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Release Date: 10/07/03 00:00:00
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 7, 2003
Thank you Ron (Ron Clark, Senior Training Counsel) for that kind introduction. I am honored to be here today with many friends and colleagues. I am grateful for this opportunity to speak with you about the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and I thank you for your invitation to participate in this conference. Teamwork among all levels of Government is critical in bringing security to the American people. As State prosecutors, you are on the front lines in the war on terrorism.
Before turning to some of the achievements of this new Department, allow me a few words about my role at DHS. My service at DHS began earlier this year when President Bush nominated me as the first General Counsel of the Department. Some years ago, after having served five Attorneys General from both political parties, I left public life and returned to the private practice of law in Georgia. I did not know then whether I would ever return to Government service. However, the events of September 11, 2001, and a few conversations with a number of people whose views I respect - among them Secretary Ridge - convinced me that I should accept the challenge of building the Office of the General Counsel at DHS.
Just a little over eight weeks ago, I was sworn in as the Department's first General Counsel and, by statute, its chief legal officer. The Office of the General Counsel faces enormous challenges
Let me spend a few minutes discussing DHS. The new Department has a budget of some 37 billion dollars (30 billion in appropriations and 7 billion in fees for FY '04) and employs some 180,000 people (not including Coast Guard military personnel), transferred from over 22 different agencies. President Bush should be commended for two critical decisions concerning homeland security--one, proposing the creation of the Department, the largest reorganization of Government in more than half a century, and two, choosing former Governor Tom Ridge to lead it. The Department is organized into five directorates
Each directorate is headed by an Under Secretary appointed by the President and subject to Senate confirmation. The Coast Guard and Secret Service transferred essentially "as is" and report directly to the Secretary.
President Bush's National Strategy for Homeland Security identifies critical mission areas for the new Department:
There's another central goal, as Ed McNally, my friend and the General Counsel of the White House Office of Homeland Security, points out. As we work to protect the American people, we must also work to protect America's economy. As Osama Bin Laden himself has stated, the tragic events of September 11 were designed to destroy the American economy. Bin Laden encouraged "hit[ting] the U.S. economy with all available means."
This is one of the reasons the Department has a Special Assistant to the Secretary for Private Sector Coordination, Al Martinez-Fonts, whose job is to foster strategic alliances with the private sector to enhance the Department's mission to protect America.
Thanks to the vision and leadership of President Bush and Secretary Ridge, today we have made measurable progress toward a Nation that is more secure and better prepared than ever before. You can see the changes everywhere, at our airports and seaports, hospitals and firehouses, and borders across this great Nation.
During the first nine months of the Department's existence, we've moved rapidly to map and protect our critical infrastructures, such as power plants and financial systems; to better secure our borders from terrorists and suspicious cargo; and to prevent and prepare for attacks involving weapons of mass destruction.
Here at home, President Bush and Secretary Ridge have provided states and communities with more than four billion dollars to prevent, detect and prepare for terrorism. More important than what is being spent is how it is being spent. Secretary Ridge realizes the critically important role Governors and states must play, whether by creating statewide security plans that emphasize mutual aid and interoperability, or by sharing best practices with one another.
A few weeks ago, the Secretary announced the Strategic Communications Resources (SECURE) Initiative that will allow all 50 State Emergency Operations Centers, as well as those of 2 territories and the District of Columbia, to communicate through secure videoconferencing.
As part of this initiative, all governors now have secure phones and the ability to receive secure communications. Secretary Ridge understands that only a truly national strategy will protect America.
Every day our capabilities in intelligence analysis are enhanced. Through President Bush's initiative to create the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, analysts across all agencies now have access to sensitive information compiled by the entire intelligence community. Seemingly unconnected events from varying sources can be viewed in context, showing a quicker and more thorough picture of the threat.
Just a few weeks ago Secretary Ridge, Attorney General Ashcroft, Secretary of State Powell, and FBI Director Mueller announced the establishment of the Terrorist Screening Center to
The Center will ensure that all are working off the same unified, comprehensive set of anti-terrorist information and that they have access to expertise that will allow them to act quickly when a suspected terrorist is screened or stopped. The Center will also help to prevent false positive matches from causing unnecessary delay in the travel of law abiding persons.
The job of the Center is to make sure DHS gets information from TTIC out to personnel on the borders and those who can put it to use on the front lines - and get it there fast.
The Center is multi agency (DHS, Justice, State, and the Intelligence Community) and should be fully operational by December 1, 2003.
To provide increased security at the Nation's borders we are equipping our inspectors and Border Patrol Agents with state-of-the-art technology, including radiation pagers and non-intrusive inspection machines.
Several weeks ago, Secretary Ridge announced the "One Face at the Border" initiative to unify the inspection process at the borders by cross training inspectors to perform immigration, customs, and agricultural inspection functions.
This initiative will allow law abiding travelers to move more rapidly and conveniently through checkpoints while travelers whose information, demeanor, or actions raise questions will be referred to secondary inspectors for additional questioning. Unifying these functions is another significant step toward making the most effective use of the Department's assets and thus better securing our Nation.
As we all likely observe when we travel, passenger and baggage screeners at airports are better trained and better equipped.
Cockpit doors have been reinforced, and air marshals provide an added layer of protection once planes are in the air.
The recently announced movement of Federal Air Marshals to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement will significantly increase the number of Federal law enforcement agents available to deploy during times of increased threats to aircraft, providing a surge capacity during these increased threat periods or in the event of a terrorist attack.
Additionally, under Operation Cornerstone announced by Secretary Ridge in July 2003, we are working closely with the private sector to identify and close vulnerabilities that criminals can exploit in our financial systems.
This initiative focuses on traditional and new types of money-laundering crimes, including
This is key--because money is the lifeblood of terrorist networks. A terrorist cannot record a video message, cross a border, or obtain a weapon of mass destruction without it. So, by fighting financial crimes today, we can help eliminate opportunities for terrorists tomorrow.
Operation Cornerstone seeks to identify vulnerabilities in financial systems through which criminals launder their illicit proceeds, bring the criminals to justice, eliminate the vulnerabilities, and develop a working partnership with industry representatives to share information and close industry-wide security gaps that could be exploited by money launderers and other criminal organizations.
DHS is also conducting joint outreach and training programs for members of the financial and trade communities. As part of Cornerstone, ICE has created a unit solely dedicated to providing training to the private sector on how to identify and prevent exploitation by criminal organizations.
Officials from ICE and the Secret Service will jointly conduct semi-annual meetings with executive members of the financial and trade communities impacted by money laundering, identify theft, and other financial crimes, to share data on specific investigative outcomes from these investigations.
Operation Predator is a comprehensive initiative designed to protect young people from child pornographers, alien smugglers, human traffickers, and other predatory criminals.
This operation brings to bear the broadest range of law enforcement authorities in the Federal government to target those who exploit young people. Children are one of the most important and vulnerable assets to America. DHS will do everything in its power to protect them.
Operation Predator draws on the full spectrum of cyber, intelligence, investitave and dentention and removal functions to target those who exploit children. In a way unachievable before the creation of the Department, ICE is coordinating once fragmented resources into a united campaign against child predators.
ICE has created a single web portal to access all publicly available Megan's Law databases (www.bice.immigration.gov) and has created a new, toll-free reporting number (1-866-347-2423/1-866-DHS-2ICE). DHS has forged an alliance with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and is harnessing new intelligence capabilities to target sexual predators. We are targeting fugitive criminal aliens with sex offense histories for removal and partnering with foreign governments to protect our children.
What's more, to prepare for the possibility of a biological attack, we have stockpiled hundreds of millions of doses of antibiotics and vaccines, and inoculated health care workers against smallpox. We've also installed sensors at strategic locations around the country that can identify the presence of certain biological and chemical agents.
Let me turn now to the enforcement arms of DHS. BTS is one of five directorates at DHS and is responsible for many of the "meat and potatoes" responsibilities that people think of when they think "homeland security." Over 100,000 dedicated employees were brought together under the BTS roof because of their common focus of ensuring the security of our Nation's borders, ports of entry and transportation systems, while facilitating the flow of legitimate commerce and enforcing our Nation's immigration and customs laws.
Securing our Nation's air, land, and sea borders is a difficult yet critical task. The United States has 5,525 miles of border with Canada and 1,989 miles with Mexico. Our maritime border includes 95,000 miles of shoreline. Each year, more than 500 million people cross the borders into the United States, some 330 million of whom are non-citizens, through 317 ports of entry.
BTS component agencies include -
The Homeland Security Act of 2002, Public Law 107-296, restructured and merged the former Immigration and Nationality Service, Customs, Border Patrol, the Federal Protective Service, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The consolidation allows the United States to move toward a more consistent and thorough application of national immigration, customs, and agricultural inspection laws.
This is important because the border is no longer just a geographic line between two countries; it is also a line of information in a computer that distinguishes those that wish us harm from those that are trustworthy.
Let me focus now on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE combined all the investigative functions of Customs, Immigration, and the Federal Protective Service into one bureau. ICE has taken steps to provide a single point of contact within DHS for U.S. Attorneys and other law enforcement agencies - the Law Enforcement Support Center which I will discuss in more detail in a few minutes.
State and local law enforcement officials play a critical role in the overall ICE mission. In the normal course of events, state and local law enforcement officials are the first responders to any incident or attack against the United States. They are also likely to encounter foreign-born criminals and immigration violators during the course of their daily duties. ICE encourages its officers at all levels to engage in partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies through a variety of arrangements because this is the best way to increase the effectiveness of our organizations. DHS is aware of several legislative proposals such as HR 2671, the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act of 2003 (the CLEAR Act), that would authorize States to use law enforcement personnel to enforce Federal immigration laws. We generally support using State and local law enforcement to assist in the enforcement of these critical provisions but have no views at this time on the proposals contained in particular bills.
Under section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the Secretary of Homeland Security has the authority to enter into formal written agreements with state and local political jurisdictions to delegate immigration enforcement functions to state and local enforcement officers.
The law requires that a written Memorandum of Understanding be signed between the parties. All selected law enforcement officers must receive the appropriate training in immigration law and procedure and must be individually certified. And finally, ICE must supervise all selected officers when they are using their delegated immigration authority.
The Written Agreement is the keystone to the effective execution of Section 287(g). It must meet the needs of all parties. It defines the scope and limitations of the authorities to be delegated under the INA, tailored to meet the needs of each situation. It designates the training program required for the delegated immigration authority requested by the state. It establishes the supervisory structure over the officers with delegated authority and prescribes the agreed-upon complaint process governing officer conduct during the life of the agreement.
Under the statute, ICE must supervise all certified state and local law enforcement officers when they exercise immigration authorities. In short, the use of Section 287(g) is a flexible and controlled force multiplier for ICE in its effort to protect the Nation.
In 2002, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement entered into the first agreement with the former INS under Section 287(g). This action was taken in response to a request from the State of Florida. Increasingly after September 11, Florida officials were concerned about the number of terrorist related cases in Florida involving foreign nationals. Thirty-five officers participated in an extensive training program that the former INS provided. After they were certified, they were assigned under former INS supervision to seven Regional Domestic Security Task Force locations throughout Florida. This initiative has been very successful. Over 170 investigative cases have been conducted with numerous arrests.
Building on the successes of the Florida agreement, on September 10, 2003, ICE and the State of Alabama signed a written agreement to provide immigration authority to a selected group of 21 Alabama State Troopers. These selected State Troopers are currently receiving extensive training in nationality and immigration law and procedures. These officers will have the authority to determine alienage and deportability incident to their normal duties as patrol officers or at driver licensing stations. They will also be trained to process, transport and detain illegal aliens. The training is being conducted at the Department of Homeland Security, Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Alabama.
There are other venues in which 287(g) is an appropriate force multiplier. For example, the authority could be used in the context of local jails to determine which aliens are deportable. Local officers, with delegated authority under ICE supervision, would identify, process, and place detainers on criminal aliens. Like all delegations of immigration authority, ICE would provide officers to supervise these delegated jail officers. This partnership between ICE and the jails would result in more criminal aliens being removed from the United States. Several large county jails are negotiating with ICE at present to improve the immigration processing of detained criminal aliens.
The ICE Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) in Williston, Vermont, is a vital ICE point of contact with the law enforcement community. The LESC is on the cutting edge of the Federal effort to share critical enforcement information with state, county and local and even international law enforcement officers. Established in 1994, it serves as a national enforcement operations and intelligence center by providing timely information regarding the status and identities of aliens suspected, arrested or convicted of criminal activity. The LESC is available to state and local law enforcement 24 hours a day, seven days a week, gathering information from eight ICE immigration databases, the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the Interstate Identification Index (III) and other state criminal history indices. LESC may be reached through the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS) by using the Immigration and Alien Query (IAQ).
The merging of 22 agencies and bureaus into the Department of Homeland Security provides new access to law enforcement databases that will now be used by the LESC to greatly broaden its enforcement capabilities. For example the LESC now has access to intelligence information from the former INS, Customs and the Federal Protective Service databases. New Homeland Security Databases such as the Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), and US VISIT databases will also be accessible through the LESC. This will improve its ability to provide timely information to state and local law enforcement agencies around the Nation, as well as to international enforcement agencies.
DHS coordination with law enforcement around the country has expanded significantly since September 11, and with the additional resources becoming available will make the LESC even more critical to law enforcement and national security investigations.
Already this fiscal year, the LESC has responded to over 530,000 investigative inquiries from Federal, state, county and local police agencies in all 50 states. This surpasses by more than 100,000 the total inquiries handled in all of 2002. In most cases, a response to an inquiry containing an analysis of the individual's immigration status is returned in less than 10 minutes.
The LESC is the focal point for the ICE NCIC program. ICE is committed to utilizing NCIC as a way to inform state and local law enforcement of aliens sought by ICE. As of September 10, 2003, ICE has already placed 118,800 entries in NCIC. At the present time, the majority of those entries are deported felons, but they also include persons with outstanding ICE criminal warrants, a small number of NSEERS violators and a rapidly growing number of absconders.
The LESC has a permanent NCIC unit dedicated solely to receiving, resolving, entering and maintaining every record deemed eligible for entry into NCIC.
ICE unveiled its Most Wanted Criminal Aliens List in the spring of 2003. The list features foreign nationals from around the world who have been convicted of committing serious crimes in the United States and served their time. Each of these criminal aliens have been issued orders of removal, commonly referred to as deportation orders, and have eluded law enforcement, thereby posing a continuing threat to public safety.
Current criminal aliens on the list include persons convicted of forcible rape, various forms of child molestation, and second degree murder. The list is accessible at www.bice.immigration.gov. Report any sightings or any information about the most wanted criminal aliens to 1-866-DHS-2ICE or 1-800-BE-ALERT (800-232-5378).
Another way in which DHS has responded to the needs of the law enforcement community is through the strategic deployment of 45 Quick Response Teams (QRTs) across the United States. QRTs comprised of 200 ICE Special Agents and Detention and Removal Officers are generally deployed to locations where there has been little other ICE presence. The primary responsibility of the QRTs is to work directly with state and local law enforcement officers to take into custody and remove illegal aliens who have been encountered by state and local law enforcement officers for violations of state or local laws.
Through the third quarter of FY 2001, QRT officers responded to 7,608 requests for assistance from state and local law enforcement officers. The responses resulted in 10,998 arrests by the QRTs and 847 individuals were presented for criminal prosecutions. By way of example, QRT officers from the Atlanta and New Orleans Districts recently coordinated a joint investigation with local law enforcement agencies to dismantle an alien prostitution ring operating in multiple locations in Georgia and Tennessee.
The QRTs also provide briefings for state and local law enforcement officers on the ICE's authority and law enforcement mission, the functions of the QRTs, and the QRT response policy. The quality of the information shared by ICE is reflected in the fact that certain law enforcement agencies are now including it in their academy training programs.
Recognizing that combating terrorism is best accomplished from a multi-agency approach, the Justice Department has established the Joint Terrorist Task Forces (JTTF) in key locations across the country. DHS Special Agents assigned to the JTTF work closely with officers from the FBI and other Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Drawing on the investigative expertise and authority of the participating agencies, the JTTFs investigate suspected and known terrorists, terrorist organizations, and terrorist support mechanisms. State and local law enforcement officers perform vital functions in the investigative efforts of the JTTFs, as evidenced by the fact they are deputized as Federal officers and granted security clearances.
Cooperation among law enforcement agencies at all levels represents an important component of a comprehensive response to terrorism. This cooperation assumes its most tangible operational form in the JTTFs that are authorized in more than 40 cities across the Nation. These task forces are particularly well-suited to responding to terrorism because they combine the national and international investigative resources of Federal agencies with the street-level expertise of local law enforcement agencies. This cooperation has proven highly successful in preventing several potential terrorist attacks. Perhaps the most notable cases have come from New York City, where the city's Joint Terrorism Task Force has been instrumental in thwarting two high-profile international terrorism plots--the series of bombings planned by Shaykh Rahman in 1993 and the attempted bombing of the New York City subway in 1997.
Not only were these plots prevented, but today, the conspirators who planned them sit in Federal prisons thanks, in large part, to the comprehensive investigative work performed by the JTTF.
The National Targeting Center is a critical sharing strategy at work in real time, 24/7. Targeting - the word conjures up images of high tech weaponry, sophisticated tracking devices, and covert operations. However, the National Targeting Center (NTC), established on October 21, 2001, is simply the centralized coordination point for all of Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) anti-terrorism efforts. Using sophisticated information-gathering techniques and intelligence, the NTC provides target-specific information to field offices ready to act quickly and decisively.
The Center:
Multiple agencies contribute information but also rely on it for information - the Center assures coordinated and centralized response to threats.
Center personnel use both external and internal sources of information such as the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS), the Automated Commercial System (ACS), the Automated Targeting System (ATS), and the Automated Entry System (AES) that provide a wealth of information. The center also works closely with the newly formed CBP Office of Intelligence, and ICE agents to share information and to formulate their advisories.
The phrase "data mining" is a term of art for the process that the NTC staff employs in developing targets. It is, in fact, a little like panning for gold. Initially, analysts conduct broad-based research to collect and sift through information to establish a base line of data. However, collecting data is only the first step; an analyst must also know how to use it. The center looks at any resource that could be used to support a terrorist effort, ranging from people to weapons components. The goal of the center is to deter or disrupt any terrorist efforts by stopping the movement of individuals and the flow of materials or money needed for such an operation. When the data points to a particular product, distribution channel, conveyance, or importer, the review goes from broad to narrow. However, an analyst may pursue several different analytical tracks to home in on a target.
One track may be to conduct a trend analysis on a specific commodity. This can be a complicated process particularly if the commodity has dual use - if it is used in the production of a legitimate product but can also be associated with the production of a harmful agent. A different approach may be to evaluate importer relationships by the types of goods routinely imported, and the ports of entry normally used. Typically an analyst would focus on sudden changes in the type of commodity an importer has historically imported, or evaluate the relationship between an importer and a supplier searching for anomalies that warrant further analysis.
Another approach is to ferret out financial information, that can serve as leads for agents to "follow the money," looking for assets that might be used to support terrorist activities. Evidence of the transfer of checks, cash, or some combination of illegal or suspicious movement of fiscally liquid items either in or out of the United States may also trigger referral for deeper probing by ICE agents.
Last spring, an NTC staffer spotted the name of Jose Padilla on a manifest of flights from Cairo to Chicago via Zurich. Padilla was allegedly working with al Qaeda to explore the feasibility of setting off a "dirty bomb," a conventional bomb salted with radioactive material, in an American city. Padilla is now in U.S. military custody as an enemy combatant.
The ICE Forensic Documentary Laboratory (FDL) also serves the needs of Federal, state and local law enforcement. The FDL provides a wide variety of forensic and intelligence services in support of the DHS missions to enforce the immigration laws and combat document fraud. The FDL is unique among Federal crime laboratories both in its sole dedication to the forensic examination of documents, and its integration of an operational intelligence and training capability. In addition to directly supporting DHS field officers, it also offers its services to other Federal, foreign, and state and local governmental entities. For example, the FDL has performed forensic document and fingerprint examinations for numerous state and local police agencies, Departments of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and local prosecutors' offices. The FDL has also provided training in fraudulent document recognition to the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), State and local police agencies, and DMVs. The FDL publishes the Guide to Selected U.S. Travel and Identity Documents (M-396), a highly instructive pocket guide for state and local law enforcement and other governmental personnel who encounter immigration and other U.S. documents, available by request to the ICE Forensic Document Laboratory at 425 I Street, NW, Washington, DC 20536.
Finally, ICE has provided a wide variety of training opportunities for state and local law enforcement officers. Before the formation of the Department of Homeland Security, the former INS cooperated with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) to provide a two-day field-training course "Responding to Alien Crime". This class has provided information concerning criminal aliens to law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. This year ICE produced a new training video in cooperation with the IACP. The course has been given in Phoenix, AZ; Sierra Vista, AZ; Dallas, TX; Philadelphia, PA; and Miami, FL and will be given in Chicago, IL next month. Several hundred law enforcement officers have attended these classes this year.
As mentioned earlier, ICE provided a basic block of instruction in immigration law and procedures to 654 Alabama State Troopers. This was in preparation for the current Section 287(g) training. Sixteen classes were held in seven different locations. Additionally, the LESC provides training to state and local and other federal law enforcement officers on how to access its information and on ICE roles and responsibilities. The LESC is currently developing an Office of Law Enforcement Liaison that will have among its responsibilities providing training to law enforcement nationwide. LESC employees have recently trained Federal, state and local law enforcement officers in Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi.
I would like to reiterate that effective partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies are essential to carrying out ICE's mission of deterring criminal alien activity and threats to domestic security in the Unites States. We are very grateful to the work of the many state and local law enforcement officers and prosecutors who assist ICE daily in its mission and in turn we are pleased to be able to assist them.
The connection between bad guys and drug smuggling and trafficking is nothing new. Drug deals classically provide funding for all kinds of other illegal activities. The connection between drugs and terrorism is undeniable.
Terrorist acts are financed with drug money, the currency of terrorists. Recent estimates show the world spends close to $400 billion a year on illegal drugs. That kind of money and resulting profits brings in quick cash in large amounts to finance training, purchase weapons and equipment, and execute their violent plans. Drug traffickers and terrorists work out of the same cave, hide in the same jungle, and train in the same desert.
A third of the international terrorist organizations identified by the State Department are linked to illicit drug activities. Al Qaeda and even bin Laden himself are involved in financing and facilitating heroin-trafficking activities. Breaking up drug trafficking groups and wiping out illegal drug profits will help win the war on terrorism.
On August 10 through 12, nine suspects were arrested for narcotics smuggling and money laundering in the Corpus Christi area. Partnering in this effort was the DEA, the FBI, the ATF, the Texas Department of Public Safety, South Texas Task Force, and the Corpus Christi Police Department. Several seizures involved hundreds of pounds of cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, black tar and powder heroine, and 500 pounds of marijuana.
Also in mid-August, Mexican troops arrested one of the country's most wanted drug traffic suspects, Armando Valencia, along with seven top figures in his ring. Valencia headed one of the top four drug-smuggling operations in Mexico, a key link between Colombian smugglers and the southwestern U.S. border.
The DEA is watching 53 key drug-smuggling organizations worldwide, with the vast majority having links to smugglers in Mexico.
USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act [Slide 21]
Since its passage following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the PATRIOT Act has played a key part in a number of successful operations to protect innocent Americans from the deadly plans of terrorists dedicated to destroying America and our way of life. While the results have been important, in passing the Patriot Act, Congress provided for only modest, incremental changes in the law. Congress simply took existing legal principles and retrofitted them to preserve the lives and liberty of the American people from the challenges posed by a global terrorist network.
Congress enacted the Patriot Act by overwhelming, bipartisan margins, arming Federal law enforcement with new tools to detect and prevent terrorism. The USA Patriot Act was passed nearly unanimously by the Senate 98-1, and 357–66 in the House, with the support of members from across the political spectrum.
The Act improves our counter-terrorism efforts in several significant ways:
1. The Patriot Act allows investigators to use the tools that were already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking. Many of the tools the Act provides to law enforcement to fight terrorism have been used for decades to fight organized crime and drug dealers, and have been reviewed and approved by the courts. As Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) explained during the floor debate about the Act, "the FBI could get a wiretap to investigate the mafia, but they could not get one to investigate terrorists. To put it bluntly, that was crazy! What's good for the mob should be good for terrorists." (Cong. Rec., 10/25/01)
2. The PATRIOT Act facilitates information sharing and cooperation among government agencies so that they can better "connect the dots." The Act removed the major legal barriers that prevented the law enforcement, intelligence, and national defense communities from talking and coordinating their work to protect the American people and our national security. The Government's prevention efforts should not be restricted by boxes on an organizational chart. Now police officers, FBI agents, Federal prosecutors and intelligence officials can protect our communities by "connecting the dots" to uncover terrorist plots before they are completed.
3. The PATRIOT Act updated the law to reflect new technologies and new threats. The Act brought the law up to date with current technology, so we no longer have to fight a digital-age battle with antique weapons—legal authorities leftover from the era of rotary telephones. When investigating the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, for example, law enforcement used one of the Act's new authorities to use high-tech means to identify and locate some of the killers.
4. The PATRIOT Act increased the penalties for those who commit terrorist crimes. Americans are threatened as much by the terrorist who pays for a bomb as by the one who pushes the button. That's why the PATRIOT Act imposed tough new penalties on those who commit and support terrorist operations, both at home and abroad. In particular, the Act:
The Government's success in preventing another catastrophic attack on American soil since September 11, 2001, would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, without the USA PATRIOT Act. The authorities Congress provided have substantially enhanced our ability to prevent, investigate, and prosecute acts of terror.
My prior experience as a U.S. Attorney and the Justice Department in Washington allowed me to witness the divide between our domestic law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency with its own foreign intelligence mission.
The events of September 11 have made clear that we all must work together--Federal agency with Federal agency; Federal, State and local governments; and Government and the private sector—in one overriding mission, to protect America and our way of life. Security is a layered blanket of interconnected strands, each supporting the strength of the others.
The Department and the Nation have come a long way since September 11 and we still have a way to go. As former Deputy Secretary Gordon England says, "Homeland security is a marathon—not a sprint." The United States is committed to making its citizens safer today than they were yesterday, and safer tomorrow than they are today.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to be with you here today and I would be happy to answer a few questions.
This page was last reviewed/modified on 10/07/03 00:00:00.
