New homeland security secretary praises department's employees

Newly confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff heaped praise on the department's employees Wednesday, telling them they are "doing maybe the most important job in government."

"I'm very proud to join you in serving the American people," Chertoff said in a speech to about 200 employees at DHS headquarters in Washington. "There's nothing you can do professionally that is more important than serving the United States."

Chertoff, a former federal judge, was unanimously confirmed by the Senate Tuesday to be the second homeland security secretary. He now takes over a behemoth department that is only two years old and experiencing the growing pains of merging 22 agencies and 180,000 employees under one identity.

Chertoff said people have approached him during the past five weeks and thanked him for joining DHS, "because they think the work of this department is so important and the people who serve here are doing maybe the most important job in government, which is protecting their families and their loved ones."

He added: "Having been in a number of different government jobs, I have to say I've never experienced the sense of public ownership that I experienced since I've become the nominee for this department. And I think it's a tribute to the important work that you do and the service that you render that people feel that way."

He said the department's mission has taken on an "new urgency" as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"And so, when sometimes we get tired or frustrated or impatient," he said, "I think the thing that I will bear in mind is that we have a tremendous responsibility and a tremendous privilege, and every day we can carry that out is a day that we can feel we've done a job very well done."

Chertoff served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit since 2003. Prior to that, he was the former chief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, where he helped formulate the administration's policy immediately after the 9/11 attacks and helped create and implement the 2001 USA Patriot Act.

His Senate confirmation was delayed due to a dispute between Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and the Bush administration about contentious memorandums on the administration's torture policies. Despite the squabble, Levin voted for Chertoff.

Chertoff also praised outgoing secretary Tom Ridge and deputy secretary James Loy. He added that he wants to hear about the experiences of his new employees and their ideas on how to make the department better.