6, 2002]
    [Pages 180-184]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to Police Department Command and Control Center Personnel in New
    York City
    February 6, 2002

        Please be seated. Thank you all. It's nice to be back in New York
    City, and I am so proud to stand here today with New York's finest and
    New York's bravest. I have a message for you from your fellow Americans:
    Police and firefighters of New York, you have this Nation's respect, and
    you'll have this Nation's support.
        The budget that Tom talked about increases the
    Federal commitment to our Nation's first-responders by more than 1,000
    percent. It is the right thing to do, and you all are the right--to help
    us continue to fight this war on terror.
        I want to thank Tom Ridge for taking on a job.
    He was a good Governor; he's a very good Homeland Security Director. I
    know he comes from Pennsylvania--[laughter]--but I'm proud of the job
    he's doing. He's helping to develop a national strategy that starts with
    understanding that the best responders and the best response starts at
    the local level. And the role of the Federal Government is to facilitate
    the job done at the local level. And so, Governor, thank you so much for
    taking on this big assignment.
        I want to thank your Governor. You
    know, it's very important to have a steady hand, an anchor in the wind,
    in a time of crisis. I think that's how you determine whether or not
    somebody knows how to lead. And your Governor showed your State and the
    country that he is a leader. And

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    I'm proud to call him friend. I hope you're proud to call him Governor.
        I appreciate your mayor. He's come in
    with a tough job, but he's going to tackle it with a lot of savvy. And
    New York made the right decision when they picked Mayor Bloomberg. He's
    got a lot of financial background; he's going to help New York City
    guide itself. [Laughter] It's important that you picked somebody who
    understands numbers over a politician, because he's going to be able to
    help guide you through this tough period. It's important. I think you
    made a good choice; I really do. And I'm proud to work with him.
        I want to thank Vito for being here, as
    well. He's a fine Member of the United States Congress. Vito likes to
    bring his sister to every event--[laughter]--five sisters. Only one of
    them yelled. [Laughter]
        And I want to thank--I want to thank Commissioner Kelly. It's good to see you again, Commissioner. I'm
    proud of your record, proud of your accomplishments.
        Last week I reported to our Congress that the state of our Union has
    never been stronger, that despite a war, a recession, despite continuing
    danger, we are strong, really strong, because our people are strong. And
    there's no stronger people than the men and women who wear the uniform
    here in New York. There's no stronger people than those who kind of set
    the new standard of courage and honor.
        There's a new ethic in America--at least I think one's coming on--a
    new culture, a culture to replace ``If it feels good, do it'' with one
    of responsibility, with one defined by those brave words ``Let's roll.''
    But that's nothing new for the firefighters and the policemen of New
    York. That's been your ethic for a long, long time. That ethic's been
    around here way before September the 11th, and a lot of people are lucky
    the ethic was around.
        As you rebuild your ranks, every new recruit walks in the path of
    heroes. And as a result of some of the courageous action here, not only
    is a new ethic evolving, but there's some fantastic examples for young
    recruits to follow.
        Peter Ganci--many of you knew him. He was the highest ranking
    uniformed officer in the New York Fire Department. His deputy, Michael
    Regan, saw him for the last time on the
    morning of September the 11th, after the first building had collapsed
    and while the second building was still burning. Michael Regan recalled
    this: Peter directed every citizen and every firefighter to go north to
    safety, and he went south, directly into danger. Let's roll.
        Brian McDonnell. Or maybe--maybe you knew Brian well here. His
    wife called him a cop's cop. He was a
    former Army paratrooper. He was known for always putting his colleagues
    first. September the 11th, he was last seen charging into the South
    Tower to help his fellow citizens.
        On the worst day this city has ever known, we saw some of the finest
    people New York has ever produced. We mourn every loss. We remember
    every life. But they will not have died in vain. I told our country and
    I told the world that we don't seek revenge; we seek justice. And I want
    to assure you all, those who have been touched by this terrible tragedy,
    justice will be meted out.
        I unleashed the mighty United States military, and they have not let
    us down. In 5 short months, in a brief period of time, we have
    completely routed the Taliban. I've said loud and clear, ``If you harbor
    a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the
    terrorist,'' and the Taliban found out what we meant.
        This is a patient nation. We are a determined nation. We're a nation
    that will not rest until we have brought justice not only on the Al
    Qaida killers and governments which support and house them but on
    terrorism everywhere. Now we must seize the moment. History has called
    this Nation into action; history has given us a chance to defend
    freedom, to fight tyranny. And that's exactly what this country is going
    to do. We defend freedom.

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        Not only do we owe it to those whose lives were lost on September
    the 11th, but we owe it to the living as well. We owe it to our children
    and our children's children to protect a way of life, to defend freedom,
    to defend our values, to fight evil. And we will not tire nor will we
    rest until justice is done. Oh, some around the world may grow weary.
    Some of them may grow exhausted by our drive for freedom. But not me,
    not our Government, and not our Nation.
        I have submitted a budget that recognizes that Afghanistan is only
    the first theater on the war against terror. We significantly increase
    the budget for national defense. After all, it is our number one
    priority. It is the largest increase since the Presidency of Ronald
    Reagan, whose 91st birthday we celebrate today. His budgets helped
    rebuild the military power of the United States, and for that our Nation
    should be grateful.
        But what was true in his day is true today, that whatever it costs
    to defend our security and whatever it costs to defend our freedom, we
    must pay it. I ask Congress to pass this budget. Our men and women who
    wear the uniform of the United States military deserve the best
    training, the best equipment, another pay raise, the best support of the
    United States of America.
        And for those of you who have a relative who wear the uniform of the
    United States military--the moms and dads, brothers and sisters, sons
    and daughters--on behalf of a grateful nation, I want to thank you very
    much.
        I'm fully aware of the task at hand. I know that in order to defend
    America in the long term, we've got to be successful overseas, that the
    best homeland defense is to rout out terror wherever it exists. I know
    that. And I know some of them are going to try to hide in caves, but
    there is no cave deep enough for us. They're going to try to run, but
    they can't run forever. They cannot run forever. And in the meantime,
    until we achieve our objective, no matter how long that takes, we will
    secure our homeland.
        I have a great honor of going into the Oval Office as your
    President. Every morning that I walk in there, I'm thrilled and honored.
    I take the dog in with me, and she seems to be thrilled and honored too.
    [Laughter] I sit down at the fantastic desk--it's a desk that the
    Roosevelts used; it's a desk John Kennedy used; Reagan used; it's a desk
    I'm honored to use. And the first thing I do is, I look at threats to
    the United States of America.
        They're still out there. The enemy still wants to get us. And I want
    to assure you all we're doing everything in our power to prevent them
    from doing that, that my main job and the main job of Ridge and the FBI and Kelly and
    everybody else involved with law enforcement is to protect the American
    people, is to keep American families safe, that we're pouring all our
    energy into doing our job, which is the security of the country.
        We've changed the attitude of the FBI. I mean, we're interested in
    spies; we're more interested in Al Qaida killers. We're going to run
    down white-collar criminals, but our focus is on finding any cell that
    may exist in our country and getting them. We're going to run down every
    piece of evidence we find and share it with State and local authorities.
    We're on the hunt. We're on the hunt, and we're not going to rest. We're
    just not going to rest. The American people need to know we're doing
    everything in our power to strengthen the security at home.
        And we're preparing for--we're preparing responses. Yesterday
    Tom and I went over to Pittsburgh and talked about
    a bioterrorism response as a part of our homeland security package.
    We're loading up with medicines. We're going to have the health services
    communicate better with each other. We're ready--we're getting ready.

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        We're doing a better job of securing our border. We're going to
    figure out who's coming into our country and who's leaving our country,
    to make sure that people--[applause]. Listen, we're a great nation. We
    welcome people in. We just want to know why you're here. [Laughter] And
    if you're not supposed to be here more than a period of time, then maybe
    you ought to just go on home. It's important that we have good
    information so we can secure the homeland. It's important that our
    airports be secure. And so, we worked with Congress to get a bill out to
    make air travel more safe. And it's important that we understand that in
    the first minutes and hours after attack, that's the most hopeful time
    to save lives. And so that's why we're focusing on the heroic efforts of
    those first-time responders. That's why we want to spend money to make
    sure equipment is there, strategies are there, communications are there,
    to make sure that you have whatever it takes, prepared to respond.
        But the interesting thing about making sure our homeland is more
    secure is that, as a result of focusing on first-responders,
    neighborhoods will be more safe in the long run. As a result of focusing
    on bioterrorism, perhaps we'll develop vaccines and medicines and cures
    for other diseases. As a focus on making sure our health systems talk
    better, we'll leave behind a better health care system. As a way of
    making sure that our borders are more secure, we'll have a stronger
    Coast Guard. And so, the short run, we're focusing on attacks; the long
    run, the country will be better off for the doubling of the homeland
    security budget that I submitted to the United States Congress.
        And part of making sure we're secure is to make sure there's
    economic security for New Yorkers and for the country. Obviously, I'm
    deeply concerned about the recession, and I understand the shocks to our
    economy, what 9/11 did. And I'm worried about the fact that many New
    Yorkers aren't working. And we want them to work. And that's why I am
    committed to defeating not only terrorists but the recession.
        These are--I want you to know something: When I say I'm going to do
    something, I'm going to do it. I told the people of New York that we
    will work to provide at least $20 billion to help New York rebuild
    herself, and that includes money apart from the Victims Compensation
    Fund. And when I say 20, I mean 20.
        FEMA is on the spot, and we're now spending a lot of money here to
    help New York and the emergency side of things. And we need to restore
    the infrastructure. We need to quickly rebuild the highways. And you
    know what else we need? We need the Liberty Zone in lower Manhattan. We
    need to provide job incentive--incentive to create jobs in the area that
    was affected by the attack. Congress needs to put the Liberty Zone, the
    Liberty Bonds in a stimulus package and get it to my desk so I can sign
    it for the good of New York City.
        It is important that New York City be vibrant and strong. It's
    important when people not only here at home but around the world look at
    this fantastic city, they see economic vitality and growth. I'm
    confident we can recover together. It's going to take Federal and State
    effort. I'm here to tell you the Federal help is coming.
        You know, I don't know what went through the enemy's mind when they
    attacked us. I think they thought we were soft. I like to needle them by
    saying they must have been watching too much daytime TV. [Laughter] They
    probably thought that, oh, we'll attack, and we'll just kind of roll
    over, gnash our teeth a little bit, wring our hands, mourn for the dead,
    and forget. Boy, they really miscalculated.
        See, they don't understand America. They don't understand us. We're
    understanding more about ourselves as a result of what went on. We
    understand heroism. We understand now what it means to recite a prayer,
    tell your wife, ``I love you,'' on the phone, and drive a plane in the
    ground to save others' lives. We're beginning to

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    understand more about sacrifice, personal responsibility.
        See, I believe out of this terrible evil can come some great good. I
    believe there's a better understanding of the sacrifice the policemen
    and firefighters make, and that's good for America. I believe there is a
    different culture evolving, one that says each of us need to be
    responsible for the decisions we make; each of us ought to love a
    neighbor like we'd like to be loved ourself. There's a different culture
    evolving as moms and dads now understand their most important job is to
    love their children with all their heart and all their soul.
        People ask me all the time, ``What can I do to help fight terror,
    fight the evil ones?'' Well, I believe since this is a struggle between
    evil and good, the best way to do it is to do some good in your
    neighborhood, is to mentor a child who may be lost, is to help a shut-
    in, is to walk across the street to a neighbor in need and say, ``What
    can I do to help you?''
        Many of you are already doing that, by loving the widows and the
    children of those who lost their life. It's these thousands and millions
    of acts of kindness all across America on a daily basis that define the
    character of our Nation. The way you fight evil is with millions of acts
    of good. It's the cumulative effect of the heart and soul of America
    that stands tall against the evil ones. Not only will we prevail
    militarily in the long run, but we will have overcome evil by being a
    nation that is more compassionate, more decent, more loving to our
    fellow citizens.
        I'm so proud of how America has responded. I'm proud of New York
    City and the strength and character you have shown. I loved it when our
    pilots found on some of the munitions this simple sign, ``I Love New
    York.'' America loves New York. We love your strength. We love your
    resolve. We've loved your courage in the face of incredible difficulty.
        Keep on, and my God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:48 p.m. in the Imperial Ballroom at the
    Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers. In his remarks, he referred to Gov.
    George E. Pataki of New York; Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police
    Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly of New York City; and Maggie McDonnell,
    widow of Officer Brian McDonnell.