|
Senate confirms chertoff as homeland security chief { February 16 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/02/16/senate_confirms_chertoff_as_homeland_security_chief/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/02/16/senate_confirms_chertoff_as_homeland_security_chief/
Senate confirms Chertoff as homeland security chief
By Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press | February 16, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Senate confirmed federal judge Michael Chertoff as the nation's second homeland security secretary yesterday, placing the tough-on-terrorism former prosecutor in charge of a bureaucracy prone to infighting and turf wars.
Chertoff, 51, has promised to balance protecting the country with preserving civil liberties as head of the sprawling agency that was created as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
The 98-0 vote came nearly two weeks after Chertoff faced pointed questioning from Democrats about his role in developing the US investigation immediately after the attacks.
Chertoff replaces Tom Ridge, who stepped down Feb. 1.
Chertoff headed the Justice Department's criminal division when hundreds of foreigners were swept up on relatively minor charges and held for an average of 80 days. Some detainees were denied their right to see a lawyer, were not told of the charges against them, or were physically abused.
At the Feb. 2 hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Chertoff defended the investigation strategy but conceded it ''had not always been executed perfectly."
Chertoff also defended his role at the Justice Department in giving advice on how to interrogate detainees. ''I made it very clear torture is illegal and if you violate the statute, you are likely to get prosecuted," he testified.
Few expected Chertoff to face widespread opposition in the Senate. But his confirmation was delayed by Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, to protest being denied Justice Department information about the treatment of terror suspects at the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Levin unsuccessfully sought an unedited copy of a May 2004 secret FBI internal memo that discussed interrogation techniques to see if it mentioned or involved Chertoff. The department denied Levin's request but said the memo did not refer to Chertoff ''by name or otherwise."
The memo involved a meeting with Justice Department attorneys at which FBI officials voiced concern about military interrogation.
Senator Susan Collins, chairwoman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the memo was irrelevant to Chertoff's nomination and urged lawmakers to take his assurances at face value.
''Have we become so cynical about the good people who are making extraordinary sacrifices to serve their country?" the Maine Republican said. ''If this is what the confirmation process is becoming all about, then I fear that very good people are going to say no."
Known as a wiry workhorse, Chertoff had previously been confirmed three times -- as a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as Justice Department assistant attorney general, and as US attorney in New Jersey.
He takes over the 180,000-employee Homeland Security Department following new regulations that replace salaries based on workers' seniority with a merit pay system. The regulations are being challenged in federal court by four labor unions that represent the employees.
Not voting on the nomination were Senators Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, and Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
|
|
