Michael Chertoff, Sleep Well...
I woke up in the middle of the night and CNN was replaying a speech by Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security.
What irony. I had fallen asleep with Chertoff on my mind. Is he a real sort of guy, one who's earnest and hardworking and truly concerned and if the answer is yes, why is he allowing the land registries, court recorders, and clerks to broadcast our private information to the world? Could it be that he, like lots of other people I speak with every day, is truly unaware of this situation, thinking it so ridiculous that it just couldn't happen? I sincerely believe the answer is yes to all of the above.
Chertoff could have quoted blind statistics and while he did a little of that it was explained in detail so common that the most uneducated would have nodded and responded with, "I see" at the end. It was plans, plain talk, accountability, and near the end of his speech there was plenty more where that came from:
People ask me sometimes, what is the -- causes you to lie awake at night? And truthfully, it all -- no matter how I express the answer to that question, it all boils down to this: If there is an attack in this country, I'm going to have to look the American public in the eye, I'm going to have to look Congress in the eye, and I'm going to have to, most important, look in the eye of the people who lost family members in that attack and account to them about whether we have done everything we reasonably could to prevent that.
So I have a very keen, personal sense of responsibility that I share with all of my colleagues in the Department of Homeland Security, and all across the United States, to make the right decision, the sensible decision, not one that simply says, protect everything in a way that's unrealistic, but one that recognizes the real dangers that we face and advances real solutions to address those real dangers.
So that's, in a nutshell, what keeps me awake at night -- my responsibility to do my job, and the responsibility which I share with everybody else in the Department of Homeland Security. It's about balance, it's about clarity, and it's about being sensible.
If Homeland Security ignores the real, constant danger our registries pose by maintaining online records, that will be the one thing undone and the thing that keeps Chertoff awake. I hope you'll join me in making him and all of Homeland Security aware of this danger.
Chertoff ended his speech with this:
This can't be an issue of party, it can't be an issue simply of ideology. It's got to be a personal issue to every American, because we will all live with the consequences of the decisions we make in the couple of years to come.
Amen, brother.
If you'd like to voice your opinion and/or support to Homeland Security, send a letter to them at the following address:
Honorable Secretary Michael Chertoff
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528
Telephone: 202-282-8000
Comment Line: 202-282-8495
You can also send a note online by clicking 'Contact' on www.dhs.gov
Be a part of the solution. It only takes a minute.
www.FindMyID.com
What irony. I had fallen asleep with Chertoff on my mind. Is he a real sort of guy, one who's earnest and hardworking and truly concerned and if the answer is yes, why is he allowing the land registries, court recorders, and clerks to broadcast our private information to the world? Could it be that he, like lots of other people I speak with every day, is truly unaware of this situation, thinking it so ridiculous that it just couldn't happen? I sincerely believe the answer is yes to all of the above.
Chertoff could have quoted blind statistics and while he did a little of that it was explained in detail so common that the most uneducated would have nodded and responded with, "I see" at the end. It was plans, plain talk, accountability, and near the end of his speech there was plenty more where that came from:
People ask me sometimes, what is the -- causes you to lie awake at night? And truthfully, it all -- no matter how I express the answer to that question, it all boils down to this: If there is an attack in this country, I'm going to have to look the American public in the eye, I'm going to have to look Congress in the eye, and I'm going to have to, most important, look in the eye of the people who lost family members in that attack and account to them about whether we have done everything we reasonably could to prevent that.
So I have a very keen, personal sense of responsibility that I share with all of my colleagues in the Department of Homeland Security, and all across the United States, to make the right decision, the sensible decision, not one that simply says, protect everything in a way that's unrealistic, but one that recognizes the real dangers that we face and advances real solutions to address those real dangers.
So that's, in a nutshell, what keeps me awake at night -- my responsibility to do my job, and the responsibility which I share with everybody else in the Department of Homeland Security. It's about balance, it's about clarity, and it's about being sensible.
If Homeland Security ignores the real, constant danger our registries pose by maintaining online records, that will be the one thing undone and the thing that keeps Chertoff awake. I hope you'll join me in making him and all of Homeland Security aware of this danger.
Chertoff ended his speech with this:
This can't be an issue of party, it can't be an issue simply of ideology. It's got to be a personal issue to every American, because we will all live with the consequences of the decisions we make in the couple of years to come.
Amen, brother.
If you'd like to voice your opinion and/or support to Homeland Security, send a letter to them at the following address:
Honorable Secretary Michael Chertoff
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528
Telephone: 202-282-8000
Comment Line: 202-282-8495
You can also send a note online by clicking 'Contact' on www.dhs.gov
Be a part of the solution. It only takes a minute.
www.FindMyID.com
posted by Happy at 8:42 PM
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