Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff to Speak at Yale

The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will deliver the 2007–2008 Sam and Ronnie Heyman Lecture on Public Service on April 7 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 127 at Yale Law School, 127 Wall St.

The lecture, titled “Confronting the Threats to Our Homeland,” is free and open to the public.

Chertoff was sworn in as the second secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on February 15, 2005. He formerly served as United States circuit judge for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He was previously confirmed by the Senate to serve in the Bush administration as assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. In that position, he helped to trace the 9/11 terrorist attacks to the al-Qaida network and improved the sharing of information among the FBI, state and local officials.

Before joining the Bush administration, Chertoff was a partner in the law firm of Latham & Watkins. From 1994 to 1996 he served as special counsel for the U.S. Senate Whitewater Committee. Prior to that, Chertoff spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, including service as U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, first assistant U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, and assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. As United States attorney, Chertoff investigated and prosecuted several significant cases of political corruption, organized crime and corporate fraud.

Chertoff graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1975 and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1978. From 1979 to1980 he served as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, Jr.

The Heyman Lecture is the keynote for the first annual Heyman Federal Public Service Colloquium, which will take place earlier that day. The colloquium highlights the Heyman Federal Public Service Fellowship Program at Yale Law School, which since 2006, has enabled graduates to explore careers in public service by working closely with high-level U.S. government leaders for a year.