Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and former secretaries Michael Chertoff and Tom Ridge spoke Tuesday about the security challenges facing the nation in the “new normal” of a post-9/11 world. The discussion, called “A National Conversation on the Homeland Security Environment Looking Forward: The Secretaries’ Perspective,” was moderated by Admiral Thad Allen, M.P.A. ’86, distinguished professor of practice at GW, former commandant of the United States Coast Guard and national incident commander during the BP oil spill. The event was held in Jack Morton Auditorium.
Frank Cilluffo, director of GW’s Homeland Security Policy Institute, which co-hosted the event with the Homeland Security and Defense Business Council, said that speaking with all three secretaries at the same time was like seeing a decade of his life come together.
Mr. Cilluffo served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush on homeland security and has published extensively on homeland security topics. “You don’t get better public servants than the three who are joining us today,” Mr. Cilluffo said. “I’ve had the privilege to work with all of them. We’ve had the privilege to host all of them, but never before simultaneously.”
In his opening remarks, George Washington President Steven Knapp told the audience that HSPI leads the university’s work on homeland security, including training programs for first responders and graduate programs in cyber security, emergency management and security policy. “Today, we’ll have the opportunity to learn firsthand from an exceptionally distinguished panel,” he said.
Focusing on the need for collaboration and cooperation between public entities and private ones, the secretaries discussed the challenges facing the department now that threats have moved beyond what Mr. Allen called “a monolithic al-Qaeda.”
“We are looking at all hazards and all threats coming under the purview of the department—including germs, weather, oil, whatever can cross state boundaries and create a national challenge,” he said.
Secretary Ridge said he believes the department has evolved in its willingness to accept change and be open to it, and that one of its biggest challenges now is to create a “new culture of information sharing” that focuses on what can be shared between public and private players, rather than the “need to know” culture that characterized homeland security during the Cold War. “For homeland security to be most effective, it needs to share,” he said.
Secretary Chertoff said that during his leadership of the Department of Homeland Security, he came to see that he and his department simply couldn’t be in charge in all cases, and needed to cede control to trusted state and local government partners. “Like a baseball team, we might be the manager. The manager isn’t out in the field while play is going on…. You’re training and establishing the plays up front, and allowing the team to take the field and use that information to operate in a coordinated fashion.”
The secretaries spoke about budget cuts and how they can, ultimately, be useful tools for efficiency. The reality of tight budgets means that the department must work with states, local governments and nonprofit organizations, Secretary Napolitano said. “We’re making sure we’re not sending good money after bad,” she said. “We are looking at what is the right mix of manpower to technology… so everyone’s budget is used to maximum effectiveness.”
Secretary Chertoff agreed that budget realities force tough choices, but not necessarily bad ones. “What you decide you ought to do, you should do well. What you decide is not worth doing well, you shouldn’t do at all,” he said. Periods of budget austerity can also be the catalyst for the Department of Homeland Security to give up control of certain operations to other entities—public or private—that can do them effectively.
“There are a host of things that can be done, from a security standpoint, at the state or local level,” he said. “Look at the risks and figure out what is the best level of investment to manage the risk, and who is best situated to manage the risk. Sometimes it’s the private sector.”
All three secretaries agreed that cyber security is one of the department’s most important arenas, and also the one that is most ripe for cooperation outside the department.
“Cyber is probably the most rapidly evolving area, and it’s an area where there are no international rules,” Secretary Napolitano said. “We know that there are attacks via the Internet, and economic assets are stolen via the Internet. There’s a lot of work that needs to happen in this arena. We also know 85 percent of the nation’s critical infrastructure is in private sector hands and is dependent on a cyber network of some sort or another.”
Secretary Ridge said that because the government isn’t necessarily the best expert on cyber security, it needs to be open to collaboration.
“If there’s an area where you absolutely need the public-private sector partnerships, [cyber] is it,” he said. He recommended that President Obama and Congress examine the regulations that currently inhibit the private sector from working closely with the government on cyber security. The government doesn’t have the breadth and depth of knowledge about the digital threat, he said, that is available within the private sector. “At some point in time, it goes back to creating a culture of sharing information…. If you can’t trust Americans to secure America, who are you going to trust?” he asked.
The secretaries agreed on the need for a “Switzerland”—a nongovernmental place where frank and sensitive discussions about homeland security and collaboration can take place. They also provided a tongue-in-cheek recommendation that members of Congress be tested on the contents of previous Homeland Security departmental reports before requesting new reports.
Marc Pearl, ex-officio director of the Homeland Security and Defense Business Council, said despite all the incredible changes of the past decade and the successes the Department of Homeland Security has had since its creation, securing the nation is still an evolving work in progress, and that the private sector is ready to contribute.
“Industry is ready, willing and able to work even more collaboratively with government going forward,” he said. “Our goal is to enter into a fruitful, substantive and ongoing dialogue focusing on working together to achieve mission success.”