Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez speaks about his Justice Department priorities a the Hoover Institution Board fo Overseers meeting in Washington Monday. Here is a transcript.
GONZALES: Thank you, General Meese, for that introduction -- and, more importantly, for your distinguished service to America.
When General Meese left the Department of Justice, President Ronald Reagan saluted him, saying that he had led the department with courage and vigor, and left behind a record of outstanding accomplishment.
As in so many other things, President Reagan was exactly right.
I thank the Hoover Institution, Director John Raisian, and the Board of Overseers, for the invitation to join you here today.
For decades, the men and women of the Hoover Institution have had a positive and lasting impact on our nation, from their role in spreading the ideals that won the Cold War, to developing the policies that continue to expand freedom and transform our society. So it is an honor to be with you here today.
I’ve been at the Department of Justice now for about three weeks. There have been a few adjustments. I was personally acquainted with the 30 people on my staff in the counsel’s office. It’s going to take me a little longer to get to know my new team of 110,000. They no longer let me walk around freely when I visit the White House. I now need an escort, and they wear badges and guns. And as a former Air Force enlisted man with two stripes, I am still having trouble getting used to the title "general."
(LAUGHTER)
But perhaps the biggest change has been shifting from serving as a lawyer, with perhaps the most powerful client in the world, to achieving justice for a client base of hundreds of millions of American citizens.
My wife, Rebecca (ph), is here with me. She and I attended a dinner in the East Room of the White House last night for our nation’s governors. Although I served four years as counsel to our president, it is still an incredible and humbling experience every time I walk into the White House.
Saying hello to the president at dinner brought back great memories of working as his lawyer. And when he addressed me as the attorney general of the United States, I felt tremendous pride and gratitude.
Throughout the evening, various governors from all over America approached me about particular legal issues, underscoring for me that I now represent not just one client, but all of you, the people of the United States, one country, with shared dreams.
And it is in this context that I want to explain a little bit of my vision for the United States Department of Justice and to discuss with you some of what I hope to accomplish during my time as attorney general.
Wherever we pursue justice, from fighting the war on terror to combating violent crime, from prosecuting corporate fraud to protecting and enforcing civil rights, our mission is clear: to expand freedom, to extend opportunity, and protect human dignity and equal justice for all.
Our responsibility at the department is to defend these principles against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so that every American has a fair chance to realize the promise that America offers.
These are my values that I feel deep in my heart. My family and I have been blessed to call America home and to have been given the chance to achieve the American dream.
My hopes and the aspirations of many others with similar stories are reflected in the words of the Declaration of Independence and of our Constitution. And they are secured by our laws providing equal justice to all.
And by tradition and statute, it is in many respects, the attorney general who serves as a guardian of those hopes and ensures that that dream is available to all of our children and to future generations. To me, this is what the Department of Justice stands for, and that is what I will keep in mind every day as I work for our nation.
But what does this ideal mean in concrete, practical terms for what we do at the department? It means that we must strive forward tirelessly to defend America’s freedom and security while we build a freer, more just society with equal opportunity for all.
The top priority of the United States government remains: protecting our citizens from and unfamiliar type of enemy, one that does not share our values or cherish life or respect the rule of law. This foe was quite willing to pursue the mass murder of innocent people and the destruction of our way of life in order to achieve their goals. For this reason they must be defeated.
Without security there can be no real freedom, and we cannot relent in fulfilling the most basic obligation of government.
Great progress has been made during these past three years in making us safer here at home thanks to the hard work of millions of men and women in federal, state and local law enforcement and our intelligence community and in the military.
But this very success confronts us with a new kind of challenge. As the months and years since September 11th pass, complacency becomes our enemy. It is all to human to want to put out of our mind the horror perpetrated on thousands of our fellow citizens and their families, but we should not forget the individual sorrows wrought by those brutal, unlawful and unprovoked attacks.
