The guardian, continued
As a federal prosecutor with management responsibilities, Chertoff learned to address bureaucratic problems, especially how to bring multiple law enforcement investigative agencies into line and to be certain that everyone was pulling in the same direction.
William Barr, attorney general in the administration of the first President Bush, says Chertoff's experience building bridges to and between state and federal law enforcement agencies will serve him well at Homeland Security. "It's important for a leader to understand this is a field organization," Barr said.
Chertoff's success was noticed back at department headquarters, where Barr included him in his inner circle. "He was second to none," said Barr, who turned to him for advice and help with the most controversial and complicated cases.
But it was the case of a kidnapped Exxon executive, Sidney Reso, that Chertoff says affected him most deeply. It was one of the rare instances when he had to handle a violent crime as it was unfolding. Chertoff comforted Reso's family members after his body was discovered in a New Jersey forest.
Even after stepping down from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Chertoff continued to serve as counsel in probes of public corruption and racial profiling in New Jersey. "He was just offended by [these things]," said former Assistant U.S. Attorney Walter Timpone, who attributes Chertoff's zeal for public service to his upbringing as the son of a New Jersey rabbi. "He's got a real sense [that] this is his way to give back to the community," Timpone said.
In 1994, Chertoff took on his most controversial (and, as it turned out, least successful) assignment--as chief counsel to the Senate Whitewater probe of President and Mrs. Clinton. Critics accused him of leading an overzealous witch hunt that had little to show after dozens of witnesses and tens of thousands of pages of testimony.
Nevertheless, Chertoff calls the Whitewater assignment a fascinating experience in which he gained his first close-up exposure to the legislative branch. He acknowledged only that such investigations "can be very painful and difficult" for those on the receiving end.
Despite the controversy, his role in the Whitewater probe did not harm Chertoff in the long run. In 2001, President Bush nominated him to be assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division of the Justice Department, and the Senate confirmed him nearly unanimously.
In that role, he led the Justice Department's investigation of Enron and its accounting firm, Arthur Andersen. But most of his time was dedicated to helping formulate the Bush administration's legal strategy for combating terrorism, including the decision to sweep up hundreds of foreigners on immigration charges. He also helped craft the USA Patriot Act and staunchly defended the government's antiterror efforts.
"Are we being aggressive and hard-nosed? You bet ... but let me emphasize that every step that we have taken satisfies the Constitution and federal law as it existed both before and after September 11," Chertoff told a Senate hearing in November 2001.
At the top of the criminal division, Chertoff had to oversee all of the federal government's prosecutions and coordinate many of its most sensitive and complex law enforcement investigations, including those conducted by joint task forces of federal, state and local authorities. In that capacity, he learned to deal with multiple agencies and jurisdictions, and to cut through bureaucratic entanglements as efficiently as possible. Barr and other supporters note that he is particularly well-prepared for similar challenges at the Department of Homeland Security.
