chertoff

With Daniel Trotta of Reuters, had a joint interview with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday for this story. (For some reason he wasn’t doing press conferences, just little mini one-on-one interviews … or two-in-one in this case). We were in DHS’s 601 W. 26th St. offices — before the interview, in a speech to several dozen law enforcement, Chertoff mentioned how the Sept. 11 attacks occurred “just 10 blocks from here.” ??? (More like two miles, for those of you in New Zealand). He did seem like a nice enough guy though. I asked him about his geography confusion afterwards, semi-seriously … he joked they were “long blocks.” He also mentioned he had run along the West Side Highway many times, and that confused him. (You don’t see all the blocks from the highway). He does look like a runner, doesn’t he? In truth, the speaker before him had made the same mistake, and Chertoff was probably just repeating it.