member of the chertoff group most times when i am involved in any public discourse. with regard to the i.g. report, i really take no ownership over that, i was one of the 200 people who were interviewed, there were some people who were not interviewed, that's one class of folks and then i wasn't aware of it but i take your word for it, there were another group that were interviewed but not further identified. it might reflect something that the secretary had said earlier that you have people out there in -- who are taking serious personal and financial risk by doing what i would arguably call the patriotic thing. in fact, i was surprised as the director of the n.s.a. and the c.i.a. how much american business will put themselves at risk for no profit motive in order to assist the american intelligence agencies. and i think that this -- what you may be seeing there is a version of trying to protect them from the kind of legal actions or at least public criticism that seems to be more prominent in recent times. as i've said before, the c.i.a. and n.s.a., and the intelli

member of the chertoff group most times when i am involved in any public discourse. with regard to the i.g. report, i really take no ownership over that, i was one of the 200 people who were interviewed, there were some people who were not interviewed, that's one class of folks and then i wasn't aware of it but i take your word for it, there were another group that were interviewed but not further identified. it might reflect something that the secretary had said earlier that you have people out there in -- who are taking serious personal and financial risk by doing what i would arguably call the patriotic thing. in fact, i was surprised as the director of the n.s.a. and the c.i.a. how much american business will put themselves at risk for no profit motive in order to assist the american intelligence agencies. and i think that this -- what you may be seeing there is a version of trying to protect them from the kind of legal actions or at least public criticism that seems to be more prominent in recent times. as i've said before, the c.i.a. and n.s.a., and the intelli

to my right is michael chertoff. he was secretary to the department of homeland security and president bush cost second term from 2005 to 2009. -- president bush's second term from 2005 to 2009. we also have jack divine. he is a 32-year-old veteran of cia, who is now president of bargain group, international national -- an international crisis group in new york city. to our right is the moderator. he is a new york times best selling author. he has written about the intersection of espionage and business. his latest book was released by press martins -- martin's press on tuesday. he will sign copies of his newest book afterwards right outside. he will moderate and each panelist will give an opening statement, and then we will move to q&a. during today i would ask that each of you please identify yourself and your organization. we would like to know who has joined us for these events. i invite you to go to the microphones that are stationed in each idle. i would now turn the proceedings over. >> i hope you realize that

chertoff group in any public discourse. with regard to the ig report, i will take no ownership over that. i was one of the 200 people who were interviewed. there were some people who were not interviewed, and there was another group who was interviewed but not further identified. that might reflect something the secretary said earlier, that you have people who are taking a serious risk by doing the patriotic thing. i was surprised as director of cia how much american business will put themselves at risk for no profit motive in order to assist american intelligence agencies. what you may be seen there is a version of trying to protect them from the kind of legal actions or public criticism that seems to be more prominent in recent times. cia does not live isolated inside the broader american political culture. one of our in advantages is to rely on us as a society to help us achieve our mission. there is nothing nefarious about that. it is something that if this story were better known, most americans would be proud of. ther

the third secretary of homeland security after my distinguished predecessors tom ridge and michael chertoff. so, let me give you a sense, today, of how i see the threat environment that we are in, talk about what we are doing to counter that threat in the four response areas i just identified. so, what does the world we face look like today? first, while the terror threat is evering in changing it is critical to reiterate the threat remains, the consensus view of the intelligence community of which dhs is a member is at the terror threat to the home land is, quote, persistent and evolving. in my daily briefings and as a mib of the the president's national and hoped -- member of the president's national and homeland security councils it is something i discuss with the president and the rest of the security team on a regular basis and so we are constantly looking for ways to better share information, up, down the response ladder i just described, from individuals and communities, to local law enforcement to the federal that and international level, the broader context here is we have invested

we asked chertoff to come in and talk to the panel, two weeks ago.concerns he had. he never mentioned any concern of politization. you've got to believe this is personally motivated in some way. >> not coming out to talk about this between now and then. if he doesn't have specifics to back this up, he's going to get eaten alive by folks like -- like you, andy card, and other bush administration officials who are going to try to slam him down as hard as they can? >> last night, i got my hands on one of the books and i looked at it. and, in fact, in other parts of the book, tom acknowledges that politics never played a role in any of his decisions about the threat alert system. you have to wonder if this is not just publicity meant to sell more books. >> fran townsend, thanks. >> thank you. >>> still ahead, man or woman? >> oh, yeah. >> the runner? >> yeah. >> there's some questions, actually. and this is not that unusual in the -- in the world of track and field. some questions about whether or not one of the best runners out there is real who she say

director michael hayden and former homeland security administer michael chertoff.is is about 10 minutes. and the answer is, no, we thank you all for being here with us today for this joint newsmaker and book and author committee event. i am chair of the newsmaker committee and also washington correspondent for workforce management, a business magazine published by crane publications. and the book and author committee chair is andrew schneider and andrew is over here to my right, he's an associate editor at kipling washington editors. this morning we're going to explore the privatization of intelligence, a topic whose news peg was sharpened to my delight by today's front page stories on the c.i.a. outsourcing 2004 operations designed to kill al qaeda leaders. we have an outstanding panel to delve into this topic. general hayden to my left, he's a retired four-star air force general who served as the director for the national security agency from 1999 to 2005, and director of the c.i.a. from 2006 to 2009. to my right, my immediate right, is another former bush admini

do not go outside in order to deflect responsibility from ourselves, period. >> well, secretary chertoff to directly link to this, it is apparently there's a lot of fear among private contractors in washington because the rules seem to -- there is no law apparently, protecting them from doing things that they did for government, for example, interesting case, boeing is facing a major lawsuit by the aclu, alive today because they leased a plane to the c.i.a. for the rendition flights. there are a lot of contractors who i talk to who say, look, we do anything risky for the u.s. government in intelligence function, we're not protected. what do you think about that? >> well, you have to separate two issues. one is is an individual contractor protected or endemmified and it's a complicated issue and i don't want to give a blanket statement and that's different from the issue that you raised with boeing which is, is there simply a risk for getting sued and forget in the end of the day if you win the lawsuit, but you have to get a lawyer and you have to deal with a certain amount of legal hassl

we asked tom ridge and chertoff talk to the panel.ever mentioned any concern about politicization of the thread advisory system. you've got to believe this is personally motivated in some way. >> tom ridge isn't the first administration higher up to write a book. scott mcclelland wrote this scathing memoir. he claims bush's inner circle relied on propaganda to sell the war in iraq. speaking of iraq, the former head of coalition forces, ricardo sanchez describes chaos on the battlefield and blames the bush administration. >>> former attorney general john ashcroft looks back not in anger, but in awe in "never again." ashcroft writes about his role in the wake of 9/11 and his defense of the patriot act. still to come, dick cheney's memoir, he is expected to give detailed accounts with his differences with his boss. and donald rumsfeld has a book deal as well. it will cover his entire political career. >>> a convicted terrorist gets a hero's welcome. crowds in libya cheering the man convicted of the bombing of pan am flight 103 over locke