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'Michael Chertoff' (born November 28, 1953) is the current United States Secretary of Homeland Security. He previously served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals, as a federal prosecutor, and as assistant U.S. Attorney General. He was nominated to succeed Tom Ridge as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security by President George W. Bush on January 11, 2005. His nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 15, 2005, in a unanimous 98-0 vote, and Chertoff was sworn into office the same day (although a ceremonial swearing-in presided over by Bush took place on March 3).
Speculation that Chertoff may be a possible successor to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been consistent since the the controversy over the dismissal of U.S. attorneys received national attention in March 2007.^[1][2]
The speculation has grown since Gonzales's announcement on August 27, 2007, that President Bush had accepted his resignation, to be effective September 17, 2007.
Letter of Resignation Alberto R. Gonzales
^[3][4]
Chertoff is Jewish and is married to Meryl Justin. They have two children and live in Potomac, Maryland.

Contents

Early history

Public service

Secretary of Homeland Security

Actions regarding illegal immigration

References

External links

Early history

Chertoff was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the son of Rabbi Gershon Baruch Chertoff, the former leader of the B'nai Israel Congregation in Elizabeth, and El Al flight attendant Livia Chertoff (née Eisen). His paternal grandfather, Rabbi Paul Chertoff, emigrated from Russia. His grandfather was a noted Talmudic scholar.
Chertoff went to The Pingry School. He later attended Harvard University, where he was a research assistant on John Hart Ely's ''Democracy and Distrust'', graduating in 1975. He then graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1978, going on to clerk for appellate judge Murray Gurfein for a year before clerking for United States Supreme Court justice William Brennan 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 U.S. attorney for Manhattan, 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.

Public service

In September 1986 as Assistant U.S. Attorney, Michael Chertoff together with U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Rudolph Giuliani were instrumental in putting the American (Italian) Mafia on trial. Mafia Don John Gotti served a prison sentence without bail since May 1986, only a few months after he allegedly took control of the Gambino gang following the murder of the previous boss, Paul Castellano. It was the start of the cleanup of that generation of Italian Mafia in New York City and Chicago.
"Hitting the Mafia", ED MAGNUSON, Sep. 29, 1986 issue of TIME magazine Gotti died of throat cancer at 12:45 p.m. on June 10, 2002 at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, where he had been transferred once the cancer was diagnosed.
Chertoff was appointed by President George H. W. Bush in 1990 as United States Attorney for the state in 1990. In 1992 Chertoff put 2nd term Jersey City Mayor Gerald McCann in federal prison for over two years on charges of defrauding money from a savings and loan scam. McCann, an Irish born Jersey native, inflamed and insulted the leading prosecutor: "It will become obvious that they were insane to bring this case in the first place. And we are going to send Mr. Chertoff back to preparing wills. Maybe I can find him a job driving a sanitation truck in Jersey City." McCann never was able to run for office again being a convicted felon.
Five-Finger Discount: "A Crooked Family History", Helene Stapinski, (c)2002, page 203Jersey City Reporter, "McCann - no holds barred", Ricardo Kaulessar 01/21/2005
Chertoff was asked to stay in his position when the Clinton administration took office in 1993, at the request of Democratic Senator Bill Bradley; he was the only U.S. attorney not replaced. Chertoff stayed with the U.S. Attorney's office until 1994, when he entered private practice, returning to Latham & Watkins as a partner.
Despite his friendly relationship with some Democrats, during the Whitewater scandal investigation of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Chertoff was special counsel for the Senate Whitewater Committee studying allegations against the Clintons. When Chertoff faced Senate confirmation in 2003 for a federal judgeship, Hillary Rodham Clinton, then a Senator from New York, cast the lone dissenting vote against Chertoff's confirmation. She 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.
Chertoff is the co-author, along with Viet Dinh, of the USA PATRIOT Act, signed into law October 26, 2001. As head of the Justice Department's criminal division, he advised the Central Intelligence Agency on the outer limits of legality in coercive interrogation sessions.
In 2000, Chertoff worked as special counsel to the New Jersey State Senate Judiciary Committee, investigating racial profiling in New Jersey. He also did some fundraising for George W. Bush and other Republicans 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 terrorist suspect Zacarias Moussaoui and against accounting firm Arthur Andersen for destroying documents relating to the Enron collapse. His prosecution of Arthur Andersen was controversial, resulting in the collapse of the firm and the loss of employment by its 26,000 employees. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction and the case has not been retried. At the DOJ, he also came under fire as one of the chief architects of the Bush Administration's legal strategies in the War on Terror, particularly regarding the detainment of thousands of Middle Eastern immigrants. Chertoff was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia by Bush on March 5, 2003, and was confirmed by the Senate 88-1 on June 9.

Secretary of Homeland Security

In late 2004, the controversial 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.
Most recently Chertoff has managed the FEMA response to Hurricane Katrina. On September 3, 2005, several days after the initial strike of the hurricane many (including the New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin) indicated severe dissatisfaction with the response from Washington, citing the delay between the general knowledge of the storm's likely impact and any effective federal response. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency on August 26 ^[5]; a week later, New Orleans remained in a state of chaos.
While defending the federal government's response in a September 3, 2005 press conference, Chertoff asserted "That 'perfect storm' of a combination of catastrophes exceeded the foresight of the planners, and maybe anybody's foresight." Warnings of the levee's vulnerability to Cat 4 and above hurricanes had in fact come for years from experts in the private sector as well as government agencies at all levels, including FEMA itself, who had identified a disaster such as this as one of the three most likely catastrophes to strike the US. ^[6][7].
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.^[8]
With the resignation announcement of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on August 27 2007, it has been speculated that President Bush will nominate Chertoff to replace him.^[9]

Actions regarding illegal immigration

On September 5, 2007 Chertoff told a House committee that "I certainly wouldn't tolerate interference" by sanctuary cities that would block his "Basic Pilot Program" that requires employers to validate the legal status of their workers. “We're exploring our legal options. I intend to take as vigorous legal action as the law allows to prevent that from happening, prevent that kind of interference." ^[10]

References

1.
Mike Allen, ''White House Seeks Gonzales Replacements'', Politico, March 20, 2007

2.
Ron Hutcheson and Greg Gordon, ''White House hunting for Gonzales successor'', Seattle Times (McClatchy Newspapers), March 20, 2007

3.
Rick Klein, ''Gonzales' Departure Sets up Confirmation Battle'', ABC News, August 27, 2007
4. Daniel W. Reilly, ''Gonzo Redux'', Politico (via CBS News), August 27, 2007

5. http://gov.louisiana.gov/2005%20%20proclamations/48pro2005-Emergency-HurricaneKatrina.pdf
6. http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/index.html
7. http://www.hurricane.lsu.edu/_in_the_news/houston.htm
8. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10876256
9. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/27/gonzales/index.html
10. Chertoff Warns Sanctuary Cities on Illegals "NewsMax" September 6, 2007 http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/chertoff_illegals/2007/09/06/30532.html

External links

★ Department of Homeland Security biography

★ ''President Nominates Michael Chertoff as Secretary of Homeland Security'' transcript

★ Bush names new US security chief

★ Homeland Security by the Colors

★ Memo from Chertoff to other federal agencies issued on August 30

★ U.S. Aid Effort Criticized in New Orleans

★ Michael Chertoff's Profile in BBC