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
Vice Admiral Allen is doing an exceptional job, and he has my full support in the important work ahead,
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,
One of the first things we must do is retool FEMA and enhance this vital agency's capabilities so that it can fulfill its historic and critical mission of supporting response and recovery,
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.
Admiral Allen has my full support in the very difficult work we have ahead,
The DHS programs supporting these teams already possess their own communications and aerial surveillance capabilities, such as helicopters and P-3 aircraft, ... Once in position, the teams will be able to relay up-to-the-minute, dependable information on which authorities could act confidently.
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.
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,
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.