Chertoff Outlines Priorities For Remaining Term

7. May 2008 by Dan Verton.

Urges Americans, Lawmakers to Avoid Complacency

May 7, 2008

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, speaking last night to a gathering of intelligence and national security experts in Washington, D.C., warned Americans and lawmakers that if complacency is allowed to replace serious discussions of real threats ”we are doomed to repeat history” — a clear reference to the 9/11 attacks and the investigation into the intelligence community’s failure to uncover the plot.

Speaking to the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, an organization of government and industry intelligence professionals dedicated to education and debate of national security issues, Chertoff outlined his prioities for the Department of Homeland Security for the remaining 9 months of the Bush administration. Among those priorities, Chertoff said, are continuing the department’s support for secure travel documentation and the transformation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, preparing a transition team and established doctrine for the new administration, and rolling out a new cyber security initiative that in part would task the intelligence community with helping to defend federal computer networks against criminal hackers and foreign espionage operations.

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