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
We are very mindful of this. We haven't suspended the laws that govern the way in which people have to behave ethically and legally.
I understand there are frustrations here, ... As the governor has acknowledged, we can't always get to people what we hope to get and as quickly as we hope to do it.
The way that emergency operations act under the law is the responsibility and the power, the authority, to order an evacuation rests with state and local officials. The federal government comes in and supports those officials.
We owe the American people a full accounting from all levels of government concerning what went right and what went wrong with the initial Katrina response,
Just two weeks out from Hurricane Katrina, improvements in communication and coordination between levels of government were already evident, ... But that is only one step in ensuring that we identify the lessons learned from Katrina and make the necessary adjustments.
We're working very closely with the governor and the other state officials to make sure that we are completely connected in terms of their needs and what capabilities they're asking us to bring to the table, ... American Morning.
We are extremely pleased with the response of every element of the federal government (and) all of our federal partners have made to this terrible tragedy,
including a permanent deputy director to augment the resources available to assist with FEMA's vital mission.
I knew I became more involved in operational matters than I would normally expect to be or want to be, given the fact that I had a battlefield commander on the ground, ... I am not a hurricane expert. I've got to rely on people to execute the details of the plan.
I'm proud of what ICE has accomplished in this past year. We will continue to fight. We will continue to use our unique legal authorities to remove violent and criminal gangs from our nation's communities.
The best principle is not only to fight the last battle, ... In July we talked a lot about subways. In September we talked a lot about hurricanes. We still need to talk about aviation, about avian flu.
That is unacceptable and we are going to change that immediately.
I want to have the people who are present here on the ground
once and for all .Ê.Ê. rather than simply going out and buying a lot of newfangled gadgets.