Dh B7 Eop Produced Documents Vol Iv Fdr- White House Internal Transcript- 8-26-02 Ridge Interview 820

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary Internal Transcript

August 26, 2002

INTERVIEW OF GOVERNOR TOM RIDGE BY PETER MAER, CBS RADIO Governor Ridge's Office

9:50 A.M. EDT Q Governor Ridge, I'd like to start by asking you, is the homeland more secure today than it was a year ago -the airports, the nuclear plants, all of the other places that we fear as targets? GOVERNOR RIDGE: Since September llth of last year, we've made enormous progress. So I could report to you today that we are safer, we are better prepared, absolutely, but we certainly have more work to do. But America and Americans have made great progress in securing the homeland since the unfortunate -- horrific events of 9/11. Q Could a terrorist or group of terrorists pull off the same thing that happened to us then? GOVERNOR RIDGE: I believe that the work that the airline industry has done, the Congress has done, that individual citizens have done, the enhanced security at all levels, at our airports, in our airplanes, we've got more people screening baggage and people, we've got air marshals, we've got -- we've rethought how we train flight crews. And I might add, I think now every able bodied man and woman is an air marshal. And I think the Flight 93 response is something that any terrorist could anticipate at well. America is prepared to defend itself.

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Q Were expectations raised proclamation, wanted dead or alive?

too

much

by

the

GOVERNOR RIDGE: No, I think the President very appropriately articulated what America felt and what our allies felt. He perpetrated on this country the most extraordinary catastrophic horror that we've ever experienced internally. That's exactly the way we won. But the fact of the matter remains is, even if we bring him to justice, we still have work to do. We'll still have additional threats to our future from either followers of bin Laden or other forms of international terrorism. And it's our job to be mindful of that, to accept that it's an enduring vulnerability, and work to do our very best to prevent it from happening again.

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Q I'd like to take you back to Septeinber llth of last year, particularly your home state and how you went to Shanksville. What were your emotions at the time? And how have you counseled your family and friends? You know more about the threat probably than anybody in the whole country, except the President himself. GOVERNOR RIDGE: Like every American, I remember exactly what I was doing when I learned of the first attack. I know exactly where I was. It's a day -- that day is etched in everybody's minds and in everybody's heart. And later that afternoon, once I got clearance to fly back to the state capital, to bring my emergency management people together, to make sure we had done everything we could in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and then took a helicopter to Shanksville and Somerset County, I suspect that the range of emotions that I felt were again reflective of how America felt. There was anger, there was bitterness, there was a sense of vulnerability. But at the same time, after we learned what happened - we had a sense of what happened with Flight 93, and you saw how America responded that day, you learned about people rushing into burning buildings in the twin towers, and you heard immediately the stories of people going from the Pentagon, from a safe part of the Pentagon, rushing to the area that had been struck by the airplane, to save their colleagues and comrades. And then you saw how the people of Shanksville responded so quickly. So as a governor of a state, I saw my state respond, both in Somerset County - - w e had a SERT team - - a search and emergency rescue team -- in New York by midnight. But then again, as a father, and as a husband, it was -- as it

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was for all Americans -- a very difficult and challenging time.

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GOVERNOR RIDGE: This new enemy of the 21st century is far, far different than anything that we've ever confronted on a traditional battle field. This is a war -- and I think the President has appropriate described our engagement internationally against terrorism as a war -- is against an enemy that doesn't distinguish between soldiers and non-combatants, between soldiers and citizens. This is

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an enemy that doesn't use the traditional weapons of war. This an enemy that took commercial airliners and turned them into missiles. This is an enemy whose strategy and tactics are entirely different, and they've chosen America as the battle field. This is a war that does not lend itself to a daily press briefing. This is a war that will require America to provide for the common defense internally.

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GOVERNOR RIDGE: I don't believe this country is ever going to need to do anything to remind its citizens, either today, tomorrow or in perpetuity of the significance of September llth. I think it will always be in the hearts of people, in the minds of people, a national day of mourning. As we look back, in a sense, because of a national day of celebration, because although it changed America permanently, as we witness what happened in response to 9/11, we saw that certain qualities, certain characteristics of America are unchanging. The character, the courage and the commitment of the country remains and is often brought to the fore when we are challenged in times of crisis and emergency. I don't necessarily think we need a national holiday to celebrate, to remember, to mourn and to be cognizant of what happened to us as a country on that day. Q Is it a memorial day of this generation though? GOVERNOR RIDGE: Clearly. I don't think there's any doubt about it. It's a memorial day, it's also a reminder of the new world in which we live, and a call to action for the foreseeable future, in order to make sure, again, that the children and grandchildren that we speak so much of, and who are very much a part of America's future, are given maximum kinds of protection and security, so they can enjoy the promise and the hope and the opportunity of this country. Q Governor Ridge, thank you for joining us for this special CBS News coverage on September llth. GOVERNOR RIDGE: you very much.

Peter, it's good to join you.

END

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Thank

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary

Internal Transcript

August 26, 2002

INTERVIEW OF GOVERNOR TOM RIDGE BY STEVE KROFT, CBS' 60 MINUTES The Roosevelt Room

11:40 A.M. EOT

Q Governor Ridge, how much has been accomplished in the last year? Are we safer now than we were on September llth, a year ago? GOVERNOR RIDGE: I think America is considerably safer. I think we are much better prepared. But I don't think there's any question that there is considerably more work that needs to be done. Q Are we 25 percent of the way there, 50 percent of the way there, 75 percent? GOVERNOR RIDGE: It's different to actually quantify it. I think qualitatively, one of the things the President asked us to do in this new office was to change the way both the public and the private sector thought about combatting terrorism and then to act on that change. And so I think we're doing things differently at the airports, doing things differently at the borders, doing things differently, and changing how we're doing things at the INS. And the list goes on and on. So I think we've effected change. But I think the challenge for this administration, but for future administrations and future Congresses and the country in the future is to continue to improve the system, to protect yourself and your way of life. They'll never be all the way there.

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Q One of the things that -- going back and looking at some of the things that we had done stories on a year ago, after the terrorist attack, there has been a lot of legislation passed, there's been a lot of funding appropriated, there have been a lot of people hired. But it still seems as though there are many areas that are still untouched. What comes to mind, no entry-exit system for visas, no -- many of the airports are way behind schedule in terms of federalizing screeners. Why does it take so long to do some of these things? GOVERNOR RIDGE: Well, first of all, we have to recognize that this is a big country, a diverse country, a freedom loving country, that we have many points of access. We literally allow hundreds of millions of people to come in and go out of our country on an annual basis, that we are a federal country, that the federal government can't just dictate, that we have other levels of jurisdiction that we have to develop strategic partnerships with. And I think if you measure the progress, given the complexity and the size of this country, we have come a long way. Clearly, the entry-exit system -- the President has said time and time again, Americans need to know who's coming into the country, why they're coming into the country, and when their time -- it's time to leave, there has to be a system that assures that they leave. That's a very high priority for Congress, a very high priority for the President. I think we'll get that done in the next couple of years. But the technology of that will take several years to ramp up. You're talking about enhanced security at the airports, we're doing a better job there. But clearly, we still don't have everybody deployed as an air marshal, we haven't hired everybody as a screener, we still don't have all the equipment, the technology in our airports. And certain things you just can't do, even though Congress says you have to do it by a certain period of time. Physically, Secretary Mineta and Adrmiral Loy are going to do everything they can to comply with those requirements. But as we pointed out, as some of the airport directors have pointed out, some it calls to reconfigure the whole airport, how they accept people, how they accept baggage. But everybody is working as hard as they possibly can to meet those deadlines.

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NON-RESPONSIVE MATERIAL Q Should Americans stay at home on September llth, or should they get on airplanes, should they travel at all? GOVERNOR RIDGE: I think that September llth is a day of recollection, it's a day of mourning, it's a day of -and I say this understanding that while we mourn and grieve, the loss and the death and the destruction of that date, there's much to celebrate as to how America responded on that day, and subsequent days, that September llth should remind us of as well. We were changed forever, sure. But in response to that horror, in response to that catastrophic terrorist event, we saw the best of America. We saw our courage, we saw our commitment, we saw people rushing into burning buildings, rushing into the Pentagon, wrestling the attackers of Flight 93. We saw the country rally around the President, support our troops. Overseas we saw individual citizens and people at all levels of government, in the private sector, rethink about the relationship to one another, and do things differently to protect themselves and the homeland. So T think America on that day should continue to mourn, be mindful that this is also a day and a crisis that which the best qualities and attributes of America have been revealed.

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And we don't know what the number is. We know thousands and thousands went through those training camps. We know that the planning for the 9/11 incident took years. We've seen, from some of the recent films that were obtained that they plan. And this is an operation that has targeted the United States and our way of life, and I think we need to be prepared for all eventualities, for all time.

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Q Now, you spent the better part of a year, and along with the administration, saying we didn't need a department of homeland security at the Cabinet level. Why did you change your mind? GOVERNOR RIDGE: We spent the better part of a year working on borders, working on transportation, working on reform -- on visa reform and INS reform, and doing a lot of other things. We've been reaching out and working with governors and their homeland security advisors. But I recall the President saying to the members of Congress, -- again, both Republicans and Democrats -- who were calling for a new department in October, when he brought them down to the White House, "give this administration some time to do the things we need to do immediately, and to take a look at whether or not we need to reorganize government." He never said never, he just requested -- and I requested time and time again -- give us a chance to do our own -- take our own internal look, talk to the people out there, talk to you, and then we're going to give you -- if we think something needs to be done, we'll come up and tell you about it. And we've got a very robust, a very aggressive and a very comprehensive approach in the new department of homeland security, building on some of the initiatives that they had talked about. But frankly, if you take a look at the new department, or the department the President has recommended, it's a significant -- there are significant enhancements to it, as well.

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NON-RESPONSIVE MATERIAL GOVERNOR RIDGE: The President believes and the group that put together the department of homeland security and made the recommendation to Congress believes that the FBI has been and must continue to be the chief law enforcement investigative agency in this country, and as such, must continue to be an integral part of the Department of Justice. I think clearly their mission has been expanded since 9/11. Director Mueller is working feverishly and tirelessly to kind of reorient part of the FBI toward preemption -- identification and preemption of terrorist activity. And I think the administration appropriately wants this agency to continue to report to -- through the Department of Justice to the President of the United States.

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Q Do we know more about the enemy now than we did a year ago?

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GOVERNOR RIDGE: Absolutely. We know through interrogation, we know through the great work of the Department of Defense, the information they picked up in the safe houses, they picked up on the battle field, we know because of the collaboration and support we received from some of our international partners, the interrogations that they have done, the information they've secured, we know a great deal more about this group than we've ever known before. And I suspect that as our information gathering continues to improve, as our very successful military operation expands its reach, we will learn more and more about the enemies -- our enemies. Q One of the things that has proven to be extremely difficult, and one most people would agree one of the biggest vulnerabilities was our immigration system. The fact that there are in fact -- the fact that thousands of people got into the country, and maybe left and maybe didn't leave. This whole notion of sleeper agents, and people already here. GOVERNOR RIDGE: Well, I think that's a -- if I could say it in retrospect, that was a reflection of how Americans -- to look at the rest of the world, we're kind of open. You can come into this country a couple hundred different ways, through airports, and obviously you've got 95,000 miles of coastline, you've got 5,000 miles with Canada, and 2,000 miles with Mexico. We're a trusting country. I mean, we're a country of immigrants. So the notion that you've got people from foreign countries coming in to visit, to go to school, to do business, we just accepted that as part of who we are, and what we wanted to be. And we still want to be the country that's open and welcoming and trusting. But we now know that we have to do a much better job of granting those visas, of monitoring conduct of people who we want to come to this country, and making sure that once their time is expired, we have a way to make sure that they either reapply or they leave as promised. They are guests, and we want to continue to be open to guests for a lot of reasons. END

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THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary

Internal Transcript

August 26, 2002

' INTERVIEW OF NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR GOVERNOR TOM RIDGE BY KAREN KESLER, CLEAR CHANNEL RADIO Governor Ridge's Office

12:15 P.M. EDT

Q There are some images, sounds and memories of September llth, 2001, that chill people to the bone even a year later. How can you reassure Americans when they think back on all the horrors of September llth, last year? GOVERNOR RIDGE: Well, I think we all remember visually, and we still all hear those sounds. And it is in fact that memory, that collective memory as a country that I think has driven us to make great progress, working together at the federal level, state and local level, working with the private sector, to take action to make sure that it doesn't happen again, or at least to reduce our vulnerability, to reduce the likelihood that it could ever happen again. I think that's part of the job that we have. And since I get a chance to see America at 30,000 feet, I mean I get a chance to see what they're doing at the local level, what they're doing at the state level, I get a chance to see what the private companies are doing, I get the chance to see all the interaction, talk to the firstresponders, talk to the law enforcement community, see the enhanced information and intelligence sharing we have at the federal level. And I think what has driven this action, what has driven this collaboration, what's driven these partnerships are the fact that the sights and sounds that you referred to remind us that we're no longer immune to international terrorism.

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Q When one looks back on all that happened on September llth last year, there's a sense that really nothing can be done to stop terrorism. Can it be stopped, can we feel safe? GOVERNOR RIDGE: For those who say nothing can be done to stop terrorism, I just would just disagree with every possible conviction that I can muster. We have done a lot. We are going to do more. The real challenge is, I think, is accepting the fact that in this huge, massive country, that lets in hundreds of millions of people from around the world, that is a very complex and sophisticated country, a welcoming country, an open country, but we'll never be able to design, absolutely, a perfect, fail-safe system that we can guarantee safety against all potential terrorist attacks. We can't do that. But we certainly can, and have, and will continue to significantly improve our ability to prevent and interdict, as well as respond to an attack if one occurs.

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Q Are the FBI and CIA working together in ways that they weren't working before September llth? Could they have worked together better, and maybe prevented what we saw on September llth? GOVERNOR RIDGE: My frame of reference and relationship -- working relationship with these agencies is post 9/11, beginning on October 8th. And I see on a daily basis, because we participate in a briefing with the President, the kind of information sharing and collaborative intelligence efforts that I think should comfort the people of this country. What went on prior to 9/11, I do not know. All I know is that the principals, George Tenet and Bob Mueller, share that information. When we've gone back in this office to ask for additional information, we received it without hesitation.

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Q And one more question. Should safe, or should we feel like targets?

Americans

feel

GOVERNOR RIDGE: Well, we know as of 9/11 that al Qaeda and the terrorists have targeted this country because of who we are and what we stand for and what we believe, what we've done, what we've accomplished. But they should know that since 9/11 that we are unquestionably safer, that we are by leaps and bounds much better prepared, and yet we still have a considerable distance to go to do everything we can in human terms and technologically to protect our way of life and our fellow citizens. But we've made great progress, I see it every single day. Q with us.

Thank you very much for taking the time to talk

GOVERNOR RIDGE:

My great pleasure. END

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