[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 21, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S715-S716]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL CHERTOFF

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise to express my deep gratitude to 
Secretary Michael Chertoff for the service he has given his country 
over the past 4 years as head of the Department of Homeland Security.
  Secretary Chertoff came to the job in February 2005, upon the 
retirement of the Department's first leader, Pennsylvania Governor Tom 
Ridge, with an impressive record of public service as a Federal judge, 
an assistant attorney general, and a prosecutor. He leaves office in 
the next few days with even greater distinction for shepherding the 
Department through the growing pains of, shall we say, its toddler 
years, making great strides to turn the amalgam of 22 agencies--all 
with different cultures and missions--and 200,000 employees into a 
single, focused Department. His commitment to the security of the 
American people remains unswerving, for which he deserves the Nation's 
appreciation.
  Leading the Department of Homeland Security is one of Washington's 
toughest jobs and probably one of the most thankless. The Department of 
Homeland Security carries with it the awesome responsibility for 
safeguarding the Nation against terrorist attacks and natural 
disasters. It incorporates many different agencies, with missions 
critical to the American people, ranging from emergency management; to 
immigration and border security; to air, rail, and highway travel 
security; cybersecurity; science and technology; biological and 
chemical security; and infrastructure protection. Unfortunately, the 
Secretary gets no credit for terrorist attacks that have been averted 
and, of course, would be blamed if an attack were to occur. Let me say 
that I believe our country is safer than it was when Secretary Chertoff 
began his tenure at the Department, and it is in part due to his 
attentive and forceful leadership--and the dedicated service of the men 
and women he had led--that the country has been spared from another 
terrorist attack. His contribution toward efforts to disrupt the plot 
to destroy airplanes en route from Great Britain to the United States 
in August 2006 is especially noteworthy.
  Secretary Chertoff brought a rigorous, clear-eyed intensity to the 
Department's many challenges. He has worked hard to set priorities for 
the Department and lay out a roadmap to achieve goals. While we in 
Congress have not agreed with all of his decisions, he has spoken 
clearly about his goals and been honest with us and the American people 
about the difficult tradeoffs involved in many aspects of homeland 
security.
  Obviously, the Department is still a work in progress with many 
challenges ahead. But the Secretary has made an indelible mark in a 
number of areas. I will mention just a few that are of deep importance 
to me. First, I would note that it has been under Secretary Chertoff 
that the serious work of protecting the government's information 
technology infrastructure began. Our enemies and economic competitors 
are highly skilled at using computer systems to try to gain advantage 
over us. Secretary Chertoff realized this, took the threat seriously, 
and moved to secure government networks in a coordinated, comprehensive 
way through the creation of the comprehensive national cybersecurity 
initiative, CNCI. CNCI is still in its nascent stages and many other 
agencies have responsibility for its success, but I am pleased the 
Secretary moved with resolve to improve our defenses against 
cyberintruders.
  Under Secretary Chertoff's leadership, DHS has made important strides 
in improving its financial management. DHS has taken important steps 
toward improving its grades from OMB on information security, and, I am 
told OMB's latest data will show that the morale of the Department's 
employees has definitely improved.
  To his credit, Secretary Chertoff learned from his Department's 
mistakes responding to Hurricane Katrina and set to work to recreate 
FEMA, and enable it to leverage DHS' many other significant resources, 
so that it can become, for the first time in its history, an emergency 
management agency capable of responding to a catastrophic disaster.

  The fact is that today, FEMA is not the same agency it was in 2005. 
That's because the Secretary has been an instrumental ally in 
implementing legislation I was honored to draft with my colleague on 
the committee, Senator Collins, to transform FEMA into a stronger, more 
accountable, and more coordinated agency. It is now elevated to a 
special status within DHS--like the Coast Guard--so that its 
authorities and assets cannot be changed without congressional approval 
and its administrator is the President's principle adviser in an 
emergency. Key FEMA officials now are required to have relevant 
emergency management experience; its preparedness duties are united 
with its response functions so that the same people who prepare for 
emergencies also respond to them. FEMA now has responsibility for 
dispensing $2 billion in homeland security grants and its 10 regional 
offices are getting stronger by the day. To the Secretary, I would say 
that the Department's much improved internal coordination and 
coordination with State and local officials during the 2008 hurricane 
season attests to the improvements that have been made.
  There are many other areas in which Secretary Chertoff's leadership 
has been instrumental, including border and port security, chemical 
security, information-sharing, and developing the architecture to 
protect the nation of terrorist attacks using weapons of mass 
destruction. And, of course, all Americans who travel by air have been 
made safer by the Secretary's focus on improving the Transportation 
Security Administration.
  I cannot talk about all of the Secretary's accomplishments today. But 
I would be negligent if I did not thank him for his assistance in 
achieving a goal that has a very low national profile, but which has 
significant ramifications for the 200,000 employees at the Department. 
I am talking about efforts to consolidate most of the Department's 
headquarters under one roof at St. Elizabeths Hospital campus in 
southeast Washington. The Department's headquarters is spread 
throughout more than 70 buildings across the Washington area, making 
communication, coordination, and cooperation between its component 
parts a real challenge. A unified headquarters would allow employees to 
work more efficiently and interactively and is a critical cornerstone 
of the efforts to improve management and integration at the Department. 
I am pleased the National Capital Planning Commission recently approved 
a master plan for a consolidated headquarters at St. Es. I expect 
construction to begin later this year, And I thank Secretary Chertoff 
for his leadership in this effort.
  In the short time since it was created in 2002, the Department of 
Homeland Security has become an equal among the most important 
government agencies responsible for our national security, such as the 
Department of Defense. Secretary Ridge launched the process and 
admirably led the Department through the initial challenge of

[[Page S716]]

merging scores of agencies and programs--the largest government 
reorganization in half a century. Secretary Chertoff has moved the 
Department to the next level, where it now has a focused, long-term 
strategy clarifying the Department's priorities, roles, and 
responsibilities, as well as those of other key Federal, State, and 
local partners. He has worked tirelessly to ensure an integrated and 
overarching vision of how the government will tackle its role of 
defending the homeland.
  We have much work ahead to transform the Department into a mature 
agency whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. But we have 
made steady progress. The threat of natural disasters is ongoing and 
the threat of terrorism remains with us. As I have often said, these 
are not ordinary times. They demand extraordinary commitment from those 
who have chosen public service. Secretary Chertoff has given our 
country his extraordinary commitment, and he will be well and 
gratefully remembered for it.

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