chertoff, you have addressed that question. crops up from time to time and has been looked at thoroughly by everybody. people witnessed the planes going into the buildings. it is like holocaust denial and people who believe the president was not born in hawaii. it is just a myth. host: kevin been co goes to the loss will at drexel university. kevin, please go ahead. caller: how much deference to the executive branch show the judiciary regarding issues of national security? should the president be allowed to ignore court orders when we are talking but the war on terror? -- talking about the war on terror? guest: every president with the exception of abraham lincoln has always abided by court orders, would you agree or disagree with the order. obviously, you have the right to appeal and the executive branch will appeal when they disagree with a lower court decision. but the answer is, no, the president does have to abide by the law as set forth by the courts. the one exception was abraham lincoln. he was ordered during the civil

chertoff, you have addressed that question.crops up from time to time and has been looked at thoroughly by everybody. people witnessed the planes going into the buildings. it is like holocaust denial and people who believe the president was not born in hawaii. it is just a myth. host: kevin been co goes to the loss will at drexel university. kevin, please go ahead. caller: how much deference to the executive branch show the judiciary regarding issues of national security? should the president be allowed to ignore court orders when we are talking but the war on terror? -- talking about the war on terror? guest: every president with the exception of abraham lincoln has always abided by court orders, would you agree or disagree with the order. obviously, you have the right to appeal and the executive branch will appeal when they disagree with a lower court decision. but the answer is, no, the president does have to abide by the law as set forth by the courts. the one exception was abraham lincoln. he was ordered during the civil w

chertoff, you have addressed that question.est: crops up from time to time and has been looked at thoroughly by everybody. people witnessed the planes going into the buildings. it is like holocaust denial and people who believe the president was not born in hawaii. it is just a myth. host: kevin been co goes to the loss will at drexel university. kevin, please go ahead. caller: how much deference to the executive branch show the judiciary regarding issues of national security? should the president be allowed to ignore court orders when we are talking but the war on terror? -- talking about the war on terror? guest: every president with the exception of abraham lincoln has always abided by court orders, would you agree or disagree with the order. obviously, you have the right to appeal and the executive branch will appeal when they disagree with a lower court decision. but the answer is, no, the president does have to abide by the law as set forth by the courts. the one exception was abraham lincoln. he was ordered during the ci

this question's for secretary chertoff.sks, dhs announced yesterday that senior officials from the u.s. and mexico signed a bilateral telecom agreement to support a new cross-border computer communications network for public safety and law enforcement focusing on strengthening border security. that will allow intimate response through cross-border data and video channels. secretary chertoff, what kind of impact might this have on border security and perhaps more importantly, what more challenges might this pile on? what does dhs need to do to insure it's not destructi? >> this is a good thing. it builds on a set of agreements we had entered into with mention copreviously coordinating with respect to cross-border violence so when there was an incident directed from one country to another we could communicate and had a plan in place in order to allow the country where the shooter or the violent perpetrator was located to respond quickly and tamp down the incident. it's obvious in order to make the promise of that agreement co

michael chertoff served in the bush administration. thanks for joining us.e the author of the new book "homeland security, assessing the first five years." let me ask you about this threat and what this case really means. did they move too soon or too slowly? >> good afternoon, andrea. this case poses the challenge that was posed in many cases over the last eight years. on the one hand you want to avert any risk that a plot is going to go live and you are not going to catch it and people are going to wind up losing their lives. you want to give the plotters enough time so you can fully develop a picture from an intelligence standpoint about the dimensions of the scheme and everybody involved in it. in this case i think there was a heightened sensitivity because you are dealing with a challenging week in new york with the united nations, a lot of dignitaries in town, fashion week. it is a target-rich environment and i think that probably stimulated prompt action in this case. >> and, in fact, you've got so many different jurisdictions here. diplomatic securit

having been there, even as a person, chertoff specifically being blamed in some of the congressionalfter action reviews as to what went wrong didn't end up becoming part of the legacy as the agency as a wheel. it all came down on fema. why do you think that? >> i think the primary responsibility to respond to this event was fema. but as you pointed out and i appreciate you championing the coast guard. it's probably one of the most underappreciated, underresourced multitask organizations in the federal government. they did come to the rescue. again, there was another blame to go around. we will never be able to go to -- kind of undermind the confidence of the people generally in the federal government. think frankly in the state and local government, there's culp ability there. but i think the most important thing in the aftermath of such a tragedy is there were lesson learned. fema did make significant changes afterwards and i believe if it ever happened again -- this is almost biblical in proportion. we did have a plan on the shelf that said if there's something that overwhelmed the

. >> reporter: but former homeland security secretary michael dhe chertoff says uncovering the apparent plot is a big success. >> there's no question that there's cause for satisfaction in having brought at least part of this case down. >> reporter: because backpacks were found in last week's new york searches in this case, the government strictly as a precaution has urged the nation's train and subway operators to be extra vigilant and to conduct random backpack checks. officials say more arrests are coming. they're urging other suspects, some under surveillance, to cooperate now or face the prospect of long sentences when the plot is unraveled. pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> as one analyst put it today, a general has put president obama in a box. in a once-confidential report now leaked to the media, via "the washington post," general stanley mccrystal, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, says the war could be lost unless more american troops are sent in. you see the choice for the white house. our report tonight from our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. >> it's v

this question's for secretary chertoff. she asks, dhs announced yesterday that senior officials from the u.s. and mexico signed a bilateral telecom agreement to support a new cross-border computer communications network for public safety and law enforcement focusing on strengthening border security. that will allow intimate response through cross-border data and video channels. secretary chertoff, wt kind of impactight this have on borr security and perhaps more importantly, what more challenges might this pile on? what does dhs need t do to insure it's not destructive? >> this is a good thing. it builds on a set of agreements we had entered into with mention copreviously coordinating with respect to cross-border violence so when there was an incident directed from one country to another we could communicate and had a plan in place in order to allow the country where the ooter or the violent perpetrator was located to respond quickly and tamp down the incident. it's obvious in order to make the promise of that agreement com

jane: as we are learning about all of these terror plot that are said to be not connected, michael chertoff, former homeland security director, and joins us now. we see these stories popping up all over the country. what is coming on? >> these stores are not connected, and what we hear now with this story about zazi, is the most serious because it actually takes us back to the frontier areas of pakistan. frankly, the plot was similar to what we have seen in london. these other plots are reminiscent of thing that we have seen before. we had the fort dix plot. prisoners to become radicalized in prison. others become radicalized over the internet. i think this is part of the threat that we live in today, which is an ideology that recruits, not only in person, but also using modern technology, like the internet. jane: some say that with this case be moved to new york, are we looking at our first legitimate al qaeda cell in the u.s.? he said he has other times in the u.s. >> there were past cases where we arrested people with ties to al qaeda, going back to richard reid, folks in portland. what

, but the fact there was no attack looks like progress to former homeland security chief michael chertoff. >> everything from 2001, september 11 on, is paying off with the kinds of results that you're seeing. >> also this past week, a 19-year-old jordannian man was arrested in dallas after he placed what was believed to be a bomb in a parking garage found beneath this office tower. undercover f.b.i. agents worked with him, replacing the explosives with harmless materials and nabbing him just as he hit the "send" button on his cell phone, allegedly believing that would trigger the blast. a similar scenario unfolded in the illinois capital of springfield, 29-year-old michael fenton, a convert to islam, as accused of trying to blow up a federal building. again his movements were watched by undercover agents. >> what we have seen in illinois and texas is to identify the person who we think is going to set off a bomb and buys chemicals. >> in new york, daniel patrick boyd, originally arrested on terror charges in july was planning to attack marines at the quantico marine base in virginia. >> e

i tld the only o people in washington knew how challenging good job would be it was michael chertoffand tom ridge and be feeling free to call us. and she has. do give her credit for that but she has run agenda i mentioned on the shelf a regional structure where you drive some of the relationshs and the oversight and a lot of things that we try to do from washington down to t regional level and bring in all of the agencies, the big groups, coast guard commnts fema, make all of the regional offices in one @lace we had eight regional offices one of them was new orleans. i asked her to take a look at that. excuse me. i am a big chaion of the coast guard. i think the united states coast guard is the most undervalue underfunded multitask organization of the federagovernment and i strongly urge this congress or somebody and the secretary to champion ed. you get a lot of a service that they don't get enough money. i recommend that. i talk about better use of betrics and america i think we should have a purposeful debate and discussion as to whether or not we want to have a national id card t

two people in washington that knew how tough and challenging the job would be and that was michael chertoff and tom ridge so she had to feel free to call on us and has actually i give her credit for that so she has her own agenda but i must tell i've mentioned to her on a left on the shelf a regial structure i talk about in the book where you drive some of the relationships a drive the oversight and a lot of the things we try to do from washington down to the regnal level and you bring in all of these disparate agencies, the big groups, fema, coast guard, etc., makehe offices in one place and we had eight regional offices incidently one of them would have been new orleans so i asked her to take it of regional structure in the book and suggest that. excuse me. you say that -- drinks after this is all over? okay. i need a champion of the coast geard. i think the united stes coast guard is the most undervalued underfunded ltitask organization in the federal government and i strongly urge this congress, somebody in the secretary to janet. they get a lot of lip service after the do hartwick thin

on c-span 2, michael chertoff will talk about public safety and first responder communications after the september 11 attacks. that is at 12:15 p.m. eastern on c-span to. >> we will review the health- care debate in congress with highlights from house committee's hearings. on friday night, with the issue stands in the senate. -- wehrhere the issue stands in the senate. supreme court week starts october 4. >> today what we're doing is one of our final days of shooting our documentary on the supreme court. we have been in there for about two months. we have talked with nine other justices about their job to give us an inside window on how the court operates, the processes of the court, and humanizing it. while we're doing is describing a couple of final shots that we will add into the documentary. -- what we're doing is describing a couple of final shots that we will at into the documentary. >> this is just under one hour. >> good afternoon. welcome to the second session. our topic this afternoon is titled " intelligence, science, and technology, the way forward. my name is george ross

homeland security chief michael chertoff says other followers are here, working for the group. >> weare people who have raised money for hezbollah, and committed crimes to generate profits for hezbollah. but we don't -- can't tell you is how many of his people would lay down the money making and actually carry out an attack. >> reporter: iranian funding is an estimated $1 billion a year for hezbollah, and much of it drives hezbollah's popularity in lebanon, a significant amount of cash supports the worldwide terror network. the group has a deadly relationship with the u.s. in 1983, a bombing at a military bar racks killed 241 u.s. service men in beirut an 1996 blew up an apartment building in saudi arabia, killing 19 u.s. servicemen. experts say the next attack could be on u.s. soil, warning u.s. or israeli military hits on iran's nuclear programs would unleash a hezbollah retaliatory strike. another potential trigger, iran's domestic unrest. >> the success of the up rising inside iran against the regime may tell the regime, actually, to deflect attention from the events inside iran

the task force and former homeland security secretary, michael chertoff, think the lower levels are unlikelythey're recommending only using three, red, orange, and yellow. >>> now, for more on our top health care story, it is down to the wire in the make-or-break debate. a long-awaited bipartisan bill from the senate so called gang of six is expected tomorrow. live now to cnn's senior congressional correspondent, dana bash, on capitol hill. and, dana, where do things stand right now? >> reporter: where things stand right now, we'll have what may be the final meeting this afternoon, later this afternoon, with that so-called gang of six. three republicans, three democrats, who have been working for months on this bi -- the potential for a bipartisan health care plan. now, the man who is in charge of that key committee, the senate finance chairman, max baucus, we caught up with him just a little while in the hallway and he is trying to sound incredibly optimistic and confident about the fact that he believes it is possible that they are within reach of a bipartisan plan. listen to what he said

this is what he writes -- here is the cover of michael chertoff's book "homeland security: assessingthe first five years" and thank you, as always, for being on the "washington journal." the value voters summit is taking place up here in washington d.c. at the omni hotel. as you can see, it has gotten underway. some of the speakers, coming up. -- coming up, senator mitch mcconnell and others. miss california will be speaking also. but tv begins tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m.. 48 hours of book tv. thank you for joining us on the "washington journal." [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] . . this has absolutely driven them crazy. i want you to see this at. that's all watching this now. go to the monitors. >> they will not pay for my surgery. what are we going to do? >> honey, we cannot live this way. >> it to the planned parenthood is included in we are spending tax dollars on abortions. it will not a former surgery but we're forced to pay for abortion. >> are regeneration denied care. call your senator and a st

group of senators that came and went and administration officials, the homeland security secretary chertoff, and commerce secretary gutierrez, and we wrote it line by line with our staffs sitting on the wall. it was one of the highlights of my political life to be able to sit in that room with senator kennedy and other senators and literally try to write a bill that was difficult. we failed, for the moment, but we're going to reform our immigration system. in the guts of that bill, i think, the balance that we've achieved, will be the startingfoints for fopoint for . it is the ultimate give-and-take and it made a lot of sense. to his wife vicky, i got to know ted later in his life. through him i got to know you. i know you're hurting now. but i hope that all the things being said by his colleagues and the people at large is reassuring to you and as we move forward as a senate, when you okality the history of this body, which is long and distinguished, there are all kinds of busts to people around here that have done great things during challenging times, i would bet everything on that senat