T3 B1 Eop- Press Interviews Of Staff Fdr- Internal Transcript- 2-28-02 Media Roundtable Interview Of Ridge 957

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary

MAY 2 2 2003

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks February 28, 2002

Internal Transcript

MEDIA ROUNDTABLE WITH HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR TOM RIDGE Room 476 The Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building

10:40 A.M.

GOVERNOR RIDGE: I apologize for keeping you waiting. If you don't mind, I would just like to frame our discussion with some general observations about the trip, and then just open it up to questions.

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been working issues on drug interdiction and immigration before September llth, the dimension of that relationship has been expanded because of the September llth attack and the heightened security that has resulted at the borders, and the accompanying impact, negative impact on commercial activity. Commerce has slowed down. The United States Chamber of Commerce submitted a report, published it yesterday and just talked generally about legitimate concerns about security, but also the need to deploy technology and risk management techniques so that we can reach our goal of securing the border, but without jeopardizing the commercial activity and, frankly, creating problems for the communities and people and companies on either side of the border that had been adversely affected because of the slowdown in activity. I had an interesting conversation yesterday with Governor Hull of Arizona and her counterpart, Governor Martinez from Chihuahua. And, obviously, they both view the area, the border area, as a region and they both commented -- and I think —actually it was Governor Martinez reminded me of the tripling of commerce, but we still have the same number of points of entry and exit. So, clearly, they understand, I think it's been pretty clear that security is a new dimension that prior to September llth that certainly there is a heightened sense that we need to do something more and something different, but we can't do it at the expense -- try to avoid doing it at the expense of commercial activity and jobs, and the economic interdependence of families and communities and employers along the border region. So that is the purpose of the visit. I will be meeting with, as I said before, President Fox and my counterpart, Secretary Creel, and some of the national security people. Q Governor, is the goal with Mexico to strike a similar deal to the one that you made with Canada on global security? Or are the issues just too different there that you can't really duplicate them? GOVERNOR RIDGE: The accord we have with Canada is a good starting point, because it fundamentally deals with the issues of security and commerce. But as the President continues to remind me every time we talk about Mexico and my visit, is that there are other dimensions to this border that add certain complexities to it and they are the issues that we have been working in a collaborative way with our Mexican counterparts prior to September llth, and that is the whole question of immigration and the whole question of drug interdiction. So I think the Canadian accord is a good starting point. As a matter of fact, we have shared that with Mexican authorities, and I recall in the last discussion I had with the Canadian

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government, one of the Secretary -- one of Deputy Prime Minister Manley's -- maybe it was the ambassador, the Canadian ambassador to the United States actually put in a good word, mentioned that it's a good place for us to start. Because we've really framed the issues around security and commerce. Obviously, we want to add -- we don't have to add it, they've been working on immigration and drug interdiction before. So it's a good place to start. Q I have a two-part question. If you care to comment on the news report that came out yesterday, they found yet another drug tunnel along the border between California and Mexico, and how that aggravates the border security issue? And number two, the INS signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Guard, I believe, and whereas they're going to be helping them out in the Border Patrol. And is there a fear that this may -- that this may worsen the image that the U.S. is militarizing the border? And that never sat well with the Mexican officials. And I was wondering if you would care to comment about those two things. GOVERNOR RIDGE: That wouldn't sit well with me, the second part of your question. I think, because of the relationship we have and continue to develop and enhance every day with our friends in Mexico, the last thing we want to do is militarize the borders between friends. We want them open, we want them mutually beneficial. And that is simply a temporary measure. The President's budget reflects a commitment to building up additional capacity within the INS, within Customs, so that the National Guard's presence in support of that mission will be temporary. Among allies and friends, you don't have militarized borders. And again, that's just an ad hoc response to an immediate need for personnel, but a temporary one. I viewed the report yesterday -- in one way, it's troubling, because it was a fairly sophisticated operation with tracks and lights, and obviously it created a capacity to move huge volumes of drugs. But I -- so in that sense, it's troubling because it existed. I think the good news is that, since we have tremendous -- I think we had a very good working relationship with law enforcement in Mexico prior to September 10th. But subsequent to the atrocities of September llth, I think it has been significantly enhanced. And I think that the work the Mexican law enforcement community did together with us speaks very positively to the kind of mutually beneficial relationship that continues to evolve as we deal with trying to establish a rule of law along that border. So the bad news is that the tunnel existed, and God only knows how many hundreds of lives were affected by the illegal drugs that poured through that tunnel. The good news is that it

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shows that collaboration between friends, the sharing of information, has enormous potential for positive benefit. Q Are you concerned that would-be terrorists could form alliances with drug couriers, smugglers, and use things like those tunnels? I mean, does that heighten the security problems on the border? GOVERNOR RIDGE: We talk a lot about weapons of mass destruction, and always included in that litany are chemicals. And in a very insidious, destructive way, this is -- and I happen to believe that many terrorist organizations get substantial financial support through drug trafficking. So, in a sense, the terrorist connection -- not the al Qaeda, but the terrorist connection -- it is a form of chemical warfare. The most troubling aspect of this form of chemical warfare is we're paying for our own self-destruction. And so I think the -- I don't think it complicates the relationship. I think both countries understand that they have a role t© be mutually supportive, to do everything humanly and technologically possible to reduce drug trafficking along the border. Again, I viewed yesterday's announcement as a positive development. Q Do you know how many National Guardsmen are along the border, or how many will be on the border? GOVERNOR RIDGE: No. But I'll bet I get you a very specific number before the end of the next hour or two. Customs and INS has had the request in for a couple months. We worked out the protocol with the Department of Defense. And I want to reiterate, the President has made it very clear, and everybody in the administration understands, that this is a temporary adjustment to a new reality. We needed more agents on the border, until we get them hired and trained and deployed. But this is a temporary measure, and I'll get you a specific number. Q And the same for Canada, I assume, too, right? there's about 800 or something

Because

Q Governor, the tunnel was found in Mexicali. Last week, a Mexican paper there, La Cronica, reported on the blatant operation of human smuggling there. What do you expect in terms of cooperation from the Mexican law enforcement authorities to interdict the smuggling of human beings across the border? GOVERNOR RIDGE: Well, you are probably aware that there has been a law enforcement plenary that has been working for years with our law enforcement community -- FBI, DEA and the like.

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And I guess the expectation would be -that to every extent possible, we accelerate the work that we've done that helped us discover this tunnel. Again, that is -- that's not a static part of our relationship, it's a very dynamic part. There's this ongoing effort within these agencies to continue to improve communication, to work together to interdict drug shipments. So I can't add anything to that, other than there will be -- I'm fairly confident that as the relationship continues to improve, there will be requests made on both sides that we enhance our work, and hopefully both sides will be amenable to it.

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Q Governor, you talked about the and something different about the border jeopardizing the economy. What specific would be new and different that wouldn't

need to do something new security -issue, without ideas are you thinking jeopardize the economy?

GOVERNOR RIDGE: Here's where using at least some of our discussions in the Canadian approach I think has some merit. I believe that technology -- first of all, you should know that Messrs. Zigler and Bonner, INS and Customs, are on the trip with me, along with folks from Treasury, the Department of State and the like. And while we're going to put more human assets at the border, as we take a look at a smart border arrangement with our friends in Mexico, it will be looking at different kinds of technology that we can apply to people who transverse the border on a regular basis, and cargo. And some of the effort with regard to the commerce is to work out protocols where it can be cleared away from the border.

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I mean, the challenge at airports, the challenge at borders, the challenge generally when it comes to security, is try to identify your no-risk traffic or low-risk traffic. And within that risk-management structure, then you can take most of your personnel and most of your technology, and screen and scrutinize those people or that traffic about which you have no information. So that's the approach that is under discussion with the Mexicans, and the same approach with the Canadians. Q Specifically the smart cards for people and checking cargo away from the border for GOVERNOR RIDGE: Yes. Those are the kinds of discussions that we've had in a very generic way with the Mexican government. Obviously we try to build a concept -- a consensus around the kind of technology that we would like to use. I mean, they are very open-minded about this. We've had general discussions about it. Hopefully we can have more specific discussions about the kind of technology and where it would be deployed. As we've done up in Canada,^ we both -- we've got a couple pilots running up there, to see what's the best technology that we can deploy. And hopefully we'll be able to reach some agreement, or at least accelerate that discussion. I'll give you a good example. I mean, first of all, you've got -- it's very similar to the Canadian border in many respects. You have several points of entrance and exit, but you have really only a few significant choke points, where you really have bottlenecks. What is it, San Ysidro, north of -- south of San Diego, they get about 60 million going across that area annually, and they've got like 20 million vehicles. Good lord, we ought to be able to figure out something better than the existing system. And again, to the extent that the President has said, the vision of homeland security should be not only where you decide to invest to make America more secure, but if the strategic investment can add or double or triple value, let's make it. Well, I think the deployment of technology at our southern border will certainly enhance security. But if we reach a consensus with the Mexican government as to where and what we deploy, both in terms of people and commerce, we'll have enhanced security, sure. But we will have accelerated and improved our economic relationship, so you get double or triple value with a strategic investment like that.

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NON-RESPONSIVE MATERIAL Q One of the complaints was that there aren't enough resources on this side of the border to handle that traffic as well, specifically, the points of entry, where you talk about the bottlenecks and how long it takes to inspect every single truck. So -- I think the Department of Transportation said a few months ago, a couple of months ago, that they just didn't have what's needed to handle that inflow of Mexican trucks. GOVERNOR RIDGE: Well, I think there's some regulatory changes that have to occur, and, candidly, I'm not privy to the substance of those changes. But it's important to President Bush, it's important to President Fox, and they're trying to tee_ it up to get it done before the President visits at the end of March. We've also talked about discussions with -- one of the things I need to talk to Secretary Creel about is the deployment technology and the kind of technology, and we can perhaps have a more specific discussion about the consensus, hopefully, we can develop the new period of time as to where you make those infrastructure investments. Q Governor, what about the status of immigration across the border, is that going to be part of the discussions, particularly around the guest passes? Will that be brought back GOVERNOR RIDGE: President Fox and President Bush have had, obviously, several conversations about the many issues under the large umbrella of immigration. And there has been a very high level working group, with the Attorney General and his office, and the Department of State, to try to address some of these issues, again, with an eye toward working in collaboration with their counterparts in Mexico, to see if between now and when the two Presidents get together they can address that. It was -- that whole issue was moving rather quickly up and through September 10th. And for a lot of reasons, like a lot of other things in this country, even though it had some momentum prior to September, as of September llth, it lost the momentum. But it's regained it over the past several weeks, and again, I know this working group is keen on trying to give both Presidents at least a partial answer to the larger problem.

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MS. NEELY: Q

Just one more question, Governor.

Governor, how long is it going to take us to get the

GOVERNOR RIDGE: Q

Okay.

Two more.

He's been waiting.

How long is it going to take us to

GOVERNOR RIDGE:

One, two, three.

Q -- to get the personnel that we need, the additional personnel we need? How long will it take us to get the additional personnel that we need along the border? GOVERNOR RIDGE: Hopefully -- the memorandums have been signed, between all the executive departments and I'd like to I believe the last information I had, and I will go back and collaborate -- and confirm, excuse me -- within the next two or three weeks. Q

Have you been able to quantify the economic loss?

GOVERNOR RIDGE: Q

One, two, three

--

four?

Sorry.

GOVERNOR RIDGE:

You snuck in there pretty good.

No, but in the information economy in the 21st century world where everybody is just-in-time inventory, delays are money. I

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mean, I'm not sure that I -- I can't give you a dollar figure now. But if you've got trucks and cargo waiting hours, if not half-days, and lined up, obviously, there's been an economic slowdown in both countries dealing with the economic realities of an international economy. That's compounded by a delay in delivery. I can't quantify it for you. I can't.

I bet you the Chamber can, but

Q Governor, would you want to consider an idea such as up in Canada, with the Customs and INS maybe working on the Mexican side of the border? I mean, is that one of the proposals that's under consideration? GOVERNOR RIDGE: Our Canadian counterparts know exactly one of the reasons we sent them the accord is because at the end of the day, I mean, with NAFTA you've got this huge region, and we would like to have as much -- we may not have comparability throughout the system, but as much harmony and similarity as possible. And so, to show our friends to the south the kind of matters we were discussing and approaches we were taking with our friends to the north, we showed them the accord. And part of that, in both -- it's to the advantage of all three countries -- is you do some of that pre-clearance away from the border, so that, again, at the border, you have the no-risk or the low-risk; you can focus on the people and the cargo you know nothing about.

Q

So

--

GOVERNOR RIDGE:

Q

You're the final one.

Yes, I

GOVERNOR RIDGE:

Do you have a follow-up?

Q Yes, Governor. So some of the Mexican personnel, then, also would be on our side of the border? GOVERNOR RIDGE: Well, we need to discuss it. I mean, we need to be as open with them about discussing new relationships as we have been with Canada. I'm not saying that everybody's going to run and embrace heartily these approaches -- I mean, because you still have independent, sovereign governments, and they have legal barriers to it. They have cultural resistance to what -- how one entity may operate in one country may not be exactly how that entity would operate in the other because of history, culture, law, regulation. We understand that, and those are the kind of issues that these kinds of trips, you vet out and you see if you can resolve.

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Q Do you credit the discovery of that tunnel to the enhanced security along the border? And can you quantify whether or not drug smuggling busts have gone up because of the enhanced security on the border, just as a kind of side result of September llth? GOVERNOR RIDGE: Great question. you is I'll find out for you.

And the answer I can give

I mean, I do know, I do know that the agencies that deal with their Mexican counterparts feel very good. I mean, they felt good about the work relationship before. I think they're very -- we appreciate the fact that our Mexican friends understand that the dimension of security in our mihd has been elevated dramatically after the llth. And it is probably as much in response to that, to our concern -- and Mexican concern about security as well. But I think the agencies would say, yes, we had a good relationship on September 10th, but as of September llth it got even better.

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11:13 A . M . EST

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