Chertoff: We Do Not Want to be a Fortress State

July 26, 2005

DHS Secretary Chertoff speech re security and balance The Department of Homeland Security released remarks delivered by Secretary Michael Chertoff at a recent conference. He said, in part: “We do not want to be a fortress state. We do not want to be a security nation. We want to be a secure nation. And that means part of our assessment of priority and part of our assessment of risk always involves an element of balance. We want to balance the steps that we take to make sure we are optimizing the protection against risk, but with regard to things like our freedom, our privacy and our prosperity, because we will lose this war if we turn ourselves into a fortress. We will lose this war if we devalue those things which we hold dear in order to gain additional measures of protection. What we want to do is find that level of protection which addresses our greatest risks, but which allows us to do so in a way that is consistent with the values that everybody in this country holds very dear.” (HK Law)

Chertoff: We Do Not Want to be a Fortress State

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