'We Don't Complain About Things—We Fix Them': Kristi Noem Touts New CBP Advanced Training Center

Forbes Breaking News

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony for a new CBP advanced training facility.

Transcript

00:00well thank you good afternoon I believe it's afternoon now but it's so wonderful to see all

00:11of you and to be here for such a celebration as this this is really a monumental event and

00:16not just for CBP but also for Harpers Ferry but also for our country and so I want to thank you

00:22for taking the time to be here for this ribbon cutting and to recognize all that it took to get

00:26to this point I do want to give a special thank you out to our Assistant Commissioner Cooper for

00:32having me here for the invitation and for the hospitality as well this is going to be my

00:37first opportunity to take a tour of Monarch Hall and I'm looking forward to seeing what the center

00:42can bring in advanced training and technologies to each and every single one of the people that

00:47joined to serve the public and the people of the United States I also want to thank Senator

00:52Moore Capito I call her Shelly because she's been a friend of mine for many years and I want you all

00:57to know that I believe she's going to go down in history as one of the most effective senators that

01:02this country has ever seen she has been so incredibly powerful in her advocacy for things that truly do

01:11matter would you please give her a round of applause she doesn't just advocate for funding for this

01:23campus when she talks about Harpers Ferry and what this training center means for years now she has

01:29championed bringing the dollars that are necessary here to get this hall built in fact I think her

01:34alone in her role on the Appropriations Committee but also in the Senate and to members of Congress have

01:40secured over 32 million dollars to complete this hall but when she does that she tells the story

01:46she tells the story of the men and women that will be here that will train here what it means for our

01:51country what it means for our security and the ability of our families to be able to sleep and

01:56raise their children at night in a country where they're safe and where they can still pursue the

02:01American dream I've been a long believer in the old proverb that says what you see with your eyes

02:06you carry in your heart and I know that she does when she talks about this place when she talks about

02:12West Virginia and when she talks about what CBP means to this country as well and also I want to

02:18thank Congressman Moore I don't know of anybody else who got elected and hit the ground running harder and

02:22faster than he did he works tirelessly not only for his congressional district but also to make the

02:28House of Representatives a much more effective body at days it can be challenging I'm certain which I'm

02:34grateful you're close enough to home you can come home and detox once in a while but I will tell you

02:39that when he stands up in a room and he speaks people stop and they listen and that rarely happens

02:45with members of Congress when other colleagues are gathered together to learn about the facts behind

02:51a project or want to know for certain what truly is the situation that this policy will bring forth in

02:58this country when Congressman Moore speaks his colleagues listen to him and he speaks with wisdom

03:04and discernment so I want to thank both of them for being advocates of this facility and advocates of CBP

03:10and the work that they do every single day there's a few other people that I do want to acknowledge we

03:14have the opportunity to have Commissioner Rodney Scott with us today I don't know if this is his first

03:19official event since being confirmed as the new commissioner of CBP but if you would all congratulate

03:25him with me I'm so thrilled it is not necessarily all that fun to go through a Senate confirmation hearing

03:36but he did it and he did it with grace and I want you all to know that when I look at leadership here in

03:45in this component in this department under the Department of Homeland Security I turned to Rodney for leadership

03:50and I turned to him to mentor other agencies he is often someone who can speak with wisdom to somebody else

03:56that may not even be in CBP may be in a completely different department such as USCIS or ICE or in FLETSI

04:05and he can give them wisdom and advice that helps them be more effective in the jobs that they have

04:10so I am very grateful to have him willing to come back out of retirement kind of and and hit the ground

04:16running and be ready to lead but we do have somebody that is retiring and that has been the acting

04:21Commissioner Pete Flores and I do want to acknowledge him I have never met someone who has served with such

04:28a steadfast consistency and care for the post at which he is responsible for than Pete I haven't known him

04:37that long I first met him when I was nominated for this position but have gotten to spend hundreds of

04:42hours with him and no matter what I said or did or decided he looked at me and said yes ma'am and this

04:49information might be helpful to you and educated me and helped us make the best decision for our country

04:55I've appreciated him more than he probably he'll ever know but if you do get the chance to spend some

05:00time with him let him know how highly I think of him we are grateful for his leadership also thank you to

05:06Acting Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner Cheryl Davies and Assistant Commissioner for Training and

05:11Development Christopher Hall and they have been absolutely fantastic for what they have done to

05:18lead our team and to commit to overtime we all know that the last several years have been challenging

05:23and we with a change in administration comes many changes but with those changes also comes a lot more

05:29work and a lot more time and dedication to get people back to securing the border to what President

05:36Trump has promised the American people and back to doing the jobs that they needed to do in order to

05:42ensure we did that very quickly they have put in overtime and that has been absolutely fantastic to see their

05:48commitment I also want to say thank you to the Advanced Training Center and Interim Director Christopher Line who has been

05:54amazing for the dedication of running the day-to-day operations of this center and the expansion which

05:59continues to grow and grow and more and more people which will be inspired to come and to learn here and

06:05to serve here and to train here I have long believed that when you invest in things you show that you truly do care about

06:13them for years and years I was a children's pastor at our church and when I was first became our children's

06:20pastor I also was farming and ranching and doing other businesses but I remember having a conversation with

06:25our pastor one day saying it's really hard for me to hear people say that children are a priority when we don't

06:31put any dollars into the program where you invest your dollars is truly where your future is and I believe that with this

06:37investment now our church did and he did and and it was fantastic but what I would say is that when you

06:43see people invest and build they're saying that they're investing in the people that will train here

06:48and we face new challenges every single day in this country new challenges that our agents and our

06:55individuals will have to be prepared for and I believe that they will be prepared for them because of

07:00what we're doing here to make sure that we're resourcing and equipping them the way that we should

07:05we have a critical mission and I'm committed to making sure that we fulfill that mission

07:10and that we do it to the best of our abilities facilities like this provide the training that

07:15are necessary I was raised by a dad that said consistently to me Christy we don't complain about

07:21things we fix them and that is what we are doing today we see challenges ahead in this country

07:27new threats emerging everywhere but we don't complain about them we fix them and how do we fix them we fix

07:33them with men and women who love the united states of america and we have trained and resourced and

07:39equipped them to meet those challenges head on now we do have a bill that's coming before congress

07:44i hope everybody will support that will be a a necessary resource for cbp that bill doesn't just have

07:54dollars in it to build a wall which it will it'll have over 46 billion dollars in it not just to

07:59continue building infrastructure wall but to give us the surveillance and technology that we need to

08:04truly secure the border and every border not just our southern but our northern our maritime borders

08:10as well it also will provide 4.1 billion so that we can hire 5 000 new cbp officers as well as well as

08:183 000 new cbp border agents it also gives us 2.7 billion dollars to cbp so that we can have the surveillance

08:28technologies that we need and another billion dollars for our vehicle fleet it allows ice to hire 10 000

08:35new officers which we cooperate every single day to secure our country and it will also allow us to

08:41double our detention capabilities that may be necessary as we do our work it also will address

08:47address salary and bonuses which i think is incredibly important when you make sure that we take care of our

08:54people that work for us we're taking care of their families i don't know of anybody that can do their

09:00job with excellence if their family is in crisis at home and that's the one thing that i want everyone

09:05who works with cbp to know is that we've got your back but we care about your family and we care about your

09:11family's futures as well one thing that i want to leave you all with today is to never lose sight of our

09:17priorities of what our mission is our mission at the department of homeland security is to secure the

09:24homeland with honesty with integrity and to do that in a way that best represents the united states of

09:30america cbp has done that with excellence they have done their job and overachieved anything to which i

09:38could have thought was possible in such a short period of time this training center is going to allow us

09:43to do even more far into the future so thank you for wrapping your arms around this facility and the

09:49the people that will train here thank you to the chaplain for praying over this building and the

09:54people that will train here that god's hand and that this hedge of protection will be over them

09:59and i'm so honored that you invited me to be with you today to celebrate this this is a special day

10:05and it's a special day not just for cbp but for our country may god continue to bless you and may god

10:11continue to bless you and may god continue to bless you and may god continue to bless this great country the united

10:13states of america thank you

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