President George W. Bush yesterday spoke with Coast Guard officers and commanders at the Port of Philadelphia, and told them the American people depend on them to defend against terrorists who may want to carry out attacks on U.S. soil.
"As part of the Department of Homeland Security, you have taken on a new and vital mission, a mission as important as any in your 213-year history: The mission of defending our country against terrorist attack," Bush said.
Standing before a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, Bush made his remarks to uniformed personnel standing on the docks of the Port of Philadelphia. The port is the second largest, by volume, in the North Atlantic with some 3,000 ships offloading cargo each year.
More than 425 port-oriented trucking companies do business at the Port of Philadelphia, it said.
