Chertoff says stay the course

SKYTOP — The country is at war with Al-Qaeda and Muslim extremism and “The principal question is: do we have the resolution to see this thing through to the end?” Michael Chertoff told a regional audience Thursday. Chertoff, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Defense, spoke before a Pike County Chamber of Commerce fundraiser. “This is a dangerous world and while it may be a controversial issue for some, I believe we’re very much at war,” he said. Chertoff was introduced by County Court President Judge Joseph Kameen, as “a man who has no fear.” “Everyone comes to Pike County,” Kameen said, recalling the amazement of Pike residents upon learning that the late Mafia Boss John Gotti bought a home in the county. Kameen then recounted some of former federal prosecutor Chertoff’s mafia cases against “The Teflon Don,” “Tony Dukes,” “Fat Tony” and then, later on, appliance huckster “Crazy Eddie.” Chertoff acknowledged a standing ovation from some 200 persons attending the $110-a-plate affair held amid the state forests and park lands at the palatial Skytop Lodge, in neighboring Monroe County. Most were surprised when the Cabinet member revealed that he was more than a visitor and has owned a home in the county for the past 15 years. “I don’t know how that compares to your learning of John Gotti,” he said to applause. Quickly turning to the “serious business” of national security. Chertoff said Muslim extremists want to return to the world of 1,000 years ago, when the Moors conquered North Africa and Spain. Their ideology is “one leader followed at the fear of death ... where women have no role, other than the kitchen.” He said the obscure roots of extremist ideology, in the mountains of Afghanistan and southern Pakistan is no measure of its potential for harm. “An Austrian housepainter 10 years later became chancellor of Germany,” he said, recalling Hitler. They are persistent and determined, bombing the World Trade Center in 1993 and “coming back eight years later to finish the job.” “If we don’t have your resolution and will power, we can’t get the job done,” he said. How has security changed since 9-11? “I can’t tell you that we can protect everyone against every threat,” he said. Some risks are greater than others. “As much as I love Pike County, the infrastructure here is not as essential as a power plant that provides energy for several states,” he admitted. Watchlists are better coordinated among agencies than the ones which several 9-11 terrorists slipped by before the Trade Center attack, he said. New passport requirements and calls for biometric drivers licenses “are a hassle and costly,” he said, but the licenses are harder to forge and passports make it more difficult for terrorists to enter the country. “All these measures do require sacrifice, but the alternative is devastating loss of life,” Chertoff said. He noted, but did not comment on, the Senate’s decision, earlier in the day, not to consider a Bush Administration backed immigration bill. Chertoff said the idea had been to provide “a visible pathway” for the blue-collar working illegal aliens, in order to filter them out, to simplify the ongoing search to find drug dealers and terrorists crossing our borders with them. “It’s a very simple national security issue,” he said. Regarding public concerns about government invasion of privacy, he said, “I believe these measures are constitutional. The more barriers that are raised, the less intelligence we will gather,” Chertoff said. Credited as one of the principal authors of the Patriot Act, Chertoff said the nation’s intelligence gathering capability has improved since 9-11. Prior to the creation of his department he said related information could exist in four or five places and never be correlated. Now, “We still have our turf wars,” but “We’re better,” he said, referring to new techniques. “A lot of them are classified. I can’t talk about them.” Chertoff said intelligence gathering is vital. “We had radar to watch the Soviets. There is no radar against terrorists,” he said.