Michael Chertoff
Michael Chertoff is an American attorney, jurist, and public official whose career has spanned federal prosecution, the judiciary, and cabinet-level government service.
Born on November 28, 1953, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Chertoff received his undergraduate education at Harvard College before going on to Harvard Law School. His early schooling took place at Pingry School and North Side High School, laying the foundation for an academic path that would lead him into the highest levels of American law and government.
Chertoff's professional life moved through several distinct phases of public service. He worked as a federal prosecutor and later served as Assistant U.S. Attorney General, accumulating substantial experience in the legal mechanisms of the federal government. He was subsequently appointed as a United States circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, a position that placed him among the senior ranks of the American judiciary. His legislative imprint arrived when he became a co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act, a sweeping piece of legislation that reshaped the legal frameworks governing national security in the United States.
On February 15, 2005, Chertoff succeeded Tom Ridge to become the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security, serving in that capacity under President George W. Bush. His tenure extended briefly into the following administration, with one additional day of service under President Barack Obama. As Secretary, he occupied one of the most consequential positions in the federal executive branch, overseeing the department created in the wake of the September 11 attacks. His career thus moved in a consistent arc through the legal, judicial, and executive branches of American government, touching each of the three principal arms of federal authority.
Beyond his domestic roles, Chertoff received the Order of the Three Stars, 2nd Class, a Latvian state decoration that marked his standing in international governmental circles. His work across prosecution, the appellate bench, legislative drafting, and cabinet administration reflects a recurring engagement with questions of law, security, and the structures of governmental authority — concerns that have defined the substance of his long career in public life.
Quotes by Michael Chertoff
Michael Chertoff's insights on:
The larger point is this: We’ve invested over half a billion dollars in New York since this department was stood up. We’ve given New York more money, by more than double, than any other city in the country.
So that’s why I said, if you look at the average, you would see the money New York got this year was in line with the average across the prior three years and substantially more, by a country mile, than the money given to any other city.
And it seems to me correct then, and I think it’s correct now, that job one is get the planning done, make sure the buses are there. When that’s done, it’s completely appropriate to go around and tour around and look at the damage.
I think the idea that you can go this alone is – was a huge mistake. And unfortunately, there was a price paid in terms of suffering and pain for people in New Orleans.
I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don’t have food and water.
The second thing we did was said, OK, we’ve now identified the risk, but what do you want to do with the money? Because it’s not enough to have risk; you’ve got to have a meaningful use for the money we give you.
We always monitor the flow of information, intelligence, threat streams to see whether we have any indication there’s some imminent. We work hard to identify potential cells and disrupt them. This is one of the reasons we put so much emphasis on intelligence gathering.
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.
