276 Quotes by Michael Chertoff

The very day that this emerged in the press, I was on a video conference with all the officials, including state and local officials. And nobody, none of the state and local officials or anybody else, was talking about a Convention Center,

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.

there would be overflow from the levee, maybe a small break in the levee. The collapse of a significant portion of the levee leading to the very fast flooding of the city was not envisioned.

I think there's a strong argument that it ought not to be located in downtown Washington because of the desire to have some distance, you know, between ourselves and some other buildings,

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,

last summer FEMA, who reports to you, and the LSU Hurricane Center, and local and state officials did a simulated Hurricane Pam in which the levees broke. ... Thousands drowned.

It would take billions and billions of dollars to do it,

Our role is not to repair the dikes. Our role is to step in if something happens.

It was you, ... It was always you.