    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [July 26, 2002]
    [Pages 1299-1302]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Proposed Legislation To Establish the Department of Homeland
    Security
    July 26, 2002

        The President. Thank you all for coming. Welcome to the White House.
    Good morning.
        Audience members. Good morning.
        The President. I appreciate so very much being joined here by
    firefighters and police officers and emergency personnel, public
    officials at the local level, the State level--I know we've got some
    Governors here. And I want to thank you all for coming.
        We're on the cusp of doing something right for America. And I
    appreciate the members of my Cabinet who are here. I want to thank the
    Secretary of Defense, the Attorney
    General, the Secretary of
    Transportation, the head of the Office of
    National Drug Policy. I appreciate Kay
    James being here. I want to thank Tom
    Ridge for his hard work.
        But most importantly, I want to thank the Members of Congress who
    got up pretty early after not much sleep--[laughter]--for your hard work
    and your care for our country. I see Senator Lieberman, who is really working hard in the Senate to cobble
    together a homeland security bill that will work. I appreciate Senator
    Nickles being here as well; Senator
    Bennett from Utah. Thank you all for
    coming.
        I really want to thank Chris Shays and
    Jim Gibbons for coming, and Mac
    Thornberry as well--the three fine Republican
    Members, along with Steve LaTourette.
    But I also want to thank Ellen Tauscher
    from the State of California. She's been working really hard to make
    this bill a bipartisan bill, where the American people can see both
    Republicans and Democrats working together to do what's right for the
    country. I really want to thank you all for coming.
        I also want to thank the heads of agencies who are here. Jim
    Loy, who's the Under Secretary for
    Transportation, Chief Operating Officer of the Transportation Security
    Agency--served our country nobly as the--running the Coast Guard and has
    now put on another uniform called a coat and tie. [Laughter]
        I want to thank Tom Collins, who does
    head the Coast Guard, Robert Bonner, who
    runs the Customs. I want to thank Jim Ziglar
    for running the INS. I appreciate again my Governor friends,
    Rowland, King, and Patton for coming up
    today. And I also want to thank my Mayor, Anthony Williams, the Mayor of Washington, DC.
        I want to acknowledge Mike Carona of
    Orange County, California, who's with us, the sheriff. Where are you,
    Mike? There you are, Mike, looking right at you. I appreciate you
    coming. He represents the

    [[Page 1300]]

    local officials, what we call in Texas the high sheriffs. He's the
    fellow who recently apprehended the killer
    of Samantha Runnion there in California. I want to congratulate you for
    your good work, helping make your community as safe as possible.
        America, we're in our 10th month on the war on terror. And we've got
    a great deal to show for our efforts. We're making progress. And that's
    important for the American people to know. Our country continues to lead
    a mighty coalition of civilized nations, all joined in facing a common
    threat to humanity.
        This is the first war of the 21st century, and we're making
    progress. We and our allies have uncovered terrorist cells all across
    the world. We're disrupting plots. We're doing a pretty good job of
    seizing their assets and cutting off their money. And we've got them on
    the run. See, these are international killers. That's all they are. And
    we're getting them on the run. So far we've captured over 2,000 of the
    terrorists, and just about that many weren't quite as lucky. But there's
    still a lot of them out there.
        And what you need to know as leaders in your communities is that no
    matter how long it takes, we're going to run them down one by one and
    bring them to justice. And we do so not only to defend freedom and
    civilization, itself; we do so to protect the American people, which is
    our highest calling.
        We defeat the threat abroad, and we're doing a pretty good job here
    at home as well. Congress has passed new laws to help. Congress has
    already acted to help our law enforcement agencies investigate and
    prosecute terrorists. Congress responded quickly after September the
    11th in a fashion that made me proud, and I know that made the American
    people proud.
        We've strengthened our aviation security and tightened our borders.
    We've stockpiled medicines to defend against bioterrorism. We've
    developed new technologies to help first-responders identify and react
    to attacks. We've dramatically improved information-sharing amongst our
    intelligence agencies. Governor Tom Ridge has
    produced the first comprehensive plan in our Nation's history to protect
    America from terrorist attack. It's a good piece of work, and I
    appreciate you and your staff, Tom, for working hard on it.
        We're taking urgent measures against clear vulnerabilities, and now
    we must also prepare our Government and our people for the long-term
    vigilance that the new threats will require. I say ``long-term'' because
    this is a determined enemy we face. This isn't just a one-battle war.
    This is a war that will occupy not only our time, but will occupy the
    time of future Presidents and future Members of the United States
    Congress and future agency heads. The number one priority of this
    Government and the future Governments will be to protect the American
    people against terrorist attack.
        And so, therefore, I believe it's important, we must create a
    Department of Homeland Security to prepare America for the permanent
    duty--for the permanent duty--of defending the homeland. And these
    Members here today agree with me. We need this Department for one main
    reason: America needs a group of dedicated professionals who wake up
    each morning with the overriding duty of protecting the American people.
        The agencies in this Department will have other duties--no question
    about it--but no higher responsibility. Protecting American citizens
    from harm is the first priority, and it must be the ruling priority of
    all of our Government.
        The Department of Homeland Security will have four primary tasks. It
    will control our borders and prevent terrorists and weapons from
    entering our country. The way I like to put it is, we need to know who's
    coming in and why they're coming in and what they're bringing in with
    them, and whether or not they're leaving when they say they're going to
    leave.

    [[Page 1301]]

        Secondly, the new Department will work with our incredibly brave and
    dedicated first-responders, many of--the representatives of whom are on
    the stage with me today. We need to be able to respond quickly and
    effectively to emergencies. We need good cooperation between the Federal
    Government, the State governments, and the local governments.
        We bring the best scientists together to develop technologies that
    will detect biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons, and to discover
    drugs and treatments to protect our citizens. We need to harness the
    great genius of the American people to make sure that it's focused on
    the true threat of the 21st century.
        And for the first time, this new Department will merge under one
    roof the capability to identify and assess threats to the homeland, to
    map those threats against vulnerabilities, and then to act to secure
    America. The Department of Homeland Security will draw on the knowledge
    and experience of every sector in America. We'll work in a collaborative
    way with the people who care about America, and that's the American
    leadership and the American people, at all levels of government.
        This administration is working with Congress to forge a bipartisan
    bill, and I want to appreciate the members of both parties for coming
    this morning. I believe we're making good progress. And of course, being
    the modest fellow that I am, I'm willing to recognize a good idea even
    if it comes from Congress. [Laughter] Yet, it's important to understand
    this: I'm not going to accept legislation that limits or weakens the
    President's well-established authorities--authorities to exempt parts of
    Government from Federal labor-management relations statute--when it
    serves our national interest.
        Every President since Jimmy Carter has used this statutory
    authority, and a time of war is the wrong time to weaken the President's
    ability to protect the American people. And as Congress debates the
    issue of how to set up this Department, I'm confident they're going to
    look to me to say, ``Well, is it being done right,'' after they got the
    bill passed. And therefore, it is important that we have the managerial
    flexibility to get the job done right. We can't be--we can't be
    micromanaged. We ought to say, ``Let's make sure authority and
    responsibility are aligned so they can more adequately protect the
    homeland.''
        Now, look, I fully understand the concerns of some of the unions
    here in Washington. Somehow, they believe that this is an attempt by the
    administration to undermine the basic rights of workers. I reject that,
    as strongly as I can state it. I have great respect for the Federal
    employees. I travel the country as one of them, talking about how we
    need to work together to protect the homeland. I think of the times I've
    gone to Coast Guard cutters or gone to ports of authority or gone to our
    labs or seen our first-responders, many of whom happen to be a member of
    the union. Never have I said, ``Show me your card.'' I've always said,
    ``Thanks for being a proud American and for working hard for the
    American people.''
        So the notion of flexibility will in no way undermine the basic
    rights of Federal workers. Workers will retain whistle-blower
    protection, collective bargaining rights, and protection against
    unlawful discrimination. The new Secretary must have the freedom to get
    the right people in the right job at the right time and to hold them
    accountable. He needs the ability to move money and resources quickly in
    response to new threats, without all kinds of bureaucratic rules and
    obstacles. And when we face unprecedented threats, like we're facing, we
    cannot have business as usual.
        I am--I appreciate the work of Senator Lieberman. He's working hard. I am concerned, however, the way the
    committee has passed out the homeland security bill. The bill doesn't
    have enough managerial flexibility, as far as I'm concerned. I look
    forward to working with the Senator and

    [[Page 1302]]

    the Republican Members to get the bill right, to make sure that when we
    look back at what we've done, we will have left behind a legacy, a
    legacy that will allow future Senators and future Members of the House
    and a future President to say, ``I can better protect the homeland,
    thanks to what was done in the year 2002.''
        It's very interesting that Harry Truman took on the same task. And
    as I understand, it was on this day 55* years ago that he signed the
    National Security Act of 1947. It was an act that helped win the cold
    war by consolidating the Navy and the Army and the newly independent Air
    Force into what was interestingly called the National Military
    Establishment. [Laughter] It's now known as the Department of Defense.
    [Laughter]
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        *White House correction.
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        But he thought boldly, and so did the Members of Congress. They
    recognized that after World War II, we were going to enter into a new
    era. And therefore they adjusted the sights of the Federal Government.
    That's what has happened now. History has called us into action. We're
    entering a new era, and we must adjust our sights, and we must respond.
        And I know the Members here, and I know the Members on the floor
    that are working hard. And I'm confident we will respond in a way that
    will make America proud--America proud of our efforts to come together
    but, more importantly, America more secure in the knowledge that we're
    doing everything we can to protect the homeland.
        Thank you all for coming. May God bless your work, and may God bless
    America.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:44 a.m. in Room 450 of the Dwight D.
    Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to
    Gov. John G. Rowland of Connecticut; Gov. Angus S. King, Jr., of Maine;
    Gov. Paul E. Patton of Kentucky; Michael S. Carona, sheriff-coroner,
    Orange County, CA; and Alejandro Avila, who is accused of the July 16
    murder of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion in Stanton, CA.