New York, NY – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton made the following remarks this morning at the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast in Staten Island, NY, regarding the reported terrorist plot:

Click here for an audio recording.

“We’re just learning the details, but thank God, what looks like a very diabolical plot that could have been even bigger in terms of the impact, than the tragedy that we suffered on 9-11, has been disrupted by British authorities. And we appreciate the swift action by the British, because the plot centered on airlines flying between Britain and the United States, which obviously means between Heathrow and JFK, between Heathrow and Newark. And without a doubt we have learned, once again, how important it is that we remain vigilant, that we work closely with our friends and allies and like-minded civilized people around the world, because as we approach the fifth anniversary of 9-11, we can breathe a collective sigh of relief that we haven’t been attacked again, but we cannot, in any way, relax our guard. There is some evidence that this plot may have been directed by al Qaeda and Bin Laden, who in his periodic video and audio tapes, not only puts forth his perverted philosophy, but we believe sends messages to people either directly or indirectly under his authority or influence and a few months ago there was such a point made in one of his audio tapes about more airlines being attacked.

Now many of the people who put their lives on the line for our country were from Staten Island. Staten Island has a well deserved reputation for providing this city with some of the finest firefighters and police officers, and EMS, and paramedics, in the entire world. The extraordinary rescue mission that they undertook on September 11th saved tens of thousands of lives. And in the course of it, we know that many of them lost their lives, others suffered debilitating injuries - some are still suffering from the exposures that they experienced from the collapse of the buildings, and from the burning of the pile, and even from the work they did at Fresh Kills.

Today’s events underscore once again the need for threat-based funding of homeland security. We have to have the best, most humanly-possible system of security - in our airports, in our transit systems, in our ports, in our borders - and we’re still working to make that happen. So, this is to me, yet another wake up call as to why New York - our airports, our transit systems, our ferries, our ports, our bridges, our tunnels – why we need the help that I and the rest of our Congressional Delegation have been seeking for the last five years. We’ll learn more about this disrupted attack in the hours and days ahead, but let no one let down their guard, and let no one feel some sense of accomplishment - we still have a lot of work to do.”

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