AROUND D.C.

Thursday, December 18, 2008 3:35 PM

Chertoff Offers Advice To Incoming DHS Secretary

By AMY HARDER

Michael Chertoff has helmed one of government's most controversial, criticized and crucial departments for nearly four years. Speaking to a small audience at Georgetown University's Riggs Library this morning, the outgoing secretary of Homeland Security offered a word of advice for his successor, Janet Napolitano, and reflected back on his time in the department.

"Nobody would have predicted that, following September 11, that there would have been no successful attack on American soil the following seven years," Chertoff said in his opening remarks. "I don't think that's an accident." His language echoed a similar argument put forth by President Bush on Wednesday, when he said "it's not a matter of luck" the country had avoided another attack.

Chertoff commended the transition efforts of both the incoming and outgoing teams, calling this the most "dedicated and effective transition" in the country's history. But he emphasized that a "lot of work" is ahead for the department, and for President-elect Obama's incoming administration overall.

"The threat of terrorism and extremist ideologies have not abated, vividly underscored last month in Mumbai," Chertoff said early in his speech. "This reminds us that this threat has not evaporated and we cannot turn the page on this."

While stressing the importance of looking ahead, Chertoff also said that the "past is prologue, and to understand what we must do we must understand where we've come from." To that end, he credited Bush and the policies he put in place, like passing the PATRIOT Act and establishing DHS, for helping prevent further attacks.

"If I learned anything these past eight years," Chertoff said, "it's that swift, strong, unequivocal action is the absolute first requirement" when responding to any type of incident.

While DHS holds an event like this every year, Chertoff said he wanted to take a different approach this time, recounting details from his years in the Bush administration and thanking his fellow employees of DHS. He took time to reflect on some of his experiences, including spending a night on an iceberg with the Coast Guard and riding horses in Arizona with Border Patrol agents. "I would also like to tell my successor," Chertoff said, "that a special treat is in store for her."

At various times throughout his nearly hour-long speech, the outgoing secretary implicitly defended his department, more or less acknowledging the widespread criticism it has received since its founding in March 2003. Disagreeing with critics who have claimed the PATRIOT Act was a "midnight deal," swiftly and discreetly passed in Congress, Chertoff called the legislation "well-thought out and a very, very thoroughly discussed package of measures."

On another controversial topic -- the Federal Emergency Management Agency and what its role should or should not be within DHS -- Chertoff was clear in his support of the agency. He contrasted FEMA's management of Hurricane Katrina with its response to Hurricane Gustav this year, calling the different responses were like "night and day."

Chertoff called the difference "a direct result" of FEMA's integration into the department. FEMA could not have responded so effectively to Gustav without the help of other DHS agencies, the secretary said, adding that FEMA must not be "isolated, standing on its own."

He offered one piece of advice to DHS Secretary-designate Napolitano: Don't take the last seven years of security for granted. "History has shown us that when we begin to take things for granted, they're taken away from us," Chertoff said. While recognizing that the policies the department have put in place are by no means perfect, the totality of DHS' efforts over the past seven years "can't be described as anything other than a success."