08 November 2001
Text: Ashcroft on Terrorism to Justice Department Personnel
(Attorney general cites planned reforms in FBI, INS) (2700)
Attorney General John Ashcroft has projected broad-ranging changes in
the Justice Department -- including reforms in the FBI and the
Immigration and Naturalization Service -- designed to energize the
fight against terrorism.
In a departmental leadership address delivered November 8, Ashcroft
said a restructured INS would focus on "preventing aliens who engage
in or support terrorist activity from entering our country" and "lead
the campaign to detain, prosecute, or deport terrorist aliens who are
already inside the nation's borders."
In either case, the nation's top law enforcement officer pledged, "the
Department of Justice will not allow terrorists to use our hospitality
as a weapon against us."
As for the FBI, he said, preliminary recommendations for reform to be
developed by the end of the year should augment the agency's ability
to carry out its central law enforcement and national security
mission: the prevention of terrorism.
Ashcroft said he is pushing efforts to use the new tools granted to
law enforcement agencies in antiterrorism legislation passed by
Congress last month. "In this war on terror, information-sharing and
cooperation are critical to our strategic mission," he said.
The attorney general said he would present to Congress, later November
8, a strategic plan for improving Justice Department capabilities in
fighting terrorism.
While not providing much specific detail, Ashcroft said the plan would
include efforts to streamline duplicative functions, transfer 10
percent of headquarters-based positions to the field, modernize the
department's information technology, improve recruitment and training,
and "develop a seamless relationship with state and local law
enforcement."
Following is a text of Ashcroft's remarks, as prepared for delivery)
(begin text)
Attorney General's Prepared Remarks
DOJ Leadership Address
The Great Hall
November 8, 2001
Thank you, Deputy Attorney General Thompson. I want to take this
opportunity, in front of this unprecedented audience of those who
serve the people at the Department of Justice, to thank you for your
own dedicated and selfless service to the nation. You are and have
been a courageous leader of this department, a faithful servant of the
President and a dogged advocate of justice. We are all grateful for
your effort.
I took it as a sign that we are making the difficult adjustments
necessary for living with the threat of terrorism when "Saturday Night
Live" decided to parody one of my press conferences this weekend. I
don't know if you saw it. I didn't, but I'm told I was portrayed
urging Americans to go about their normal lives by doing everyday
things like, quote "going to the gas mask store." Acceptance of new
realities, it is said, begins with laughter. Just as the American
people have had to accept new challenges, I must now accept that
Darrell Hammond does a reasonably accurate impression of me.
I stand in awe, here in the Great Hall, of our predecessors in the
Department of Justice. We build upon their heritage -- the men and
women who were the trust busters in the Twentieth Century, who
safeguarded our nation's internal security from fascists and
communists, who declared legal war on mafia bosses and corrupt
political machines, and who crusaded for every American's equality and
civil rights. Their victories built the foundation upon which we now
stand. They helped to secure the liberties we must now safeguard from
terrorism.
The Justice Department today may be more complex, but our mission must
be just as clear as it was for our predecessors.
On Sunday, it will be two months since, in the President's words, the
nation was awakened to danger and called to defend freedom by a
terrorist assault on our homeland.
The attacks of September 11 have redefined the mission of the
Department of Justice. Defending our nation and its citizens against
terrorist attacks is now our first and overriding priority. To fulfill
this mission, we are devoting all the resources necessary to eliminate
terrorist networks, prevent terrorist attacks, and bring to justice
all those who kill Americans in the name of murderous ideologies.
We are engaged in an aggressive arrest and detention campaign of law
breakers with a single objective: to get terrorists off the street
before they can harm more Americans. We have modeled our tactics after
a previous Justice Department, fighting a different threat to the
nation.
The Justice Department of Robert F. Kennedy, it was said, would arrest
a mobster for "spitting on the sidewalk" if it would help in the fight
against organized crime. In the war on terror, it is the policy of
this Department of Justice to be equally aggressive in protecting
Americans. We will arrest and detain any suspected terrorist who has
violated the law. Suspects without links to terrorism or who are not
guilty of violations of the law will be released. But terrorists who
are in violation of the law will be convicted, in some cases deported,
and in all cases prevented from doing further harm to Americans.
In the Department of Justice's fight against terrorism, the American
people have been our valued, trusted and indispensable ally. Our
partners in state and local law enforcement have been our eyes and
ears and muscle on the ground.
For two months America has been subjected to constant terrorist
threats based on credible intelligence. Two periods of extremely high
threat have passed.
For two months we've endured the video-taped tauntings of Osama Bin
Laden.
For two months, Americans have had their lives disrupted and law
enforcement has had to work overtime. Through dozens of warnings to
law enforcement, a deliberate campaign of terrorist disruption,
tighter security around potential targets, and over a thousand arrests
and detentions, America has only grown stronger.
We cannot know with certainty what acts of terrorism our combined
efforts have thwarted or prevented. But we have trusted the American
people to act responsibly in the face of threats. And thanks to their
patience and vigilance, we know this: We have not suffered another
major terrorist attack. The terrorists have not made good on their
threats. The homefront has witnessed the opening battle in the war
against terrorism. And America has emerged victorious.
The opening battle has passed, but the war ahead will be long. The
weeks, months and years to come will impose additional burdens, and
will call for additional sacrifice. Just as our service men and women
are risking their lives to battle the enemy overseas, it falls to the
men and women of justice and law enforcement to lead Americans in the
battle against the enemy at home.
The war on terrorism has required adjustments by the American people,
and so too must we adjust. Our new mission requires a new way of doing
business. When terrorism threatens our future, we cannot afford to
live in the past. We must focus on our core mission and
responsibilities understanding that the Department will not be all
things to all people. We cannot do everything we once did because
lives now depend on us doing a few things very well.
We must strive to maximize our potential even as we recognize our
limitations. The men and women of the Justice Department are the
finest legal minds and law enforcement officers in the world. But we
cannot win this war alone. We must forge new relationships of
cooperation and trust with our partners in state and local law
enforcement. Bureaucratic turf battles must cease when terrorists
threaten the very ground beneath our feet.
Today, I am announcing a wartime reorganization and mobilization of
the nation's justice and law enforcement resources to meet the new
mission of the Department of Justice.
The Department of Justice's Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2001-2006
is a carefully crafted blueprint for the comprehensive reorganization
of the Department to meet our new anti-terrorism mission. It is the
product of close consultation with the Deputy Attorney General, whom I
have asked to lead the effort, with the assistance of the Strategic
Management Council. This afternoon, I will discuss with the Strategic
Management Council how we will develop measures necessary to
accomplish the plan's goals. I will submit this new strategic plan to
Congress today.
The plan being announced today contains ten new initiatives for the
systemic reform and restructuring of the Department of Justice. It is
a blueprint for change. It is also a call to you -- the men and women
of the Justice Department -- to embrace fully our new mission, to
commit ourselves to rebuilding and remaking the Department; to
rededicate ourselves to the highest and most noble form of public
service: the preservation of American lives and liberty.
The reforms and restructuring we must undertake in the next five years
are designed first and foremost to sharpen the capacity of the
Department of Justice to act deliberately and decisively in support of
our mission.
Our first initiative is the elimination of waste and re-targeting of
resources to the fight against terrorism. In today's Justice
Department, multiple agencies perform similar functions. Within six
months, we must have in place a detailed plan to streamline, eliminate
or consolidate duplicative functions. We should not expect our budgets
to give us limitless resources. We must protect Americans regardless
of the level of resources provided by OMB and Congress. We should take
responsibility ourselves to find ways to get our jobs done.
Second, we will re-focus our resources on front-line positions. The
war on terrorism will be fought not in Washington but in the field, by
agents, prosecutors, investigators and analysts. Our long-term goal is
to transfer 10 percent of current headquarters-based positions to the
field offices where citizens are served and protected.
Our restructuring initiatives are demanding and service-oriented. The
third point of our plan challenges us to hold each other accountable.
Performance should be measured by results.
Fourth, we must attract a diverse, high-quality work force to the
Department and train them to be the best in the world.
Fifth, we must develop a seamless relationship with state and local
law enforcement.
Sixth, we must have information technology from this decade, not
several generations ago, so we can share intelligence. Major city
police departments are better equipped than the Justice Department is
today.
Finally, the remaining points of our strategic plan mandate
fundamental change in several of the most critical components of
American justice and law enforcement, starting with the organization
that is at the center of our counter-terrorism effort, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.
In its history, the FBI has been many things -- the protector of our
institutions when they were under assault from organized crime, the
keeper of our security when it was threatened by international
espionage, and the defender of our civil rights when they were denied
to some Americans on the basis of their race, color or creed.
Today the American people call on the Federal Bureau of Investigation
to put the prevention of terrorism at the center of its law
enforcement and national security efforts. Since September 11,
Director Mueller has been engaged in a thorough review of the FBI, its
management and organization. Under the plan being announced today, the
Strategic Management Council will develop and implement a series of
reforms to the FBI. We expect preliminary recommendations for reform
by the end of the year.
Our Strategic Plan also restructures the Immigration and
Naturalization Service consistent with the President's goal of
separating the service function of the INS from its border protection
and law enforcement responsibilities. Commissioner Ziglar has already
begun reforming the INS and I expect the plan to be unveiled soon.
As a nation of immigrants, the United States will continue to welcome
America's friends, but we will not allow our welcome to be abused by
America's enemies. In the war on terrorism, the restructured
Immigration and Naturalization Service will focus on preventing aliens
who engage in or support terrorist activity from entering our country.
It will lead the campaign to detain, prosecute, or deport terrorist
aliens who are already inside the nation's borders. In either case,
the Department of Justice will not allow terrorists to use our
hospitality as a weapon against us.
The Department's Office of Justice Programs and grant management
system also will be fundamentally restructured to meet our new
anti-terrorism mission. I will submit a plan for restructuring our
grant programs to Congress within a month. Not only will we make our
grant process more efficient and more accountable, we will target our
resources to maximize public benefit. State and local law enforcement,
victims groups and others on the front-lines of the war on terrorism
will have improved access to services and information.
And while we tackle the institutional barriers to the realization of
our anti-terrorism mission, we will address the legal and cultural
barriers as well.
In his remarks, Deputy Attorney General Thompson will describe the
actions we are taking today to implement new tools passed by Congress
in the USA Patriot Act. This landmark anti-terrorism law contains
provisions that begin to break down the barriers to information
sharing, communication and cooperation between and within the
intelligence and law enforcement communities. Today, I am issuing a
series of directives to Department of Justice component heads
requesting that they review information in their possession that may
now be shared with other federal agencies and to do so where
appropriate. I have also directed that components assess their
intelligence analysis capabilities, improve them where necessary, and
coordinate their efforts with other affected federal agencies and with
state and local agencies.
In this war on terror, information-sharing and cooperation are
critical to our strategic mission.
Terrorists live in the shadows, under the cover of darkness. In order
to identify, capture and incapacitate them, law enforcement
investigators and intelligence agents must be able to work
cooperatively. Under our new anti-terrorism mandate, there will be
maximum dissemination, to the fullest extent permitted by the law, of
appropriate terrorist-related information to all federal officials
engaged in the common fight against terrorism. Such dissemination will
occur regardless of whether the source of information is a criminal
investigation or a counterintelligence investigation. The Department
of Justice is fully committed to breaking down the bureaucratic and
cultural barriers that prevent meaningful coordination and cooperation
between criminal law enforcement and the counterintelligence
operations, both within the Department, and between the Department and
other federal intelligence agencies.
In just a short time -- two months on Sunday -- the men and women of
American justice and law enforcement have risen once again to answer
the call of duty. I thank you, and the nation thanks you, for the
sacrifices you have made and the willingness you have shown to defend
freedom with the law. Like the men and women of World War II, "the
greatest generation", your sacrifice and that of your families is a
testimony to the American spirit; a quiet but determined show of faith
in the rightness of our cause, the endurance of our freedom, and the
certainty of our justice.
At the conclusion of World War II came the reckoning at Nuremberg.
Former Attorney General and Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson led
the prosecution of 21 Nazi defendants for crimes against their
countrymen, crimes against their neighbors, and crimes against
humanity. All pleaded not guilty. Some claimed that they were merely
following orders. Others disputed the jurisdiction of the court. But
Jackson successfully argued their guilt with a sense of urgency borne
of a civilization threatened by a new force for evil.
"The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so
calculated, so malignant and so devastating," said Jackson, "that
civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored because it cannot
survive their being repeated."
It is now as it was then. A calculated, malignant and devastating evil
has arisen in our world. Civilization cannot ignore the wrongs that
have been done. America will not tolerate their being repeated.
Justice has a new mission, a new calling against an old evil. Thank
you for your hard work. Thank you for your leadership. And God bless
the United States of America.
(end text)
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