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President George W. Bush has picked former
New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik as his homeland security secretary
(Agencies) |
President Bush has picked as his homeland security
secretary former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who
helped the city respond to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and trained Iraqi
police, administration officials said.
The officials said on Thursday that Bush chose Kerik to replace Tom
Ridge, who announced his resignation on Tuesday, to lead U.S. efforts to
protect the country from Sept. 11-type attacks. An announcement could come
as early as Friday.
As Bush continued a broad overhaul of his second-term Cabinet, there
were indications that he was close to nominating a replacement for Energy
Secretary Spencer Abraham, who has announced his resignation.
In addition, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson
appeared close to announcing his anticipated resignation.
Kerik, 49, rushed to the site of the World Trade Center towers moments
after the Sept. 11 attack and helped then-New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
during the Sept. 11 crisis, to coordinate rescue efforts, restore order
and develop a plan for securing the city.
New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer issued a statement of support
for Kerik, whose position must be confirmed by the Senate.
"Coming from New York, Bernie Kerik knows the great needs and
challenges this country faces in homeland security. He has a strong law
enforcement background and I believe will do an excellent job in fighting
for the resources and focus that homeland security needs and deserves in
our post-9/11 world," Schumer said.
Kerik has been a strong Bush supporter, and Bush's re-election campaign
turned to him to react to charges about homeland security thrown at the
president by his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry.
"Kerik spent a lot of time on the campaign trail with Bush and was a
real political asset," said Scott Reed, a Republican strategist.
Kerik was Iraq's interim minister of the interior and served as senior
policy adviser for then-U.S. envoy Paul Bremer. Later he joined the
ex-mayor's consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, and spent three months in
Baghdad in 2003 helping train Iraqi police.
An Army veteran, former undercover narcotics cop and black belt in tae
kwon do, Kerik published in 2001 a memoir, "The Lost Son: A Life in
Pursuit of Justice," in which he described how he came from a broken home
in Newark, New Jersey.
In the book, he said his parents divorced when he
was 3 and his mother, an alcoholic and prostitute, was murdered when he was 4.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-12-03 14:56