Michael Chertoff

Michael Chertoff (born November 28, 1953) is an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security to serve under President George W. Bush. Chertoff also served for one additional day under President Barack Obama. He was the co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act. Chertoff previously served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as a federal prosecutor, and as Assistant U.S. Attorney General. He succeeded Tom Ridge as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security on February 15, 2005. Since leaving government service, Chertoff has worked as senior of counsel at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Covington & Burling. He also co-founded the Chertoff Group, a risk-management and security consulting company. He is also the Chair and a member of the board of trustees in the international freedom watchdog Freedom House. Chertoff also sits on the bipartisan advisory board of States United Democracy Center. Early life and education Michael Chertoff was born on November 28, 1953, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. His father was Rabbi Gershon Baruch Chertoff (1915–96), a Talmud scholar and the former leader of the Congregation B'nai Israel in Elizabeth. His mother was Livia Chertoff (née Eisen), she was a naturalized American citizen after having held status under a British mandate and was the first flight attendant for El Al. His paternal grandparents are Rabbi Paul Chertoff and Esther Barish Chertoff. Chertoff attended the Jewish Educational Center in Elizabeth as well as the Pingry School. He graduated from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975. During his sophomore year, he studied abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He then attended Harvard Law School, where he worked as a research assistant for John Hart Ely on his book Democracy and Distrust. Chertoff received a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, in 1978.