Michael Chertoff
Michael Chertoff
Michael Chertoffis an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security under Presidents George W. Bush andBarack Obama, and co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act. He previously served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as a federal prosecutor, and as Assistant U.S. Attorney General. He succeeded Tom Ridge as United States Secretary of Homeland Security on February 15, 2005...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPublic Servant
Date of Birth28 November 1953
CountryUnited States of America
again awareness coming couple days eyes ground lack media opposed position reports terms uncertain unhappy waiting
I was very unhappy with the lack of situational awareness I had in the couple of days after Katrina. I never want to be in the position again where I don't have real eyes on the ground to tell me what is going on in no uncertain terms as opposed to waiting to get reports coming through the media or inconsistencies from the field.
ahead days people scene tough ugly witnessed
It is going to be about as ugly a scene as we've witnessed in this country, ... I really want to tell people that we have got some tough days ahead of us.
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I think we have discovered over the last few days that with all the tremendous effort using the existing resources and the traditional frameworks of the National Guard, the unusual set of challenges of conducting a massive evacuation in the context of a still dangerous flood requires us to basically break the traditional model and create a new model -- one for what you might call kind of an ultracatastrophe,
address bottom build criticism days hurricane line next season time waste
But I think the bottom line right now is to take the constructive criticism and use that to build toward, as I say, the hurricane season that is 100 days away. And we don't have a lot of time to waste before we start to address that next set of challenges.
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And one of the things I want to say, Wolf, is we're 100 days from hurricane season, and we've got to start focusing on what we're going to do to make ourselves ready for the next hurricane.
brute
We're going to need more than just brute enforcement,
emphasize middle
We're going to go back and look at all of this after-action, when we have time, but I've got to emphasize something: We are still in the middle of an emergency.
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We're going to make sure that victims of this disaster, whatever their economic circumstances, get the necessary financial assistance to ensure that they can obtain a temporary residence for the time being, ... These programs have been designed to give families the maximum amount of flexibility and freedom to decide where they want to relocate and what they want to do over the next few months.
help sure
We're going to make sure help is on the way immediately to those who need it,
alive check house people single
We're going to have to go house to house in this city. We're going to have to check every single place to find people who may be alive and in need of assistance,
federal incident needed resource unless
Unless it can be credibly established that a mobilizing Federal resource ... is not needed at the catastrophic incident venue, that resource deploys,
character face faced national people physical safety security threat
We face an extraordinary threat to our national security and physical safety of the American people of a character that, at least in my lifetime, we have never faced before,
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We are pleased to have the American Red Cross, which has long been a leader in emergency preparedness and response, co-sponsor National Preparedness Month 2005, ... The commitment of the American Red Cross and the members of National Preparedness Month Coalition are integral as we work to encourage all Americans to prepare for emergencies. As leaders in their communities, these organizations will help spread life saving information and move the entire nation toward a greater state of preparedness.
call effort history mount people relief thousands
We've got hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced, ... This is unprecedented in this country's history and it's going to call for the kind of relief effort which we've been able to mount overseas, and we're now going to have to mount at home.