Rudy Giuliani photo

Excerpts of Remarks to the U.S. Airport and Seaport Association in Washington, D.C.

June 07, 2007

Since September 11, we've spent a lot of time improving our airport security. … there's a tendency -- in emergency planning and security planning, there's a tendency sometimes to always focus on the last attack, and to sort of assume the next one is going to be like the last one. And I'm afraid that that can't be the model with these terrorists that we're facing. And I commit myself…to make sure that we bring port security up to the same level as airport security, because that might very well be the way they try to attack us next time.

In New York City we developed a plan called CompStat. … Same thing is necessary at our ports. … We need a PortStat program that can extend the principle by monitoring what comes into our country, helping to secure our seaports and our global maritime trade. … PortStat can tell us that by identifying the strengths and the weaknesses along our supply chain. … PortStat would build on the same principles that made CompStat such a success.

The four principles of CompStat: accurate and timely intelligence, effective tactics, rapid deployment of resources where you see a problem…relentless follow-up and assessment.

For example, you'd want to know how many containers have been screened in any period of time for radiation before they get to our seaports. If a nuclear weapon is set to explode when it arrives…it does no good to wait to inspect the cargo until the contents are unloaded onto trucks 7 days later. It has to be inspected where it is loaded on the ship, where it's put in the container. You have to be able to document that. If you find anything that's suspicious, you have to be able to follow up on it. We need to know whether a container is a danger, before it gets to our shores.

And we need a system to determine how effective we are in doing those inspections. … It is necessary to deploy accountability measures like this in order to figure out where we're being effective, where we're not being effective, and where the additional resources have to be secured.

And if we commit to this, it will also aid us in the exchange of intelligence. Part of the key to CompStat is a complete exchange of intelligence. … we're going to need the cooperation of law enforcement organizations all over the world for you to do your work effectively. And then we need a system to track that all the way through. … And nowadays, if you have a system for tracking information, it's phenomenal what you can achieve and what you can do."

Rudy Giuliani, Excerpts of Remarks to the U.S. Airport and Seaport Association in Washington, D.C. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/295471

Simple Search of Our Archives