Cyber Focus: Cybersecurity, National Security, and Critical Infrastructure

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff joins Frank Cilluffo for a firsthand account of that day and the national security transformation that followed.

Chertoff recalls arriving at the FBI command center as the attacks unfolded, hearing the order to shoot down the fourth plane and confronting the urgent question of whether more attacks were coming. He also describes the information-sharing barriers exposed by 9/11 and the effort to bring agencies with different missions and cultures together under the newly created Department of Homeland Security.

The conversation then turns to the threats facing the country today. Chertoff explains why terrorism has become more distributed and difficult to detect, how cyberattacks and artificial intelligence are changing homeland security, and why the United States must remain vigilant without treating every risk as something that can be eliminated entirely.

Main topics

• Michael Chertoff's memories of September 11
• Building DHS and breaking down information silos
• How the terrorist threat has evolved
• Cyber, AI and critical infrastructure
• Vigilance and managing risk

Key quotes

"Within minutes after I arrived, we heard about the third plane hitting the Pentagon, and then I remember sitting in the command center and hearing the order being relayed to shoot down the fourth plane." — Michael Chertoff

"If you don't coordinate at the federal level, you run the risk of again having another missed opportunity to stop a terrorist attack." — Michael Chertoff

"We've undermined those big terrorist organizations, but now we have very small networks or even individuals who are acting because they're being prompted or even on their own, they're getting radicalized." — Michael Chertoff

"The distributed nature of terrorism now, and the fact that we now have domestic terrorists, indigenous to the U.S., means that the process of detecting is much more difficult." — Michael Chertoff

"The problem has not gone away. It's simply altered and modified and evolved." — Michael Chertoff

"What you have to do is manage the risk by understanding what's a reasonable amount of risk you have to tolerate." — Michael Chertoff

Links and resources

About the Guest

Michael Chertoff served as U.S. secretary of homeland security from 2005 to 2009, following roles as a federal appeals court judge and assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Criminal Division. He previously supervised the Justice Department's investigation into the 9/11 attacks and is the author of Exploding Data: Reclaiming Our Cyber Security in the Digital Age. He is now co-founder and executive chairman of the Chertoff Group, a global security risk management and advisory firm.

Cyber Focus is the new podcast from The McCrary Institute for Cyber and Infrastructure Security. The institute seeks practical solutions to real-world problems, underpinned by research and scholarship. Led by host Frank Cillufo, each week Cyber Focus will be the place to hear from the leading voices in cybersecurity, and discover what challenges they believe the country must address to ensure a safe and secure future. Subcribe now, and join us again for our first episode on January 31st.