THE PRESIDENT: I want to welcome members of the Senate and the
House, members of both political parties, to the Cabinet Room this
morning to discuss how best to implement the strategy that I talked
about last night, that other members of Congress have been talking
about for a while, and that is the development of the Department of
Homeland Security.
We've got a lot of work to do to get this department implemented.
There's going to be a lot of turf protection in the Congress. But I'm
convinced that by working together, that we can do what's right for
America. And I believe we can get something done.
To this end, I'm going to direct Tom Ridge to testify before
Congress about the need for the establishment of this Cabinet agency.
I feel strongly that he is the -- he can represent the interests of
the administration on the Hill, and he can bring our message to the
Hill.
And I look forward to working with Senators Lieberman and Specter,
and members of the House, to get this important legislation passed.
Obviously the sooner the debate begins, the sooner the passage of this
bill can happen. And that's good for the country.
Again, I want to thank the members who are here. I want to thank
you for your leadership on this issue. Thank you for your willingness
to speak out about the importance of protecting our homeland.
I'll answer a couple of questions. Yes, Ron?
Q Thank you. If I could, looking ahead the next couple days,
it's been a couple months now since you asked all the parties to step
up in the Middle East, and there are still suicide bombings, still the
incursions by the Israelis. Is there any hope for any progress in the
next couple days with the President of Egypt and the Prime Minister of
Israel?
THE PRESIDENT: We're going to have good discussions, and that's
always important. George Tenet has just come back from the Middle
East. Ambassador Burns is coming back from the Middle East. There's
been consultation with all the parties. And after my meetings with
President Mubarak and Prime Minister Sharon, I'll talk to our country
about how I think we should move forward.
Progress is being made. The Arab world now understands they need
to be involved in pushing for peace, and fighting against the terrorist
actions that make it very difficult to achieve a peace.
I still am disappointed in Mr. Arafat's leadership. He needs to
cut off the terrorist activities.
Q So you're talking about a speech on the Middle East?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't know if it'll be a speech. Maybe a
discussion. Could be a paper. I haven't decided the forum.
Q But you'll lay out a new vision?
THE PRESIDENT: No. I'm going to lay out -- listen, if you're
interested to know what I think, go back to the April 4th speech.
Q Mr. President, how are you going to deal with some of the turf
battles that come up? And what made you change your mind about a
Cabinet agency?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, I have always been -- ever
since we first got going, I've been exploring this idea. My mind was
never made up one way or the other.
I knew I needed to act right after September the 11th, and that's
why I called upon Tom to serve in the capacity in which he has served.
We needed to something very quickly right after the attack.
We've been exploring this idea for a while. I've been listening to
members of the Congress, who have been quite articulate on the
subject. And after doing a lot of work on the feasibility of setting
up this Cabinet position, we decided to move forward yesterday.
Now, in terms of turf battles, there's nothing wrong with a good
turf battle fight. And one way to win that argument is to call upon
the good services of effective members of the House and the Senate.
And that's what this meeting is all about; it's the beginning of
winning the turf battle.
I think most members of Congress understand the need to act. I
know members of Congress know that we're in a new type of war. And
there's been precedent, as I talked about last night; Harry Truman
moved, asked Congress to move, in the reforms of our warfighting
capacities. And we need to do the same thing for the homeland.
And we've got members here -- if you look around this table,
we've got members here with plenty of seniority and plenty of stroke,
and plenty of credibility to move this package through both the House
and the Senate.
Q Mr. President, many Americans, when they hear about this plan,
may think it is a growth in the size of government and in the
bureaucracy. What do you say to people who might have that concern,
might be concerned that this is just a reshuffling of the deck?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I would tell them that there's going to be
savings by when we combine accounting units, and savings when we
combine people in place to worry about administration. You see, when
you combine agencies that are scattered throughout the government,
there are inherent savings, which means that we're going to be able to
have more money on the front line of our homeland security.
There is -- one of the things that's important about government
is that there be accountability within government. And as I mentioned
last night, there's over 100 different agencies involved in homeland
security. In other words, the ability to protect the homeland is
scattered throughout. So there really is no accountability.
I mentioned the example of Customs -- you know, they collect
tariffs. But they report to the Secretary of Treasury, who really
isn't in charge of homeland security. And so the idea is to configure
those existing agencies that are responsible for pieces of our security
into one agency, so that accountability is clear.
And obviously -- Harry Truman said "The buck stops here" in the
White House. I understand that. But if that's the case, I want to
make sure that accountability to me is clear, that we've aligned
responsibility and authority.
And so this is a very important reorganization to -- it'll enable
all of us to tell the American people that we're doing everything in
our power to protect the homeland.
Q Mr. President, we were told yesterday that this would lead to
no substantial changes at the FBI and the CIA. Since those are the two
agencies under the most scrutiny right now, how can Americans rest
assured that this reorganization will really do something to address
the root intelligence failures behind the September 11th attacks?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, the FBI and the CIA are
changing. They understand that there have been gaps in intelligence
sharing. If you listen to the testimony of FBI Director Mueller, you
will understand that the FBI is making changes.
Now, FBI Mueller came to work one week before September the 11th.
He'd been one week on duty. And he has taken the testimony of the
lady, the FBI woman out of Minneapolis, very seriously. He's looked at
the report from Arizona. And he's reacted with reform.
The CIA and the FBI -- I've said this in many, many speeches --
that is, if you were paying attention to them -- that the CIA and the
FBI now talk like they've never talked before. In other words, we've
learned lessons from what took place prior to September the 11th. And
so the reforms, they're already going on, and they're making great
progress, and communicating in a much more seamless way, in a way that
will help protect the homeland.
Thank you all.
Q Mr. President --
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, one question. I want to answer this. Yes?
Q Are you satisfied that the Philippine troops did all they
could in the rescue attempt of the Burnhams? And have you contacted
their family here at home?
THE PRESIDENT: First, let me say how sad we are that Martin
Burnham lost his life. And I will call his parents. I'm pleased that
Mrs. Burnham's alive; that's good.
I talked to President Arroyo of the Philippines. She told me that
she had called the Burnham parents, and I thanked her for reaching
out. She assured me that the Philippine government would hold the
terrorist group accountable for how they treated these Americans, that
justice would be done.
We are obviously going to look at all the particulars and the
facts, and the State Department will be talking about that later on
today.