[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 24 (Monday, June 17, 2002)]
[Pages 988-993]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at Oak Park High School in Kansas City, Missouri

June 11, 2002

    Thank you very much. Please be seated. Thanks for that great 
Missouri welcome. I'm honored to be back here, to talk about how we're 
doing and what we're doing to make sure that America is safe and secure 
and America's a promising place for everybody who lives here.
    I'm traveling in pretty good company today. I've asked--I had asked 
two of my Governors friends to join me in Washington, DC, to serve our 
Nation. And thankfully, they both agreed. First, the former Governor of 
New Jersey, now the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency, a fine lady, a person doing an excellent job on behalf of all 
America, Christie Todd Whitman. And the former Governor of Pennsylvania, 
a man who, right after the attacks on our country, agreed to leave his 
job and come and serve as the adviser on homeland security, the first 
such adviser, a guy who has worked endless hours to make sure America is 
as safe as can possibly be, and that's my friend Tom Ridge.
    I want to thank Members of the United States Congress who are here 
today, some of whom flew down on Air Force One. I'm not suggesting they 
like a free flight. [Laughter] But it was good to have them on the 
plane: Senator Kit Bond, from the State of Missouri--where are you, 
Kit--thank you. Congressman from this area, Sam Graves--Sam, thank you 
for being here. [Applause] Sounds like Sam has got a lot of his cousins 
here. [Laughter] Kenny Hulshof as well,

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from the State of Missouri--Kenny, thank you for being here. I 
appreciate it.
    The next fellow's not from this area, although he claims he was born 
in Kansas City. He's a Congressman from California, chairman of the 
Rules Committee, David Dreier. Thank you for coming, David. Former 
Congressman Jim Talent has joined us today. I'm glad you're here, Jim. 
Thank you for coming. And the mayor of Kansas City, Madam Mayor Kay 
Barnes, is here. Thank you for coming, Madam Mayor. I'm honored you're 
here.
    I also want to thank the school officials. Mr. Principal, thank you 
for opening up this beautiful high school. I appreciate you giving us a 
chance to come by and share some thoughts with my fellow citizens.
    You know, I don't know what went through the minds of the enemy when 
they hit us. I can't imagine what they were thinking; what kind of 
thought process did they have? I guess they thought America was so 
materialistic and so self-absorbed and so selfish that all we would do 
after the attack was maybe file a lawsuit or two. They didn't understand 
that we love freedom, and if somebody tries to take our freedoms away or 
if somebody tries to frighten us because of our freedoms, we'll respond. 
And I'm proud to report this mighty Nation has responded. We are fierce, 
and we're tough when it comes to defending our values.
    I see a lot of you have brought your children; I want to thank you 
for that. And I want you, as moms and dads and as grandparents, to make 
sure you tell your children that we fight not to seek revenge but we do 
so because we seek justice and that the overriding ambition of this 
country is to achieve long-lasting peace.
    It's important our fellow citizens of all ages understand the goal 
and vision of a strong and tough America is a more peaceful world, that 
we long for chance for our own children and children all across the 
globe to grow up in societies which tolerate people based on--and don't 
prejudice--based upon people's religious beliefs, that we honor--we 
honor freedom of religion; we respect other people's opinions; we honor 
the notion of being able to speak freely with political discourse. 
That's what we honor.
    It's important that when our children read about military movements 
or arrests, that it's all done with a clear understanding that this is a 
peaceful nation and that we long for a freer day for everybody around 
the globe.
    Our country is--I like to use the word ``tough,'' because we are. We 
are; we're a tough country. We've got a great military. And for those of 
you who have got relatives in the military, I want to thank you on 
behalf of a grateful nation and thank them on behalf of a grateful 
nation as well.
    We're also a patient nation. The American people understand that 
this is a new type of war. After all, we were attacked. We lost 
thousands of innocent citizens. Old wars used to be battle lines and 
tanks moving here and equipment moving there and logistics. New wars are 
wars fought against shadowy enemies, people who hide in caves and then 
are willing to send youngsters to their death. And that kind of war's 
going to require patience and resolve. It's going to require us 
gathering the best intelligence we possibly can. It requires our great 
Nation to assemble a vast coalition of freedom-loving people to join us 
as we're seeking these killers one by one. It requires us cutting off 
their money. One of the things that the terrorists and the enemy can't 
stand is to have their money dried up. They operate on money as well as 
they do on hate, and we're working with the financial institutions all 
over the world.
    We've got over 60,000 American troops around the world fighting 
terror--a bunch of them in Afghanistan now. Not only are they in 
Afghanistan to fight terror, they're also there to bring some order into 
a chaotic society. One of the things I was most proud of is that when we 
sent our troops, they arrived in Afghanistan; they weren't there to 
conquer a country; they went in to liberate a country from the clutches 
of one of the most barbaric regimes in the history of mankind. And 
thanks to the United States and our coalition, young girls now go to 
school for the first time in their lives.
    This is an unusual kind of war because it sometimes will show up on 
your TV screens, and sometimes it won't. Sometimes there will be moments 
of high drama, and of course, good reporters will be going--all kinds of

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hyperventilating about this action or that action. [Laughter] And 
sometimes you won't see a thing.
    Interestingly enough, we've rounded up and detained over 2,400 
terrorists, and that's good. It's not just us; our friends have as well. 
We're making progress. You probably read in the newspaper; the number's 
now 2,401.
    And it's not very dramatic at times when that happens. But you need 
to know that we're steady and strong on the subject of keeping America 
free. I'm going to talk about homeland security, but the best way to 
secure our homeland is to hunt the killers down one by one and bring 
them to justice, and that is what we're going to do.
    It also is a new kind of war, because we're going to be confronted 
with the notion that these shadowy terrorists could hook up with a 
nation that has got weapons of mass destruction, the nations that I 
labeled ``axis of evil,'' people who in one case have gassed their own 
people with a weapon of mass destruction, people who aren't afraid to 
use these weapons, people who hate America because of our freedoms. And 
I've made it clear that we will use all tools at our disposal. But one 
thing we are going to do is defend the American people and make sure 
that these terrorist networks don't hook up with these nations that 
harbor bad designs on us and at the same time develop the worst kind of 
weapons.
    We owe it to our children to defend freedom. We owe it to our 
children to defend what we believe in, and we owe it to the world to 
speak clearly: Murder of innocent people is always wrong; societies 
which mistreat women are always wrong; religious intolerance is always 
wrong. And this country has a duty to speak out loud and clear. And when 
we see evil--I know it may hurt some people's feelings; it may not be 
what they call diplomatically correct--but I'm calling evil for what it 
is. Evil is evil, and we will fight it with all our might.
    I recognize the best way to defend our homeland is to go on the 
offense, and we're going to. But we've got to do a pretty good job on 
defense as well. And that's why I've called for the creation of the 
Department of Homeland Security, a new Cabinet agency. And I'd like to 
explain why I did so.
    Right now, there are over 100 agencies responsible for a part of 
homeland security--100 different entities at the Federal level. Now, I'm 
a person who believes in accountability. One reason I believe in 
accountability is because I understand who the American people are going 
to hold accountable if something happens--[laughter]--me. [Laughter] And 
therefore, I'm the kind of fellow who likes to pick up the phone, and 
say, ``How are we doing? How are we doing on implementing the 
strategy?'' I don't like the idea of calling 100 different agencies. I 
like to call one, and say, ``Here is the strategy, and what are you 
doing about it? And if you're not doing something about it, I expect you 
to. And if you don't, I'm going to find somebody else that will do 
something about it.''
    We've got to have accountability. In order to get good results, it's 
important to hold people accountable and align authority and 
responsibility. And so that's part of my thinking, is to take the 
functions and put them under one--in one Cabinet agency. The idea, of 
course, is not to grow the size of Government. I ran on making sure we 
didn't grow the size of Government. The idea is to make Government more 
effective and more efficient so we can do our job.
    Within this Cabinet Department, we're going to have four basic 
functions. One are borders. We've got to do a better job of protecting 
the borders of the United States. We need to know who's coming in and 
why they're not going out. [Laughter] We need to know what they're here 
for and how long they say they're going to be here for. And that 
requires a management plan and focus and technology. And I'll be honest 
with you, we've got a long way to go to make sure that what they call 
the INS is working the way we want it to work. But we've got the 
strategy; we know what we need to do.
    Secondly, we've got to support our first responders, the fine police 
and fire and emergency medical squads, not only here in Kansas City but 
all across the country. We need to help them with their strategy of 
responding if need be.
    Thirdly, we've got to develop detection capability to be able to 
detect weapons of mass destruction, chemical, nuclear, biological 
weapons, and if they ever were to be used,

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figure out what to do about it. We've got to have a strategy to deal 
with bioterrorism, for example, here in America.
    And finally, we must have the capacity to analyze all sources of 
intelligence so that we can imagine the worst and plan for it, so we can 
figure out how best to deal with the new threats that face America. And 
those are the four major categories.
    And people say, ``Well, can you give me some examples of why it's 
necessary?'' Well, I'll give you a couple. The Customs Department: Their 
job is to collect tariffs and to worry about people bringing things into 
our country, and yet they work for the Treasury Department. Well, the 
Treasury Department's job is to worry about fiscal matters, not the 
security of the homeland.
    Or how about the Coast Guard? The Coast Guard can do a good job of 
patrolling our borders, and they do. The Coast Guard is a fine outfit. 
But guess who they report to? The Transportation Department. The 
Transportation Department is worried about highways and airplanes and 
railroads. And so, in order to make sure that we had a strategy that 
works and a focus that is intense, it's important to have these agencies 
that have got responsibility to defend our homeland under one leader, 
under one Department. In other words, we've aligned functions, and that, 
in itself, will help change cultures within agencies. And that's an 
important aspect of making sure we defend our homeland. We've got to 
make sure agencies that have not been focused on defending the homeland 
change the culture, so that they do a more effective job of doing so.
    And I'll give you one example of where things have changed in a 
positive direction, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI. And 
we've been reading a lot about the FBI lately. And I appreciate those 
who come forward and make suggestions as to how to better protect the 
homeland. But I wasn't surprised that the FBI wasn't fully prepared for 
the war against terror, because, after all, the FBI's major job up until 
September the 11th was to make cases against people who committed crimes 
already in America--white-collar crimes, spies. They really weren't 
focused on preventing attacks.
    And so we needed to change the culture. The FBI man running it now, 
a guy named Robert Mueller, came on one week before September the 11th. 
That's when he started his job. He's had his hands full. [Laughter] But 
he's a good man. He knows what to do. And he discovered that we needed 
to change the attitude, the focus, the culture within the FBI, so that 
its major function now is to think about how best to prevent attack, is 
to chase down every lead, to run down every hint, to follow every 
possible--every possible terrorist activity and find out what they're up 
to, so that we can keep America safe. And it's happening--it's 
happening.
    Now, that's not to say they're still not going to have an important 
law enforcement function; they're not going to do what they used to do 
in the past. They are, of course. But the attitude in America has got to 
change, because we've got a new problem we're faced with. It's an enemy 
that--who is very tough and smart and determined. They're not as tough 
and smart and determined as we are, however.
    The other thing we are doing a better job of is having the CIA, 
which collects information overseas, coordinate with the FBI. That's 
part of how you restructure agencies in order to better protect America. 
It used to be they didn't talk very much. There was kind of a--I guess a 
structural problem. You just need to know we've changed that. We've 
changed it.
    It started, I guess, many ways with--every morning I meet with 
George Tenet, who's the head of the CIA, and then after I named Bob 
Mueller, right after September 11th, he comes in every day as well. 
There's nothing like having face-to-face discussions with agency heads 
to determine how we're doing and whether or not people are talking to 
each other. And they are. And they are, and that's important. It's 
important that we link up the two.
    And this new capacity at the homeland--Department of Homeland 
Security is going to be also important, where we'll have people whose 
job it is to analyze everything we see and assess everything we hear. 
And it's to make sure it's all in one area, so we can get a clearer 
picture of what may or may not be happening to America.

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    As well, it is important for us to trust the local folks, to do a 
better job at recognizing in Washington we don't have all the smarts, 
that we want to work with the mayors, people at the local level. We want 
to hear from the police and fire. We just came from one of the water 
treatment plants here in the area, and we're pleased to see how secure 
the plant is. Christie Todd was telling me, however, that we're going to 
eventually have grant money for water treatment facilities all around 
the country, to encourage them to make sure that any--there's a full 
assessment of the plant, to address any vulnerability that may exist. 
This one didn't appear very vulnerable, I want you to know. So I was 
looking--I was pleased to take a big gulp of water when I arrived here. 
[Laughter]
    But I want you to know we're making progress. We've got a good 
strategy, we do. It's going to be an interesting challenge to see if 
Congress responds.
    I had a good meeting today with Speaker Hastert and Representative 
Gephardt from Missouri, as well as Senator Daschle and Senator Lott and 
all the leadership from both parties. And in our discussions, I made it 
clear to them that I don't view this as a political issue. I don't view 
it as a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. I think loving America is 
an American issue. It's important to elevate this debate way beyond 
political parties, and I was pleased with the meeting. I was pleased 
with the spirit of the meeting.
    You know, sometimes there's a not-invented-here attitude in 
Washington. I don't care who gets the credit for putting this thing in. 
I just want it done right, and I want it done on behalf of the American 
people as quickly as possible.
    It may seem kind of easy, but here's the problem. There's a lot of 
people--there's 100 different agencies involved with homeland security. 
It means there's a lot of people in the Congress and in the Senate who 
have got jurisdiction over those agencies. In other words, that's what 
they call ``turf,'' and people like to defend their turf. And so, all of 
a sudden, when you're saying, ``Well, you know, Mr. Chairman, we're 
going to have to take this away from you and put it in a single agency. 
You don't get to fund it anymore,'' it kind of makes the chairman 
nervous.
    So what I'd like--I need the help of the American people to remind 
the turf fighters not to be nervous, because we're talking about doing 
what's right for America.
    I believe we can get it done; I really do. But I want your help--
need to talk to the Members and the Senators. Just let them know that 
you appreciate--you appreciate their efforts, their concerns about the 
homeland, but you hope that they will join the White House and work hard 
together to do what's right for the American people. I sincerely think 
this is right. Otherwise I wouldn't have proposed it.
    You know, I am an optimistic guy. I believe--I believe this 
country--I know this country is a fabulous country, but I believe we've 
got great days ahead of us. I believe that by being strong and tough, 
that we can achieve peace. I believe that. I sincerely, honestly believe 
it. And not only do I believe we can bring peace for America, I believe 
we can bring peace to parts of the world that may not seem like there 
ever is going to be peace.
    This country has got a great chance to lead the world toward a more 
peaceful tomorrow. I know they're watching us pretty carefully--that is, 
the other leaders and other countries. If America blinks, they'll 
probably go to sleep. We're not blinking. We're not blinking. America 
understands that history has really called us to action. Out of the evil 
is going to come some good, and it's going to be peace. And out of the 
evil is going to come some good at home too. I believe that as well.
    You know, people ask me, they say, ``What can I do to help, Mr. 
President? What can I do to be a part of this war on terror?'' And my 
answer is, if you want to fight evil, love your neighbor like you'd like 
to be loved yourself. If you want to do some good, mentor a child; teach 
a child to read; walk across the street and say to a shut-in, ``What can 
I do to help you?'' A simple act like that is all part of doing some 
good here in America.
    And it's happening in this country. It really is. You know why? The 
great strength of America is the people. The great strength is the 
American people, because not only are we tough, like I said; we're also 
a compassionate people. We care deeply about neighbors in need.

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    You see, out of the evil will not only come peace, but out of the 
evil I believe that we have a chance to address hopelessness and despair 
which exists in some neighborhoods in this great country. It just sure 
does. And we've got to do it. We've got to do it with better education 
systems. We've got to welcome faith-based programs into the 
compassionate delivery of welfare and help, because after all, faith-
based programs exist because of a universal call to love your neighbor 
like you'd like to be loved yourself.
    We've got--if you're interested in helping, we've got a program 
called the USA Freedom Corps. You can get right on the Internet and find 
out what's available. There's some fantastic ways to help, and you can 
become a soldier in the army of compassion.
    We've got one such soldier today, Denny Barnett. Where are you, 
Denny? Denny is somewhere here. There he is. Denny, thank you for 
coming. Denny is--was out at the airport to meet me, and I want to thank 
him for coming. He drew the short straw. He was going to be with Laura 
in Salt Lake City, Utah. Instead he got stuck with me. [Laughter] But 
Denny is--works for the Partnership for Children. He has been a soul who 
has spent his life, his adult life, helping in his church, working with 
the Boy Scouts, works for Habitat for Humanity, is a soldier in the army 
of compassion. It doesn't require a Government law or Government edict 
to get Denny to work; he just followed his heart and, as a result, is 
part of making society a better place.
    You see, one person can't do everything in America, but one person 
can do something. And our society, folks, changes one heart and one soul 
and one conscience at a time. That's how we change America, and it's 
happening in this country. Out of the evil is coming good. Out of the 
evil, America is taking a good hard look at what's important. There's 
moms and dads taking an assessment of their--of what's important in 
their life, and that is to love your children with all your heart and 
all your soul.
    You know, we live in a fast-paced society, no question about it. But 
people are beginning to understand that a full life is one in which you 
serve something greater than yourself in life, that to have a full and 
complete life, you do more than just worry about yourself. You help a 
neighbor in need. You do something to make a country you love stronger.
    I guess that example came home most vividly when men and women on 
Flight 93 realized that their airplane was going to be used as a weapon, 
called their families, told them they loved them, said a prayer, said, 
``Let's roll,'' and sacrificed themselves for something greater. They 
served their country. What a great example. What a great example for 
others to see. All of us are sad it happened, but all of us can use the 
example of serving something greater than yourself to help fight this 
war against terror.
    You know, there is no question in my mind that this great country is 
going to show the world what we're made out of. This great country will 
show the world that we fight for what we believe, as we seek justice. 
And this great country will show the world the true compassion and 
decency of a great nation.
    Thanks for coming. May God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 2:50 p.m. in the school's gymnasium. In his 
remarks, he referred to John Krueger, principal, Oak Park High School.