[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 6 (Monday, February 12, 2007)]
[Pages 137-138]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Briefing at the Department of Homeland Security

February 8, 2007

    Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for the hospitality. I appreciate 
you inviting me over to hear what has been a substantive briefing by 
your different operating entities.
    First of all, I'm very proud of the hard work of the men and women 
of the Homeland Security Department. This vital Department is actively 
engaged in the war on terror. We are still a nation at risk. Part of our 
strategy, of course, is to stay on the offense against terrorists who 
would do us harm. In other words, it is important to defeat them 
overseas so we never have to face them here. Nevertheless, we recognize 
that we've got to be fully prepared here at the homeland.
    Part of that preparation requires a robust budget. And we submitted 
the budget; you testified on the budget. It's about an 8-percent 
increase in the budgets of the Homeland Security Department.
    This Department works to secure our borders. And I appreciate very 
much, Ralph, you and your Department's hard work of doing a difficult 
job, and that is doing what the American people expect, and that is to 
have secure borders. But we're making good progress. We're modernizing a 
border that needed to be modernized, whether it be through fencing or 
the different types of high-tech investments.
    I firmly believe that in order for your Border Patrol agents to be 
able to do their job, we need a guest-worker program, so that people 
don't have to sneak in our country, and therefore, we can really enable 
your good folks to be able to focus on terrorism, drug runners, gun 
runners.

[[Page 138]]

    I appreciate so very much the fact that we've got a wise strategy to 
effect the security of our ports, cargo. We've got a lot of good people 
working hard overseas. In other words, we're inspecting cargo before it 
leaves a port--a foreign port--so that the first line of defense is away 
from our shores or away from our ports. And we've got a lot of good 
people working hard to achieve that.
    I appreciate so very much the effort of TSA. You've got a hard job. 
It's a job that really was a response to 9/11, and that is, we don't 
want people getting on our airplanes that will terrorize our fellow 
citizens again. And I fully recognize that there are thousands of hard-
working people that are trying to do their best to, on the one hand, 
accommodate our fellow citizens as they travel--on the other hand, 
protect our country from attack.
    We also talked about the need to have effective response if there is 
a emergency, if there is a catastrophe. And one Agency that has been 
under fire and that needed to be reorganized was FEMA, and I asked David 
Paulison to do just that. We took the lessons learned from Katrina and 
applied it to this vital Agency. And this Agency was recently tested 
through the tornadoes there in central Florida. And I want to thank you, 
Dave, and your team for a quick response to help the poor citizens who 
were affected by that natural disaster.
    The Department of Homeland Security was initially melded together by 
organizations that tended to be stovepiped--independently run 
organizations that we felt needed to be brought under the central 
planning, the central organizing principle of a single department.
    The organization of such a vast enterprise has been difficult and 
complicated. Nevertheless, there is noticeable and substantial and 
measurable progress. And I appreciate all the hard-working folks for 
putting together an institute, part of our Government, all aiming to 
protect the American people.
    And so, Secretary, thank you for the invitation. I appreciate the 
hard work of the people of this Department. I oftentimes say to the 
American people that you can go about your business, you can run your 
enterprises, you can send your children to school knowing full well that 
there are thousands of our fellow citizens who work every day, 24 hours, 
to help you by protecting this homeland. And this is where it all 
starts. And I thank you for your hard work.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 4:20 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to W. 
Ralph Basham, Commissioner, Customs and Border Protection.