President Bush and Congress responded to the attacks by recognizing that this was a different kind of war with a different kind of enemy. Together we saw that this enemy used as a weapon the freedom and openness that Americans cherish but that it despises. We realized that our efforts to defend our nation against this unconventional and unprincipled enemy were hampered by the lack of a unified strategy. To revisit a phrase used so often in the aftermath of September 11th, we were not "connecting the dots." We knew that turf battles, communication gaps, and interagency rivalries could no longer be tolerated. The stakes were too high.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is perhaps the most significant manifestation of the efforts undertaken by the President and Congress to create that unified strategy and to coordinate this urgent new mission – to connect those dots. The Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, which I chair, played a key role in creating the Department and is helping it to succeed.
My committee swiftly confirmed eight talented and dedicated individuals to lead the Department, including its first head, Secretary Tom Ridge. We held hearings and investigations on a wide range of homeland security issues, from the President's plan to improve the coordination of intelligence analysis and sharing, to unraveling the tangled web of international terrorism financing, to protecting American agriculture from sabotage, to securing our seaports. We have approved bills to reform the Department's multi-billion dollar state grant program, to provide cutting edge technology to first responders, to help the Department attract talented individuals with sought-after skills, and to ensure accountability within DHS's financial system.
Now the Department is one year old. And in the span of just one year, the DHS, under Secretary Ridge's leadership, has made significant, even remarkable, progress. The melding of 22 federal agencies – employing some 180,000 people – has met with some of the resistance we expected, but without the widespread turf battles many predicted. The level of cooperation within this new Department, though not perfect, is a vast improvement over the previous, uncoordinated structure. The initial focus on airport security has been expanded to include other vulnerabilities, such as seaport and border security. The Department has distributed billions of dollars to our first responders – the local and state emergency personnel on the front lines – for the equipment, training and guidance they need to carry out their vital missions. And we will continue to work with Secretary Ridge to ensure that a steady stream of funding is available for those efforts.
Of course, challenges lie ahead for this new agency, for the President, and for our country. As we change, so does our enemy. As we address vulnerabilities, our enemy seeks out new ones to exploit. As we improve security at our borders, we must strive to keep them open to friendship and to commerce. As we defend our nation against future attacks, we must never sacrifice the liberty that makes our nation so worthy of being defended.
In an address given February 23 before the Homeland Security Institute, Secretary Ridge offered a first anniversary assessment of his Department's accomplishments. He charted an ambitious but necessary course for its second year, and he described his vision for the years ahead. Secretary Ridge pledged that the Department will pursue the development of new technologies to combat terrorism. Analysis tools and detection equipment are keys to thwarting nuclear, chemical, and biological attacks before they occur. We must, as he said, button up our lab coats and push the scientific envelope by forging new partnerships among government, the private sector, national laboratories and university research centers.
Secretary Ridge also pledged to strengthen information-sharing among the public and private sectors and to create standards for communications and equipment. For our front-line defenders and first responders to be better able to detect attacks and to coordinate their efforts during an emergency, we must improve communications and ensure that equipment works across jurisdictions.
Secretary Ridge has made it a goal to integrate our port and border security systems in a way that does not impede the flow of trade and travel across our borders, a critical goal for border states like Maine. Traffic through our ports and our borders, which nearly ground to a halt after the attacks, is today moving with speed, efficiency, and greater security: more than 500 million people, 130 million motor vehicles, and millions more railcars and containers are processed at our borders every year. Container inspection, meanwhile, has been expanded from our own shores to 16 key overseas ports. Borders will always be a point of vulnerability for any free society, but we can reduce that vulnerability without unduly impeding the flow of legitimate commerce, in partnership with the private sector and our allies around the world.
My Committee stands ready to assist the Department as it begins its second year. We will continue to provide the DHS with the authority it needs to protect our nation; at the same time we will continue our aggressive oversight of its programs and activities. We may disagree with the Department's approach at times, but our goal is always to improve the Department and to recognize the extraordinary progress made by Secretary Ridge, his talented leadership team, and the dedicated men and women in the Department who work each and every day to keep us safe.