Russ Knocke Quotes (50 Quotes)

Lucia Pinochet is no longer in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security. She is returning, this evening, to the country of her last departure.

We're in the process of participating in a large after-action report. We're deeply committed to finding out what worked and didn't work, and apply those lessons learned going forward.

It's really time to stop playing with the organizational chart and realize it's time to start focusing on what governments at all levels are doing to prepare for the fast-approaching storm season.

I'm not going to address a number of the issues we are discussing with Congress in the press. I'll just tell you that we are committed to strengthening work site enforcement.

FEMA budgets have increased over the last couple of years and personnel numbers have held strong as well. There has always been a commitment to ensure the resources are there.

We are reviewing his status to ensure that he is complying with the terms of his immigration benefits. This administration takes very seriously benefits fraud, and violators have been punished before.

A this time there are no plans to adjust the terror alert level.

It is time to stop playing around with organizational charts and start focusing on how governments at all levels are preparing for the fast-approaching storm season.

We're the first to admit that there's more that we want to accomplish. But I think it's disingenuous to make the suggestion that somehow only marginal progress has been made.

We really don't have much time to be rearranging the 'org' chart.

there is an extraordinarily high number of reporting requirements.

I would tell you it is hard to see how Mike can make that argument with a straight face after he testified he willfully kept the secretary and the department out of the loop.

It's certainly not the case that the senior positions are rewards for political loyalty. There is experience in their background relevant for doing their jobs, whether in policy or management.

Our undivided attention is placed on the victims of this catastrophe and seeing that they get the help that they desperately need. There is going to be a time and a place for the government and no doubt for Congress and the administration to really take a careful look at where the missteps were and assign blame.

hands-on experience that cannot be understated. Other leadership at FEMA brings particular skill sets -- policy management leadership, for example.

there is no confusion, no chaos, there's just immediate action and results.

We were racing against the clock and now it's clear the clock beat us.

Since 911, as a nation, our preparedness has increased dramatically. We need to ensure that in major metropolitan areas, preparedness is an all-hazards preparedness. So we're going to have a look at these individual plans to ensure they reflect that.

We were already operating under the National Response Plan.

We continue to work with the intelligence community and officials at all levels of government. Although the threat information was very specific, it still remains of doubtful credibility.

Like any relationship, you recognize you can always find ways to grow and strengthen those ties, and we've been interested in doing so. We hope to move on it very quickly.

This is a unique circumstance. This is not like a business in the private sector or even other departments in the federal government. It's a unique department with a great sense of urgency for fulfilling its responsibility.

The American public will be hearing from us, in short order, about how we intend to build the capability of FEMA into a 21st century agency, focusing on the agency's core response and recovery mission.

It's time to stop playing with (organizational) charts. We're intensely focused on the coming storm season.

One major concern with regions is that it would create an extra level of bureaucracy and establish a kind of silo effect and various little fiefdoms responsible for a variety of cross cutting activities.

It is testament to the generosity of the American people - a lot of people wanted to contribute, ... But there is not really any way of knowing at this time if or whether individual offers were plugged into the response and recovery operation.

The intelligence community has not found any evidence to substantiate the threat information.

The process for sharing this type of specific threat information with state and locals was consistent with protocols for how we share the information and for how that information is vetted by the intelligence community.

The Coast Guard and the Customs Service have the authority from a law enforcement perspective, and they have the assetsthe guns and the boatsto ensure security at our ports.

I don't believe there was a disconnect, ... You never get perfect intelligence, and in these situations there will always have to be a judgment call. We support his decision and respect his judgment.

There is no known nexus to terror or criminal behavior. We believe this to be environmental.

We have significantly improved preparedness capabilities for natural disasters and for acts of terror since 911. We are an all-hazards department, and FEMA does benefit significantly from being a part of the department.

I completely disagree with the notion that race is a factor or that their socioeconomic status is at all a factor ... This is a catastrophe, ... We're here to save. We're here to help ... And we're going to be there to help recover.

At this point of time, we continue to move forward.

There will be plenty of time to assess what worked and what didn't work. Clearly there will be time for blame to be assigned and to learn from some of the successful efforts.

There are certain evacuees who have been rescued from their nightmarish scenarios, and they have been taken to certain airports where they are waiting for airlifts and people are able to receive them. We are working more closely with state and local officials to develop a comprehensive plan while all the while airlifts from the New Orleans airport have continued.

While the situation in the Superdome was nightmarish and not satisfactory to anyone involved, it was not a life-and-death situation and we had to focus our priorities where we could,

A cursory phone call to DHS would have revealed that the catastrophic annex is designed for 'no-notice' or 'short-notice' events, where no personnel or supplies have been pre-positioned, which was clearly not the case in Katrina.

Apart from its obvious errors, it displays a significant misunderstanding of core aspects of the Katrina response that could have easily been corrected in the most basic conversations with DHS leaders.

We're very close, and we hope to be able to be talking more about this with the public in the very near term.

Further, the preliminary report falsely implies inaction by DHS and FEMA before landfall. In fact, the clear record shows that state officials expressed satisfaction with the federal government's asset pre-positioning and other pre-hurricane assistance during a video teleconference the Sunday prior to landfall.

We are making substantial progress in implementing several core management initiatives, including strategic management of human capital, competitive sourcing, improved financial performance, expanded electronic government and budget and performance integration.

Had the intelligence community concluded the threat was imminent or credible, we would have followed ... different protocols.

We believe we've got the right mix of personnel in law enforcement for the federal government to meet the demands of public safety.

no indication of a nexus to terrorism.

I think we have been very, very clear. The focus, without hesitation, is on risk management. Homeland Security grants are now based on risk instead of spreading a little out for everyone.

There are no plans to raise the threat level at this time. These are rumors.

It didn't happen at the same time at all the different places.

The intelligence community has been able to determine that there are very serious doubts about the credibility of this specific threat. This is after ongoing review and analysis.

Out of an abundance of caution, there are a variety of reasons why the U.S. government would not want to disclose certain security measures and not make them available in the public domain for terrorists to exploit.