Michael Chertoff

Michael Chertoff
2nd Secretary of Homeland Security
In office February 15, 2005 – January 21, 2009
President	George W. Bush Barack Obama
Preceded by	Tom Ridge
Succeeded by	Janet Napolitano
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
In office June 10, 2003 – February 15, 2005
Appointed by	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Morton Greenberg
Succeeded by	Michael Chagares
U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey
In office 1990–1994
Appointed by	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Samuel Alito
Succeeded by	Faith Hochberg
Personal details
Born	(1953-11-28) November 28, 1953 Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Meryl Justin (1988–present)
Children	2
Alma mater	Harvard University

Michael Chertoff (born November 28, 1953) was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush 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.

Since leaving government service, Chertoff has worked as senior of counsel at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Covington & Burling.^[1] He also co-founded the Chertoff Group, a risk-management and security consulting company, which employs several senior officials not only from his time as Secretary of Homeland Security (like Hon. Paul A. Schneider, former deputy secretary of DHS), but also from the time of the Obama administration (like Mark Weatherford, former deputy under-secretary of DHS), as well as Michael Hayden, a former director of the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.^[2]

Early life

Chertoff was born on November 28, 1953 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. His father is Rabbi Gershon Baruch Chertoff (1915–96), a Talmud scholar and the former leader of the Congregation B'nai Israel in Elizabeth. His mother is Livia Chertoff (née Eisen), an Israeli citizen and the first flight attendant for El Al.^[3] His paternal grandparents are Rabbi Paul Chertoff^[4] and Esther Barish Chertoff.^[5]

Chertoff went to the Jewish Educational Center in Elizabeth as well as the Pingry School. He later attended Harvard College, graduating in 1975, and then spent one year at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom. He then attended Harvard Law School, where he was a research assistant on John Hart Ely's book Democracy and Distrust. After graduating magna cum laude in 1978, Chertoff went on to clerk for appellate judge Murray Gurfein for a year before clerking for United States Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. from 1979 to 1980. He worked in private practice with Latham & Watkins from 1980 to 1983 before being hired as a prosecutor by Rudolph Giuliani, then the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, working on Mafia and political corruption–related cases. In the mid-1990s, Chertoff returned to Latham & Watkins for a brief period, founding the firm's office in Newark, New Jersey.

Government employment

In September 1986, together with U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Rudolph Giuliani, Chertoff was instrumental in the crackdown on organized crime in the Mafia Commission Trial.

In 1990, Chertoff was appointed by President George H. W. Bush as United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey.^[6] Among his most important cases, in 1992 Chertoff put second-term Jersey City mayor Gerald McCann in federal prison for over two years on charges of defrauding money from a savings and loan scam. Chertoff was asked to stay in his position when the Clinton administration took office in 1993, at the request of Democratic Senator Bill Bradley.^[7] He was the only U.S. Attorney not replaced and stayed with the U.S. Attorney's office until 1994, when he entered private practice, returning to Latham & Watkins as a partner.^[7]

Despite his friendly relationship with some Democrats, Chertoff took an active role in the Whitewater investigation against Bill and Hillary Clinton, serving as the special counsel for the Senate Whitewater Committee studying allegations against the Clintons.

In 2000, Chertoff worked as special counsel to the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee, investigating racial profiling in New Jersey. He also did some fundraising for George W. Bush^{[citation needed]} and other Republicans^{[citation needed]} during the 2000 election cycle and advised Bush's presidential campaign on criminal justice issues. From 2001 to 2003, he headed the criminal division of the Department of Justice, leading the prosecution's case against suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui.

Chertoff also led the prosecution's case against accounting firm Arthur Andersen for destroying documents relating to the Enron collapse. The prosecution of Arthur Andersen was controversial, as the firm was effectively dissolved, resulting in the loss of 26,000 jobs. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction and the case has not been retried. At the Department of Justice, he also came under fire as one of the chief architects of the Bush administration's legal strategies in the War on Terror,^{[citation needed]} particularly regarding the detention of thousands of Middle Eastern immigrants.^{[citation needed]}

On March 5, 2003, Chertoff was nominated by President Bush to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacated by Morton I. Greenberg. He was confirmed by the Senate 88–1 on June 9, 2003, with Senator Hillary Clinton of New York casting the lone dissenting vote, and received his commission the following day. Mrs. Clinton explained that her vote was in protest of the way junior White House staffers were "very badly treated" by Chertoff's staff during the Whitewater investigation.^[8]

The Chertoff Group

Michael Chertoff founded The Chertoff Group (TCG) on February 2, 2009 . The firm is also lead by Chad Sweet; the Chief of Staff of Homeland Security while Chertoff was Secretary. Chad Sweet was also former Director of Operations for the CIA. After government work, Chad Sweet went into investment banking. Mr. Sweet started off with Morgan Stanley and after, Goldman Sachs. Sweet decided to get back into government work after the September 11th attacks, which he viewed himself while working for Goldman Sachs in New York, NY.^[9] There are many other key figures that work at TCG such as; Charles E. Allen, Larry Castro, Honorable Jay M. Cohen and General Michael V. Hayden. Charles E. Allen focuses on crisis and risk management, corporate strategic planning and critical infrastructure risk assessments.^[10] His previous government services are both for the CIA and U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Allen brings his extensive government experience to TCG in order to minimize risk and threats towards business acquisitions. Larry Castro’s focus at TCG is cyber security and risk management. His focus is on information assurance and information sharing.^[10] His previous government services include working at the National Security Agency and the United States Army. Honorable Jay M. Cohen focuses on more physical side of security at TCG. His focus is on Homeland and Border Security Management, Global Commerce and Supply Chain, Crisis and Risk Management, Strategy and Implementation, Global Security and Capacity Building and Counter Narcotics Planning and Operations.^[10] Mr. Cohen’s former government work was for the U.S Customs and Border Protection where he was titled Acting Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner. General Michael Hayden’s focus is on Global political and terrorist risk analysis, the structure and strategy of the American intelligence community and communications and data networks for TCG.^[10] His previous government service includes being both Directors at the CIA and NSA, and Commander of the Air Intelligence Agency for the Air force. The Chertoff Group operates in 3 main field areas. One is the Risk Management & Security Services. This area consists of Comprehensive Enterprise Security, Assessments of High-Value Personal Protection, Special Event Security and Crisis Management.^[10] A second area of focus, Mergers and Acquisitions Advisory Services focuses on Market Analysis, Market Intelligence, Due Diligence Support, Budget and Program Reviews, Forecast Validation, Customer Background Checks and Management/Cultural Assessments.^[10] The main clients of this field are mostly banks and big businesses. The third field of focus at TCG is Consulting and Business Development. The main focuses of this field are Global Risk Management, Global Commerce, Critical Infrastructure protection, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism and Fraud Prevention and Investigation.^[10] Michael Chertoff’s “TCG” is very successful and possesses key individuals for the fields they focus on.

Secretary of Homeland Security

In late 2004, Bernard Kerik was forced to decline President Bush's offer to replace Tom Ridge, the outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security. After a lengthy search to find a suitable replacement, Bush nominated Chertoff to the post in January 2005, citing his experience with post-9/11 terror legislation. He was unanimously approved for the position by the United States Senate on February 15, 2005.^[11]

Hurricane Katrina occurred while Chertoff was Secretary of Homeland Security. The Department was criticized for its lack of preparation; though, most criticism was directed toward the Federal Emergency Management Agency.^[12] However, it is true that DHS in general, and Chertoff in particular, responded poorly to the event, ignoring crucial information about the catastrophic nature of the storm and devoting little attention to the federal response to what became the most costly disaster in American history.^[13]

Chertoff was the Bush administration's point man for pushing the comprehensive immigration reform bill, a measure that stalled in the Senate in June 2007.^[14]

Chertoff was asked by the Obama administration to stay in his post until 9 a.m. on January 21, 2009, (one day after President Obama's inauguration) "to ensure a smooth transition".^[15]

Views

Construction of border fence

In April 2008, Chertoff was criticized in a New York Times editorial for waiving the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and other environmental protection legislation to construct a 700-mile (1,100 km) fence along the Mexico–United States border. The Times wrote: "To the long list of things the Bush administration is willing to trash in its rush to appease immigration hard-liners, you can now add dozens of important environmental laws and hundreds of thousands of acres of fragile habitat on the southern border."^[16]

According to New York Times columnist Adam Liptak, Chertoff had excluded the Department of Homeland Security from having to follow laws "protecting the environment, endangered species, migratory birds, the bald eagle, antiquities, farms, deserts, forests, Native American graves and religious freedom."^[17]

A report issued by the Congressional Research Service, the non-partisan research division of the Library of Congress, said that the unchecked delegation of powers to Chertoff was unprecedented: "After a review of federal law, primarily through electronic database searches and consultations with various CRS experts, we were unable to locate a waiver provision identical to that of §102 of H.R. 418—i.e., a provision that contains 'notwithstanding' language, provides a secretary of an executive agency the authority to waive all laws such secretary determines necessary, and directs the secretary to waive such laws."^[18]

Actions regarding illegal immigration

In September 2007, Chertoff told a House committee that the DHS would not tolerate interference by sanctuary cities that would block the "Basic Pilot Program," which requires some types of employers to validate the legal status of their workers.^[19] He said that the DHS is exploring its legal options and intends to take action to prevent any interference with the law.^[20]

In 2008 it became public that the housekeeping company Chertoff had hired to clean his house employed illegal immigrants.^[21][22][23]

Globalization

At the Global Creative Leadership Summit in 2009, Chertoff described globalization as a double-edged sword. Although globalization may help raise the standard of living for people around the world, Chertoff claims that it can also enable terrorists and transnational criminals.^[24]

Body scanners

Michael Chertoff has been an advocate of enhanced technologies, such as full body scanners.^[25] His consulting firm Chertoff Group (founded 2009) represents manufacturers of the scanners.^[26][27]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Chertoff.

• Michael Chertoff at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

v t e United States Secretaries of Homeland Security Ridge Chertoff Napolitano Johnson

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