Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff explained the importance of the Department of Homeland Security’s color-coded advisory system, noting that many organizations, such as the separate U.S. military branches, use a similar method of communicating rapidly. (0:43)
Michael Chertoff says that the eight year anniversary of 9/11 is a time to reflect on the progress that has been made with emergency preparedness and recognize the changes the U.S. still needs to make. (0:15)
Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
Former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff noted Thursday that while many improvements have been made in U.S. emergency response capabilities, more can be done to improve communication between different agencies.
“All of the groups need to make an agreement on the [technological] language used,” Chertoff said during a panel discussion at the National Press Club. “We still have a ways to go.”
To counter the current shortcomings of inter-agency communication, Chertoff suggested reserving part of the radio spectrum solely for emergency response, thus allowing responders to transmit voice, data, and video more efficiently through portable devices like BlackBerrys and iPhones.
The idea to scrap the system we have now or to wait for equipment to become obsolete is not a viable option, Chertoff warned.
$1 billion has been distributed to states and localities to promote interoperable communications.
Coffee Brown, University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News,
Interviews Michael Chertoff, second Secretary of Homeland Security.
With increasing economic regulation and new national security challenges against terrorism, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said judges will be treading into an area of decision making with little precedence. At the 2008 National Lawyers Convention by the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy, Chertoff (who is not a member of the Federalist Society) said “with the emerging issues in national security, both domestically and over seas, the question of the judge’s proper role is once again going to come to the floor,” Chertoff said.
Judicial modesty, or restrictions on the ‘judicial creativity and manipulation’ of lawyers and judges, should be a “transparent, open, and objective process” said Chertoff. He added that partisanship should be subordinate to judicial modesty, even if it means passing law against one’s subjective interpretation of the law.
Chertoff described four problems that will arise from lack of judicial modesty: 1.) Private interpretation of an objective law, 2.) Deficient separation of power, 3.) Lawmakers’ skill sets aren’t adequate for all areas, and do not always have complete information (i.e. in the case of military strategy), 4.) Accepting rulings as authoritative and correct without legitimacy.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff explains why the U.S. can’t withdraw from the international arena simply “because we disagree wiht international courts.” (0:30)
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff addresses the apropriate role of lawyers and judges in issues of national security in the U.S. and abroad (0:42)
The Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held the second of a two-day hearing on “the impact of the Administration’s Medicaid regulations on the ability of our nation’s emergency rooms to respond to a sudden influx of casualties from a terrorist attack,” said Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA). Waxman said that based on the first hearing, he was concerned about trauma centers that have “little or no surge capacity.” He said that the Bush Administration’s plans to cut Medicaid funding for hospitals would make trauma centers even more incapable of responding to a large-scale emergency situation similar to Hurricane Katrina, the Minneapolis bridge collapse, the Madrid train bombings, or other potential threats.
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Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) asks Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff about the FEMA trailers, referring to them as “Formaldehyde Trailers.” Chertoff says they are trailers sold on the open market, and Waters asks if they have formaldehyde in them. Chertoff says like every other trailer sold, yes, and Waters says “then they are formaldehyde trailers.” You’ve got families in those trailers, she says, and Chertoff says that he would like to answer but he keeps getting interrupted. The Chairman tries to intervene, and Waters says that she didn’t interrupt anyone else’s question and would appreciate if they didn’t interrupt hers. Chertoff says yes, like every other trailer sold on the open market, there is formaldehyde in them. They are using every means at their disposal, he says, to get people to leave those trailers. (1:30)
At the House Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said there are many issues with undocumented aliens and workers in the United States. A large problem, he said, is in simply finding them. (more…)
