Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff will give the closing address of the Wilson School's 75th anniversary kickoff weekend on Saturday afternoon, school spokesman Steve Barnes said Wednesday.
Chertoff's speech, scheduled for 2 p.m., is expected to focus on the role of international partnerships in the war on terror and the Department of Homeland Security's risk management strategy.
Chertoff is the second Bush administration cabinet official speaking in as many days. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will give the weekend's opening keynote address on Friday afternoon in Jadwin Gym.
In the aftermath of the July subway attacks in London, Chertoff drew fire in Congress and from other observers for advocating a risk management strategy with increased focus on and funding for "mass casualty" threats like nuclear attacks and less attention on smaller ones.
"The truth of the matter is, a fully loaded airplane with jet fuel, a commercial airliner, has the capacity to kill 3,000 people," Chertoff told the Associated Press. "A bomb in a subway car may kill 30 people. When you start to think about your priorities, you're going to think about making sure you don't have a catastrophic thing first."
Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called Chertoff's remark "some of the most appalling comments that I have heard coming from any government official."
Noting that "fully half of the peak period users of the [Washington] Metro system are federal employees," D.C. Metro Board Chairman Dana Kauffman asked, "Is he saying to his own people, 'Good luck'?"
The weekend will also include a mock National Security Council meeting on Friday afternoon and a homeland security panel discussion on Saturday morning, featuring computer science professor Edward Felten and Frederick Hitz '61, former Inspector-General of the CIA. Lt. General David Petraeus GS '85 '87 will give a second keynote address in McCosh 50 at noon.
Other events celebrating the Wilson School's anniversary will follow throughout the year, both in Princeton and around the world.
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