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NEWS TRANSCRIPT from the United States Department of Defense

DoD News Briefing
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
Friday, September 10, 2004

SEC. RUMSFELD: Good morning. Three years ago tomorrow by
happenstance, this group of members of the House of Representatives were having
breakfast up in the room right up there with me and the senior members of the
Department of Defense staff and were there when the first plane hit the tower of
the World Trade Center.

We gathered again this morning to talk about that day in which we all
remember so vividly and to talk also about the things that have taken place since,
the work that they and their respective assignments in the Congress and the
Department of Defense have worked on together and the progress that's been made and
some of the things that we can look forward to. And I am very grateful to each of
them for their support of the Department of Defense and the men and women in
uniform and simply wanted to say "thank you" to them.

Do one or more of you want to speak? Chris, you're the leader.

REP. COX: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. This is a beautiful
sunny day, just as was September 11, 2001. This breakfast that the secretary was
kind to put together this morning for us is, in many ways, a memorial, a
remembrance. This building which was attacked is an American memorial now. Many
of our fellow Americans died here that day. But it's also an inspiration because
the people who've continued to work in this building and the people of the armed
forces around the world who look here for their command have accomplished an
extraordinary amount to establish anew the freedom of the United States of America
and the civilized world.

We've made extraordinary gains in the last three years and the
Department of Defense is taking the lead in making sure that we are not only
hardening targets here at home, we're not only focused on what terrorists might do
to us on our own territory, but we are bringing the fight to the terrorists
overseas -- the first with Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and next in
Iraq and, indeed, around the world where terrorists have been striking.

Because of that, in no small part, America has been free of terrorist
attacks for the intervening period. We may not be fortunate enough that that will
continue indefinitely into America's future history, but we know now, as we did not
know on September 10th, precisely who we're dealing with and precisely what we need
to do in order to be ready for them.

I can't tell you how proud I am of Secretary Rumsfeld's leadership,
President Bush's leadership in this effort and the bipartisan support that has been
offered throughout as America redoubles its efforts to be safe from terrorists.

I'd like to introduce my colleagues to speak on this. And immediately
behind me is Mac Thornberry of Texas, who on both the Armed Services Committee and
the Homeland Security Committee has done a great deal of work on the very same
subjects I've been discussing. Mac Thornberry.

REP. THORNBERRY: The topic of our breakfast three years ago or the
primary topic was Transformation: How can we make sure that nation is prepared for
the kinds of threats that are coming that are difficult to expect? A lot has
happened over the last three years and we've talked about some of that. But the
importance of being prepared for the unexpected has never been stronger. And if we
just think about the events in the world of the past couple weeks, I think it
really brings that home for us. So I know all of us are committed to supporting
the work that goes on in this building behind us to make sure that we are as safe
and secure and also free as we can be.

John Mica is chairman of the subcommittee that deals with aviation, so
you can complain to him about the aircraft noise.

REP. MICA: Thanks, Mac, and thanks, Chris and Mr. Secretary. As you
heard, three years ago, the secretary brought some of us together who were
supportive of strong defense for this country and that's why we were here on the
morning of September 11th to figure out how we could change some of the policy of
downsizing the military of taking on a military that had been somewhat demoralized
under the last administration, to be quite frank. And little did we know that
within a few minutes of the end of our conversation and actually at the end of our
breakfast, that our world would change and that incident that we talked about would
be happening.

This morning, we started the breakfast. I asked that we start it with
a prayer. I lost friends here, Barbara Olson, who I'll always remember worked for
our Government Reform Committee and I remember her smiling face, as I last saw
her. She died on the plane that went into this building. Terry Lynch, who I
worked with in the United States Senate as a staffer was killed in the building and
all those who helped me on a hearing in the World Trade Center, including Neil
Levin, the head of the port authority were killed on that morning.

So we started off this morning with a prayer of remembrance of those
people who were lost and also giving thanks that we have a secretary of defense
who's been able to lead this nation through some of the most difficult times. And
I think he'll go down in history as one of the greatest secretaries of defense that
this nation has ever seen. So that's a little bit of why we were here then and
what we did today. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

[Inaudible] Mark Kirk, let me introduce.

REP. KIRK: I'm Mark Kirk of Illinois. I represent the congressional
district that Don Rumsfeld represented when he was in the Congress and just want to
say that on September 11th, we were all gathered here today and we remember when
the post-it note was brought in to tell the secretary that a twin-engine aircraft
had hit the World Trade Center. It was obviously a tragedy, but not obviously an
attack at that time. We continued our breakfast and as we broke up, we heard about
the second attack and most of us had left the building by the time the building was
struck. We think about all that has happened now.

And I just said to the secretary during breakfast, with all that we've
done, thank you for having a nice, calm breakfast this time in which nothing
happened. And we think about all the changes, how the terrorists bases have been
destroyed and that two-thirds of al Qaeda have been killed or captured. That false
sense of security we had disappeared on September 11th, but now I think we are more
secure. We are far more aware of the danger, but we have been doing so much to
limit that danger to the American people.

UNKNOWN: Roger Wicker from.

REP. WICKER: Well, thank you very much. My name is Roger Wicker and I
represent the 1st Congressional District of Mississippi. I, too, remember. I have
my own memories of exactly when we found out about the attacks on the Trade
Center. And then I distinctly remember thinking to myself later on in the day that
I, having heard about the terrorist attack, was actually driving from one target to
another target, because I drove my own car back to the United States Capitol
building after hearing about the New York terrorist attack.

We were profoundly fortunate on that day to have at the helm President
George W. Bush and also Secretary Don Rumsfeld. And our thanks and the thanks of
the American people go to them. I think it was Representative Granger who
mentioned today in our meeting that we are, indeed, much safer today than we were
three years ago. We're not completely safe and there's no way to make us
completely safe. But we're also more than three years smarter than we were three
years ago, when this attack took place. We are determined, as representatives of
the people, to be ever vigilant and we appreciate again the leadership of the
secretary and we appreciate his hospitality today.

Robin Hayes is a representative from North Carolina and we'll present
him next.

REP. HAYES: Thank you, Roger. I'm Robin Hayes from the 8th District
of North Carolina and I remember well that morning when I asked the secretary who
has done a fabulous job throughout, "Mr. Secretary, what's it going to take to
focus the attention, the American people on the fact that national security is the
number-one issue?" And his answer was, "Unfortunately, some sort of major
incident." Well, we know what that was.

My question today, as a follow-up with Mr. Secretary, still national
security is the issue that faces the American people. It's not other issues that
are being talked about regularly which are important. But because of the people in
this building, the men and women in uniform, the lives that were lost for which we
are ever grateful and our freedom in this country, we are far safer. Leadership of
President Bush, steadfast leadership of our military, Secretary Rumsfeld, makes us
safer, but the war goes on and we, the American people, need to focus on winning
that war on terror. We're doing it. And our support for the men and women in
uniform is crucial, appreciated and a vital part of our national security. Thank
you all. My good friend Coach Kay, as I call her. Kay Granger from the
Dallas-Forth Worth area.

REP. GRANGER: Thank you very much. Mac Thornberry said this day
reminds us so much of the day three years ago, because it was a bright, shiny day.
And we gathered in a fairly unusual way because so often we are faced with what is
right in front of us. And don't take the time or have the time to look into the
future and say let's make sure we're planning correctly. Secretary Rumsfeld has
been able to do that and continues to do that in saying, I've got to take care of
today, I've got to also plan for the coming years and that vision is so important.
So we came together and talked about the future of defense and transformation and
what would keep us - our superiority in this world - preparing for anything, having
no idea literally in a matter of minutes, that our world would change so
significantly and, of course, it did.

And so today we came back to that -- that conversation -- picked it up
again and said, what are doing differently, what are we doing better. And everyone
here is very proud that we have learned so much and that we continue to work to
make it safer -- this world safer and this country safer. And I believe people, I
believe in people, first of all, and I believe that it's important that people be
told the truth and they be told very clearly. And I think people today understand
that we're fighting a war over there, so we won't fight it right here and that we
have to continue to be diligent in saying in every way what steps are we taking to
make it safer for us and for our children and grandchildren and the leaders in this
terrible war, this long-term war, as the president's explained the war on terror.
Thank you.

REP. SHIMKUS: I'm John Shimkus. I'm from Southern Illinois, a West
Point graduate and still a reservist. Two things that I'll point out is, one, I
tell folks in my district -- and this is really a tribute to the leadership here --
is that we now have the next greatest generation. If you look at the young men and
women who are voluntarily signing up to defend this country in very dangerous
places around the world, it really does make you proud. And if nothing can instill
pride in our nation like that, then nothing will. I have a nephew who is now in
Germany and he's scheduled to rotate to Iraq. He's just part of this groundswell
of young men and women who say this country's important enough to sign on the
dotted line.

The other thing is I hope that we are cautious and not rush to quick
judgment on intel reform so that our combatant commanders can still get quick and
timely information. And we had a little debate and discussion about that. It's
important that we move to reforms, but we've got to make sure that we don't harm
the ability of our commanders in the field to get real quick, timely intelligence.
And now I get really the distinct honor, an army guy, to always talk the talk - to
talk and say something good about a Navy guy, but I'm going to be followed by our
top gun Duke Cunningham.

REP. CUNNINGHAM: Thank you. When you're hot, you're hot. When you're
not, you're last. We all witnessed the president in the convention lay out where
we had been, where we are today and what the future is. We are safer today. If
you take a look at the Patriot Act, you take a look at homeland security, airline
security, how many airlines have you seen fly over here in the last 15 minutes?
All they have to do is turn port -- that's left for my army friend - and they turn
right in here. The job is on the ground in taking care with air marshals and so
on. My real concern is the future.

I think -- and I'll steal a comment from my friend Chris Cox - we have
a whole bunch of surgeons operating that have never been to medical school. And if
we rush into electing and selecting a national intelligence director and take away
the ability of the secretary as a war fighter to do his job, it puts this nation in
great risk. And for those reasons, I think we need to move slowly in a politically
charged atmosphere. We need to do this thing right. We need to worry about 9/11,
not 11/2. Thank you.

http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040910-secdef1285.html