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'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.
I think that the lesson of this hurricane, which we will clearly look at as we go over an after-action evaluation, is going to be very valuable in moving forward. I mean, this was an ultra-catastrophe, but we have to be prepared even for ultra-catastrophes, even things that happen once in a lifetime and once in a generation. So, yes, we will be studying that.
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.
The lesson is that when the storm hits, the best place to be is to be out of the path of the storm, ... There's plenty of notice about Rita.
We were prepared for one catastrophe. The second catastrophe, frankly, added a level of challenge that no one has seen before.
We were prepared for one catastrophe, ... The second catastrophe, frankly, added a level of challenge that no one has seen before.
We have to continue to use both low-tech and high-tech tools to assist our Border Patrol in patrolling this portion of terrain and protecting ourselves against people who want to sneak across.
We will not tolerate lawlessness, or violence, or interference with the evacuation,
We will work tirelessly to ensure that our fellow citizens have the sustained support and the necessary aid to reclaim their homes, their lives and their communities,
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.
It would be enormously difficult if we were to attempt to control illegal immigration at the border without having some legal avenue to address the fact that there is a high demand for non-U.S. people to come in and perform certain kinds of jobs,
It would take billions and billions of dollars to do it,