HOMELAND SECURITY NOMINEE JEWISH

YES, MICHAEL CHERTOFF IS JEWISH.

Bush nominates judge to head homeland security
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday nominated federal appeals court judge Michael Chertoff, a former assistant attorney general in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, to be secretary of homeland security. "I'm confident he'll be a strong and effective leader," the president said of Chertoff, whose previous experience makes him very familiar with the levers and pulleys of power and how to move them.

The choice of Chertoff, 51, came as a surprise as his name was not on any lists that have surfaced since Bernard Kerik, the former New York police chief, withdrew his nomination.
Several other people had been interviewed since Kerik withdrew last month, but Chertoff was not reported among them.

Chertoff is currently a judge with the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was nominated to the seat in March 2003 by the president. A Harvard law graduate, Chertoff previously headed the Justice Department’s criminal division, where he played a central role in the nation’s legal response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Before that he was in private practice and in 1994-96 served as the Senate Republicans’ chief counsel for the Clinton-era Whitewater investigation.