Text 4024, 98 rader
Skriven 2007-02-08 23:31:38 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0702085) for Thu, 2007 Feb 8
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President Bush Discusses Department of Homeland Security Priorities
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 8, 2007

President Bush Discusses Department of Homeland Security Priorities
Department of Homeland Security Washington, D.C.

President's Remarks

˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Homeland Security ˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: National Security

4:20 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: 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. We submitted the budget,
you testified on the budget. It's about an 8 percent increase in the budget
of the Homeland Security Department.

This department works to secure our borders. 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.

I appreciate so very much the fact that we've got a wise strategy to effect
the security of our ports and cargo. We've got a lot of good people working
hard overseas. In other words, we're inspecting cargo before it leaves a
port -- 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. I
fully recognize that there are thousands of hardworking 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 stove-piped -- 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 hardworking 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.

END 4:25 P.M. EST

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