[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 6 (Monday, February 11, 2002)]
[Pages 185-189]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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

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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 
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

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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.
    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.
    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

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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 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

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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.