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
While it is very important to focus an enormous amount of attention and effort on what is going on here, we can't afford to let our guard down in respect to other threats that might happen,
I don't endorse those views, ... I know the city was totally overwhelmed. My own view is I have to get my own house in order. That's what I'm focused on.
Threats do not begin or end in a single country, ... must focus on common strategies and common systems of protection.
The world is not going to stop moving because we are very focused on Katrina. Part of the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security is to deal with all hazards, everything that's out there, and to continue to be able to keep our eye on everything that may happen in the future,
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.
There are a lot of things that didn't work well. We are not where we need to be as a nation in the area of preparedness.
There has been a huge development overnight ... the historic French Quarter, dry last night and it is now filling with water. This is water from nearby Lake Pontchartrain; the levees failed overnight.
We've certainly learned a lot of lessons from Katrina, from Rita. Rita was better than Katrina. We're doing a better job planning. We're closer - more closely aligned with the Department of Defense. These things would be positive things if we were to have another attack.
We urge all Americans to take some simple steps to prepare for emergencies, including getting an emergency supply kit, making a family emergency plan and learning more about how to respond to emergencies that could affect your area,
We cannot hermetically seal 7,000 miles of land borders and keep out 100 percent of illegal crossers, ... But we can create such a high likelihood of interdiction that it will have a strong and unequivocal deterrent effect on those who wish to cross illegally.
We cannot afford to let our guard down,
We certainly have to fill out the ranks of FEMA in terms of its senior level with experienced staff.
We're going to uncover people who died, maybe hiding in houses, got caught by the flood, people whose remains are going to be found in the streets, ... It is going to be about as ugly of a scene as I think you can imagine.
We're going to be better prepared for this hurricane season than any other prior year.