. >> homeland security secretary janet napolitano joined predecessors michael chertoff and tom ridgeo discuss the department and its future. former coast guard commandant thad allen moderated the event hosted by george washington university. it's an hour and a half. [applause] >> good afternoon. it's a delight to welcome you to this afternoons important discussion of the future of homeland security. it's also a particular honor to welcome secretary janet napolitano, former secretaries of michael chertoff and tom ridge back to our campus. here at george washington with a unique opportunity to engage the world from this nation's capital and to enable our students to witness the power of knowledge in action. one of the ways we do so is by convening discussions the urgent issues of our time and our ability to do that depends on in many ways on our partnerships with the institutions and agencies that surround us. i'm very glad to have as one of those partners the united states department of homeland security which has long supported a range of policy, research and educational efforts acro

secretary chertoff said it's a continuous improvement deal. he went back and said it's not a bad foundation but we have these algorithms and technology we need more information and after a couple of years they got it. secretary napolitano said pushing that even further. i would reserve my time. >> well, i think one of the problems if we think of the divided government like the separation of power, i do think that the inability of the congress to reorganize to along to the creation of the department has been a problem and it's a problem for a number of reasons. one is the sheer number of committees and oversight panel's hearing reports and things the department has to undergo takes a lot of time and effort and resources away from other work and in the era we are talking about flat or decrease in budgets and maximizing and squeezing out of every dollar of best use i will share with you there are a number of reports we are required by statute to prepare and submit in writing, not online to buy seriously believe are not ever read by anyone and so

i'll through this question to you, secretary, chertoff.does divided government divide our national security? >> that's a huge question. you know, i think the answer to that is actually no. i'm a believer in the system that we have, which i think worked well, but it has certain challenges unlike the system in great britain or canada where someone somes in and has essentially they are given the range of power if they have a majority in parliament, they can pretty much take it as far as they can during the term until they are voted out. i think our system works well for us. it does create certain challenges. that being said, i think there's actually a surprising degree of agreement across party lines on the kind of core requirements of security. now, that doesn't always get manifest in what you read or see on the media where the media tends to gravitate to the reporters in the room, gravitates to people at the extremes, but i think at a working level, it does actually reflect the reality. the challenge we have is not a challenge of divided go

beautiful thing, secretary chertoff said it's a nice start. foundation, but there's new algorithms, and after a couple years they negotiated and got it. they pushed that further, so i think i'll reserve my comments and leave it at that. >> well, when i think one of the problems -- if we think of divided government as separation of powers, i do think that the inability of the congress to reorganize itself to align with the creation of the new department has been a problem, and it's a problem for a number of reasons. one is the sheer number of committees and oversight panels and reports and things that the department has to undergo takes a lot of time and effort and resources away from other work, and in anker ray when -- an era when we talk about flat or decreasing budgets and maximizing and squeezing out every dollar it's highest and best use, i will share with you that there are a number of reports that we are required by statute to prepare, submit in writing, not online, that i seriously believe are not ever read by anyone really, and so, yo

secretary chertoff said, that is that continuous improvement.said that we have new algorithms and technology and we need more information. and and eventually they got it. and secretary napolitano says that they're pushing it even further. >> i think that one of the problems -- if we think of divided government as separation of powers, i do think that the inability of the congress to reorganize itself to a line with the creation of this department has been a problem. one is, the sheer number of committees and oversight panels and reports and things that the department has to undergo takes a lot of time and efforts and resources away from other work. in an era where we're talking about flat or decreasing budgets and maximizing every dollar, there are a number of reports we are required to submit in writing, not on line, and i series to believe they're not ever read by any by -- and i seriously believe they are not ever read by anyone. that is a problem, the resourced command on the department. and secondly, the fragmentary notion of the actual ove

chad sweet, of the chertoff group. thanks very much. >> thank you. jenna: you don't think about drones, right? gregg: it could wreak havoc on our financial systems. compromise intelligence. give aid to the eni. you have to worry about that stuff. jenna: if we worry about that how about this we have a hurricane coming. the hurricane is turning into a major storm and it could get bigger before it hits land. you look at the radar always looks pretty big, doesn't it. gregg: sure does. jenna: we'll go to the live weather center. this is big story. a desperate search for baby lisa nearly a week old right now. we have brand new developments in the case. who the parents are reaching out to. plus how police are handling this investigation, next. jenna: welcome back, everyone. hurricane jova, gaining strength as it churns towards mexico. the storm could get even stronger as it gets closer to land. we have the maria molina in the fox weather center. >> not only do we have hurricane jova but there is another tropical system that could develop before landfall and

secretary michael chertoff, thank you for being with us. >> good to be on.olitics now. no rest for the weary when you're running for president, that's for sure. most of the gop candidates are already back on the campaign trail after last night's big debate on the economy. chief political correspondent carl cameron is live in the state capital of new hampshire, concord w the latest. carl, what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, the candidates, a steady stream of them, really, have been addressing new hampshire's legislature, all volunteer and one of the third if not fourth largest legislative bodies in the world. herman cain talked to a crowd which he recognized was very pro-romney, and cain says he hopes they'll change his mind and support him. newt gingrich took his turn at the podium, here's a sample of what he had to say. >> i'm dedicate today the belief that no elite, no brilliant leader, no single source of genius is going to fix this. that in the end the beginning of the constitution is right: we, the people. >> reporter: starting on monday the presid

before hearing from secretaries napolitano chertoff, rich, and admiral allen we will first hear from security institute and president and ceo of homeland security and defense business council ladies and gentlemen please join me in welcoming frank so the flow. [applause] [applause] >> thank you. let me echo you're welcome to everyone today. it is a distinct and a distinct privilege to be able to co-host today's session. as i was in the room outback and literally saw a decade of my life to live simultaneously. i mean, you don't get better public servants than the three that are joining us today and i have had the privilege to work with all of them. we have had the privilege to host all of them in the past, but never simultaneously. so i certainly am excited to hear what they all have to say. thank you all for joining us today, and let me also think our co-host. mark perot has done a yeoman's work trying to translate the nouns and verbs in terms of public-private partnerships. delighted to work with him and of course, our friend admiral allen. thank you all and i look forward to this. t

in washington, retired general michael haden, former director of the cia, now a principal for the chertoff, and jane harman, former ranking member of the house intelligence committee, now president and ceo of the wilson center. familiar faces, thanks for come back to talk about what looks like a pretty big week in the war against terror. not only did anwar al awlaki who was jut an internet recruiter for a number of plots that took place in the u.s. over the past couple of years but also samir khan, another american. we'll get to that in a minute. who was a propogandist. it may be that the bombmaker, ibrihim hassan al asiri. then we find out one of the cheat operators in the haqqani network has been captured by nato an afghan forces. so let's start with al awlaki. is this a psychological blow to al qaeda in the iranian pains la peninsula or an operational blow? >> i think it is both. i think al qaeda in the iranian peninsula had emerged as the more potent al qaeda faction in terms of mounting attacks against us, even though al awlaki was not the head of kqap. in that he harbored two of the

security advisers including some bush administration vets like former homeland security, michael chertofft to start about 10:45 eastern time, and we will bring it to you live. >>> a political buzz. your rapid fire. a look at best political topics of the day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. playing today, cnn contributor maria car doanies, will cane and cnn contributor and talk show radio host dana loesch. guys, first question, dana, you actually tweeted this last night. said, it makes sense to me to spend three years protesting obamacare and then support the original architect who defends it still. not a lot of love for romney. should the republicans get behind him? the candidate? dana? >> i think if they want an epic battle that will overshadow anything that we ever saw in new york's 23rd district with scuzz fob ba and huntsman, if that's the candidate they want to get behind, by all means and go ahead and write the tombstone for your party. i don't think he's the candidate, can raise money or has a conservative record and i don't think you can get conservative grass roots who

michael chertoff, jim wilkinson, a whole bunch of guys who led in the bush administration, but he said a couple of things that sounded very much like the bush doctrine. understand emerging threats, deal with them before they explode into conflict. that you don't follow crisis by crisis and react. he also said as well he reserves the act to act alone to protect our vital interests. something we had also heard from president bush. what struck you as part of his national security platform? >> i'm already getting a lot of e-mails and tweets. i'm sure you aracy well, suzanne from critics of mitt romney. democratic critics saying, if you liked president bush's national security policies, whether in iraq, afghanistan fg or elsewhere you're going to love mitt romney's policy. not only more of the same but double down on a lot of those initiatives that president bush engaged in. some of the points you were just making. and some of his top national security advisers, as you also point out, obviously served in the bush administration as well. the most biting comment he made right at the very end

former department of homeland security secretary michael chertoff stated in response to a question about or in appearance so that it can slip by people who might be stereotyping. racial profiling diverts scarce resources from real law enforcement. in my own state of maryland in the 1990's, the aclu brought a class-action suit against the maryland state police for illegally targeting african-american motorists for stops and searches along maryland's highways. the parties ultimately entered into a federal court consent decree in 2003 in which they made a joint statement that emphasized in part the need to treat motorists of all races with respect, dignity and fairness under the law is fundamental to good police work in a just society. the parties agreed that racial profiling is unlawful and undermines public safety by alienating communities. racial profiling dim unionizes entire communities and perpetuates negative stereotypes based on an individual's race, ethnicity or religion. i agree with attorney general holder's remark to the american arab antidiscrimination committee where he stated

. >> michael chertoff. >> you have another story up about chelsea clinton, the headline the next clinton has arrived. what can you tell us? >> well, i covered bill clinton's white house for six of eight years, and only once during those six years did i ever hear chelsea clinton's voice. i didn't know what she is sounded like. so when she now -- you know 12 years later, starts to raise her voice in new york political circles as she seems to be doing, we in the media do tend to read a lot into small signals sometimes. but a lot of people took notice at how she introduced her mother at the clinton global initiative last month and that she seems to be making noises in her associations that she's more active -- more interested in an active public role. not necessarily seeking office, but raising a higher profile. >> she's not a kid anymore. she's 31 years old. she's younger than -- older than some members of congress, older than half the politico staff. so she is -- >> yeah, wow. >> she's at that point where if she's going to take a public role, we're going to start to see her make moves. >>

secretary napolitano and her two predecessors chertoff and tom ridge started with nothing and had the 180,000 apartment and 83 agencies enhance the security enormously and when i started working the issue with your support and guidance and district come a we had 40,000 patrolman. >> we barely had a marked. so over time we have done a magnificent improved job and i have a great respect for them. >> my time is short. this is a systemic problem what i call way beyond 4,000 and the submissions we have had but let me get to the point* of the violence and the just of this report. it was important to delineate because what has happened is the impact of the report to focus our resources that it is a bloodbath walking through the streets and even the law enforcement are overwhelmed. what i would like to hear from view is one that you distinguish there are strong law enforcement and local jurisdictions -- jurisdictio ns to take no prisoners to the terms to have that not occur but from a federal perspective were going forward, we have fe persistent continuing crisis that has a potential impact b

. >> next in the lightning round for secretary chertoff. i remember having some really wonderful discussion about this topic. in light of the decreasing budget, do you have any thoughts about the homeland security grant program and how best to move forward on not get the biggest return of the money for think tanks and so forth. i remember standing behind you or with you in taking the spears coming and we try to adjust the grant program. >> everybody without any grant program that didn't give them all the money you gave it to someone else was a really program. and the funny thing was there was some communities that would go out and in the run-up to the grant announcement, that they were really dangerous, it's really unsafe here. the chamber of commerce would go what are you doing? the other tourist business here. so there was always a little bit of a schizophrenic attitude to it. look, this is an area where three term and i don't know if it's not a budget, the president would submit it and we would give you more money for grants. i don't eve

michael chertoff was with the justice department.nd then he became the number two at homeland security. and after being there for only two years, he took not only his chief of staff, but many people in the top ranks of what was then and still is now a fairytale and come and experience, not very good department, he took them and went into private practice, consulting with companies who wanted to invest. and guess what? same technologies and products that are being bought in the same secret world. so insider-trading we are all familiar with. to me this is another kind of insider trading because you cannot get into the circle of people unless you have a security clearance. and once you have that clearance and you have to trust the people inside, you know, you're in for life unless he really screw something up. and you and i cannot cna. it's not like building the next generation of military fighter plane, where we can actually hear that debate and decide how many we really need. all of this is classified. and so you've got contractors wi