The Global TETRA Framework 

....A discussion about aviation security is followed by....

       MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to a report from former Senator Warren Rudman, the Council on Foreign Relations, who was on this program a month ago, and this is what his conclusions were. “...the United States has not reached a sufficient national level of emergency preparedness and remains dangerously unprepared to handle a catastrophic attack on American soil, particularly one involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear agent, or coordinated high-impact conventional means.” Do you agree?

          SEC’Y RIDGE: I do not agree. Listen, I’ve had several conversations with the senator.      There are, again, ongoing efforts, not just at the federal level, the state and local level, training and exercises all the time, the involvement of the Center for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health, and our Health and Human Services. Every single day, Tim, we build more and better capacity to deal with these issues. My view is is that there should never be a day we’re satisfied with what we’ve done. We always need to move forward and look to the next deterrent, look to the next security measure, look to the next enhancement of protection, but our ability to respond to an incident of that sort has improved significantly since September 11th and we will continue to build the capacity to do just that. That’s our job. America is very much engaged in this process, not just the federal government.
       
       MR. RUSSERT: Senator Rudman spoke specifically to the first responders, the police and the fire, and reached some very troubling conclusions that only half of the firemen in this country have radios that
actually could operate. We all remember on September 11 the lack of communication from the firemen in the towers and on the ground. And when he made his report public, your spokesman said, “Well,
       what they really want are gold-plated telephones.” And Senator Rudman said that is outrageous to suggest that.
       
       SEC’Y RIDGE: That was a ridiculous comment by someone because the first responders I know are not interested in gold-plated telephones. They just want an interoperable communications system in order to get things done when they arrive to save lives.
       
       MR. RUSSERT: But they don’t yet have them.
       
       SEC’Y RIDGE: They are in the process of getting them. The Congress has appropriated nearly $4 billion to date. It is out the door, directed to the state and locals. If they approve the president’s budget, there's going to be another $3.5 billion just going out to the state and locals. And we are working with the leadership that we find at all other levels of government to set priorities, and one of their first priorities across the board, across the country is this kind of communication. So...
       
       MR. RUSSERT: Interoperable, you say. D.C., District of Columbia, cannot communicate with
       Virginia.
       
       SEC’Y RIDGE: Right.
       
       MR. RUSSERT: To this day.
       
       SEC’Y RIDGE: Well, but again, Tim, we inherited a situation post-9/11 where we have to rethink our
       relationships between levels of government. We have to rethink the relationship between even some of
       the technology that we bought before September 10. It is a process of making all of these things merge.
       Can’t be done overnight, but we’re in the process of doing it. What Congress did, particularly for this region, is create a national capital region. We have people specifically assigned to working these issues in the Washington, D.C., area with their colleagues in Maryland and their colleagues in Virginia. And, again, communications and putting these systems together is one of their highest priorities.
       
       I guess one of the challenges we have to understand is that our job is, first of all, to reduce risk because the risk—the president intuitively realized we are at war. It is a permanent condition. That’s why they
made permanent changes in the government. That’s why we have a Department of Homeland Security.
       And every single day, not just at the federal level, but the state, their leaders, with your governors, mayors are doing a great job, and your fire chiefs, your police chiefs. We are building new systems.  We’re discarding some of the old ones, trying to find ways to connect as quickly as we can some of the old ones that we can use. And then we have to build new ones. But we do that every day.  
       
       MR. RUSSERT: Osama bin Laden’s top deputy has released a new audiotape today saying America
       hasn’t seen anything yet. Are you confident that there will be another terror strike?
       
       SEC’Y RIDGE: Well, I feel every day that we operate toward the notion that there will be one, and I
       think we have to. And I don’t think that the horizon that we look at should be anything other than
       accepting reality that we are a target. Everything we stand for is anathema to all these people who would
       do us harm. But once again, they have underestimated the resolve in this country and our capacity to
       deal with these kind of challenges.
       
       MR. RUSSERT: Are you surprised there hasn’t been another major strike since September 11?
       
       SEC’Y RIDGE: I’m grateful. There are probably a lot of reasons for it, but I’m grateful. And every single day that we work to do more to prevent a terrorist attack and reduce our vulnerability makes it tougher and tougher for them to assault us.
       
       MR. RUSSERT: Governor Tom Ridge, we thank you for briefing the American people.
       
       SEC’Y RIDGE: It’s a great pleasure to be with you again, Tim. Thank you.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/meetpress_front.asp 

( Bariumblues comment: It sounds like Ridge and  Rudman are using a tried and true political trick.  They seem to have differing points of view but are probably really working together to sell this system to the American population.) 

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