Chertoff emphasizes international cooperation

Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said this afternoon that the United States must engage international partners if it is to win the war on terror, echoing comments made on campus a day earlier by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"We have to operate with a new level of cooperation and commitment with members of the international community," Chertoff said at the closing address for the Wilson School's 75th anniversary kickoff weekend in Dodds Auditorium.

The Homeland Security Secretary's message — along with that of his colleague Rice — seemed to suggest a departure from the Bush administration's policy.

"My takeaway message from the weekend is that you're hearing a real shift," Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 said in an interview after Chertoff's address. "It could not be further from the rhetoric of the first Bush administration. We're talking about a fundamental shift."

"The Department of Homeland Security talking not about Fortress America, but about expanding our borders, information sharing and international cooperation — that's a change, and a good one," Slaughter added.

In his address, Chertoff expanded on the broad theme of international cooperation, saying specifically that the United States must work with other countries to develop compatible information sharing systems, trusted traveler programs and plans to address illegal migration.

"Threats do not begin or end in a single country," Chertoff said, pointing to the tsunami in Asia, avian flu and computer viruses as examples. The United States, he said, "must focus on common strategies and common systems of protection."

Early in his speech, Chertoff noted that just as the United States had offered aid and resources to countries affected by the tsunami in Asia, several nations responded similarly to Hurricane Katrina with offers of assistance.

"Not only did they offer their prayers, but their resources as well," Chertoff said, noting Canadian, Dutch, German and Mexican contributions, in particular.

On information sharing, Chertoff praised current efforts including US-VISIT, a program that identifies foreign travelers entering the United States using digital fingerscans, and the Container Security Initiative, a program that seeks to have foreign cargo inspected not at U.S. ports but at the original ports of embarkation.

"All of these endeavors that [the Department of Homeland Security] has taken recognize that we are part of a globalized economy," Chertoff said, adding that in sharing information, the United States and its foreign partners must work to address each other's privacy concerns.

"To be sure sometimes we differ," Chertoff said, pointing to the issue of national identification cards as an example, "but the point is not that one society values privacy more than the other ... but the application of those values."

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Referring to the Security and Prosperity Partnership, an agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States, Chertoff said that progress must be made on trusted traveler programs and the issue of illegal migration.

"A successful strategy is a holistic strategy," the secretary said, arguing that a temporary worker program is necessary to "reduce the pressure of illegal migration."

During a question and answer session after the speech, a member of the audience asked Chertoff to enumerate Homeland Security's failures in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and whether the agency was giving too much attention to terrorism.

"There's not enough time to answer the first part of your question," Chertoff said, to laughter in the audience.

With regards to terrorism, Chertoff defended his department's approach, saying that it is not focused on any one issue but "all hazards."

"The best principle is not only to fight the last battle," Chertoff said. "In July we talked a lot about subways. In September we talked a lot about hurricanes. We still need to talk about aviation, about avian flu."

"We've got to look at where the threat is," he added. "We can't protect everyone at every time, everywhere. We have to be risk-based in our efforts ... If we work tirelessly towards this goal, I am convinced our partners will join us."