A committee on the current state of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was held at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum on Sept. 9 in New York.
Three former secretaries of DHS spoke during the committee, which came three days before the 18th anniversary of the largest terrorist attack in the country’s history. Former Sec. Michael Chertoff, former Sec. Janet Napolitano, and former Sec. Jeh Johnson all paid homage to those who perished in the 9/11 attacks and discussed the policies that the agency had created in response to the tragedy.
“I have to say the department, and the whole United States government, has been quite successful in making sure an attack of that scale has not been successful since Sept. 11,” said Sec. Michael Chertoff.
Nonetheless, Chertoff made it clear the agency has to do more, and made a point to talk about rising domestic terrorism.
“And even those are not purely domestic, they are reaching across borders using the internet to incite each other, to boast about the number of people that they’ve killed, and to continue to carry out these attacks,” said Chertoff.
The three secretaries shared about their chief concerns for the country, and while their concerns varied, they all agreed on the risks in cyber and cybersecurity.
“Our adversaries and international criminal organizations have become more brazen in their efforts to attack us and steal from us,” said Napolitano, who is now the president of the University of California.
