Michael Chertoff

Michael Chertoff co-chairs BPC’s Immigration Task Force. From 2005 to 2009, he served as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. He is the co-founder and executive chairman of The Chertoff Group, a global advisory firm that provides high-level strategic counsel to corporate and government leaders on a broad range of security issues, from risk identification and prevention to preparedness, response and recovery.

Before heading up the Department of Homeland Security, Chertoff served as a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Earlier, during more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, he investigated and prosecuted cases of political corruption, organized crime, corporate fraud and terrorism—including the investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In addition to his role at The Chertoff Group, Chertoff is senior of counsel at Covington & Burling LLP, and a member of the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations practice group.

Chertoff is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (1975) and Harvard Law School (1978). From 1979-1980 he served as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, Jr.