Keynote speech at the graduation of the fifty-second session of the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA)

Budapest, Hungary
October 14, 2005

It is a special joy for me once again to address a graduating class of law enforcement professionals at ILEA.  Just over five years ago I was serving at our Embassy here in Budapest, and one of the most satisfying parts of that job was coming over here to meet with the classes of students from all over Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe, as well as Central Asia, and talk to them about their work, their home countries, their families, and their futures.  I certainly hope that you, too, will carry home many pleasant memories of ILEA, of the friendships made and the good times you have had—and the important lessons you have learned.

You are all law enforcement professionals.  I don’t know why each of you decided to join the ranks of law enforcement many years ago, but I am sure it was not because you thought it would bring you riches or glamour.  Perhaps it was a sense of excitement about the risk that taking on criminal activity must involve, the physical and mental challenges of going up against the evils of crime.  For some perhaps it was an opportunity to make a difference in your hometowns in the battle between right and wrong.  For others perhaps there was an honorable tradition of law enforcement in your family.  But all of you came in knowing that it was one of the highest forms of public service you could be involved in, much like a soldier who puts his life on the line to defend his country.  As a diplomat who understands what public service means, as an ambassador who is responsible for the lives and welfare of many American and local national employees, I sincerely want to thank each and every one of you for your service to your country, and to international law and order.  Without you, and men and women like you, the world would be a much scarier place than it already is.

ILEA exists as you all understand because we live in a world of globalization, where borders are effectively non-existent, where in a nanosecond we can click on the computer or dial on our mobile and communicate with anyone in the world.  The criminals and the terrorists know this, and they are exploiting this in their attempts to get rich fast or to destroy the economic and political foundations of our countries.  ILEA is here to train you, our police officers and border guards, our judges, and our prosecutors to cope with the new types of crime we all face, organized crime, drug trafficking, economic crimes, including corporate fraud and other forms of corruption, and the scourge of terrorism.  But even more importantly it is here to create bridges between law enforcement professionals of different nations, different languages and cultures and law enforcement traditions, and to encourage the type of cooperation necessary if all of our nations are going to be effective at stopping transnational crime and terrorism.

As you know, I am a diplomat, not a law enforcement professional.  But for the past twelve years of my career I have had an opportunity to work with many of your colleagues around the world in fighting terrorism and crime.  I worked in the office for counterterrorism in the State Department in 1993-94, served from 1995-97 as the law enforcement counselor in Moscow coordinating our training programs for Russian law enforcement, including here at ILEA, and in the late nineties as a diplomat here in Budapest supported the creation of the organized crime task force between the FBI and the Hungarian police as well as the expansion of training activities here at ILEA.

I mention this because it reflects the necessity of all of us to be involved together in the war on crime and terrorism.  It is no coincidence that both Presidents Clinton and Bush in the past decade have made these wars the focus of their addresses to the annual meetings of the UN General Assembly.  Politicians, lawmakers, diplomats, intelligence officials and law enforcement must work together with each other and across borders if we have a chance to defeat the criminals and terrorists. 

This is much more easily said than done.  Law enforcement information and intelligence must be carefully protected so as to ensure that human rights and sources are protected, and to make sure that the information gathered can be used successfully in the prosecution of a crime.  We have all seen in the aftermath of September 11th  that our FBI and CIA could have collaborated more effectively to try to prevent those horrendous crimes.  Since 9/11 legislation in the United States has been passed to fix these problems, and, as President Bush said just the other day, we have already succeeded in stopping 10 attacks by al-Qaeda in the world, including three in the United States.

So effective communication is key to our cooperation. 

We can all do our part.  Next week, for instance, I will sign with the Slovenian Justice Minister a new Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty and Extradition Treaty to bring our practices in line with European Union and U.S. practice.  It will make our work in the fight with transnational crime and terrorism with Slovenia and the other member states of the European Union more effective.  But we all have to do more.
Since this is a graduation, let me get around to finally congratulating you on the successful completion of your eight week course!!  I know how difficult it is to be away from family and home for such a long period of time, and I don’t imagine that both the mental and physical rigors of your 8 weeks were so easy either.  How many of you gave up smoking during the course?  How many of you lost more than 5 pounds?  Believe me, as someone who knows the wonderful food and drink in Hungary, Slovenia, and Bosnia-Herzogovina I know how hard it is to keep the weight off.  How many studied English while they were here?  And who won the football contest?  Congratulations to each and every one of you.  You deserve it.

And since it is graduation, I have a responsibility to leave you with some advice as you return home.  You would not have been selected to come here if you did not represent the best and the brightest of you countries’ law enforcement establishment.  While you are be congratulated for that, you also bear a greater responsibility when you go home to carry the torch to your colleagues, to help your law enforcement establishments be more effective, to make use of the lessons you have learned here.  This is not the end of your ILEA experience; it should be just the beginning.

• Keep in touch!  You are now part of a proud alumni organization of over 10,000 police, border guards and other law enforcement, judges and prosecutors from 26 countries who have taken courses here.  Let Director Burden and Deputy Director Meister and their staff know how you are able to make use of what you’ve learned in your day to day work.  And let us know how you think the courses can be expanded and improved.  And remember that the Regional Security officers at each one of our embassies in Budapest, Ljubljana and Sarajevo are law enforcement officers you can use if you need further contact with other US law enforcement agencies.
  
• Establish a network among yourselves, Slovenians, Hungarians, and Bosnian/Herzogovinians, and stay in contact.  Many of the criminals you and your colleagues will be battling will be transiting back and forth between your countries.  Make sure your law enforcement network works together. 
  
• Apply what you have learned.  Share it with your colleagues at home, provide the materials to your own training institutions, challenge them to incorporate what’s valuable and useful into your own courses at home.
  
• Get to know better how the computer works, and to seek ways to find ways to use it to make your work more effective.  Our little globalized world depends on it.  Make sure that you understand what you need to know to keep these channels on the internet and messaging secure.  This is a challenge all of us must face. 
  
• For those of you who have been studying English, keep it up.  English is not a foreign language anymore.  While many of you Slovenians may speak Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian, or some mix of all of them, and can communicate therefore with your colleagues from the former Yugoslavia, English, whether we like it or not, is becoming the lingua franca of the world, and certainly the computer.
  
• Finally, take your jobs seriously.  Your success or failure, indeed the success or failure of all us engaged in the fight with transnational crime and terrorism, will determine how your children and grandchildren, and mine, will live their lives.  The global war on terrorism is not just a war between the United States and al-Qaeda.  It is a war all of us are involved in.  The people in Bali, in Istanbul, in Madrid, in London, in Beslan, in Nairobi, and Dar es Salaam, know this all too well.  Sadly, it can happen here, and in your capitals, as easily as it can in New York and Washington, or any of those other cities.  Taking your job seriously AFTER an attack on your countrymen is too late.  Believe me, as an American ambassador, I am constantly aware that I must be on my guard to protect my employees and other Americans in Slovenia every day.  We should not exaggerate, but we must understand that it can happen to us, and we must all be prepared.

Enough.  I know you take your jobs seriously.  After all, you are the law enforcement leaders of today, and of tomorrow.  You are to be congratulated for your hard work, and for taking on the added responsibility to work together with us in the future to stop the scourge of crime and terrorism so that our families and citizens may live in peace!

Congratulations, my very best wishes to you and your families, and thank you again for your service.