Director, Office of Homeland Security Tom Ridge
alf a century ago, President Truman saw a need to reorganize the military, in spite of the victory in World War II, to meet the new threat: the Soviet threat. Back then, the Army and Navy and other military organizations had separate, independent commands. Truman looked at the lessons learned from Pearl Harbor and from our prosecution of the war, and he said, and I quote . . . "It is now time to discard obsolete organizational forms and to provide for the future the soundest, the most effective and the most economical kind of structure for our armed forces."
Truman pushed for the creation of a unified Department of Defense - he got it - a Central Intelligence Agency, to learn about the threat; and a National Security Council to analyze the threat. He got all three. When told it couldn't be done, he said simply, in typical Truman straightforward, plain language, "It has to be done."
It's time for us to take the lessons learned from 9-11, from our war on terrorism, and apply them to homeland security. We may not see victories in our lifetimes, either. But if we build the foundation now, I'm confident America can do the impossible and make history once again. 
- June 10, 2002
Before the National Association of Broadcasters.
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