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Stepping in as head of a small bureaucracy that's running on auto-pilot is not in the same league as trying to tame a beast with hundreds of thousands of employees.

Moreover, Chertoff is the genius who indicted Arthur Andersen to teach them a lesson. As a direct consequence, they promptly failed with the loss of over 100,000 jobs worldwide and left the financial markets with only four surviving firms large enough to audit world finance and industry. This is now widely seen as a disastrous miscalculation on the part of DOJ. It tells me that Chertoff's vaunted intelligence is of the theoretical, not practical, kind.

If he gets the job, good luck to him (and us), because we'll all need it. But his nomination is a mistake.

Spare me the sob story over Arthur Andersen. The company had engaged in sloppy work which more than pushed the envolope of acceptable ethics. As for your line that there was a "loss of over 100,000 jobs worldwide", I will point out that the need for work did not evaporate, it just moved away from AA. Since the work was picked up by other firms (who had to bring on people to handle the load) there was no net loss in jobs. As for if there being four firms "large enough" to audit world finance and industry is substantially different than there being five, I am more than skeptical, and believe in the market enough to know that if there is a need, there will be competitors to step up and fill that need.

As for the characterization that the criminal division of the DOJ is a small bereaucracy that's running on auto-pilot, I dissent.

"Stepping in as head of a small bureaucracy that's running on auto-pilot is not in the same league as trying to tame a beast with hundreds of thousands of employees."

He's the former head of the DOJ's Criminal Division.
If you think that is "auto pilot" you must be smoking something pretty strong.

"Moreover, Chertoff is the genius who indicted Arthur Andersen to teach them a lesson. "

Crimes and fraud were committed at Aurthur Anderson
The DOJ is there to prosecute those who break Federal Law.
There is no "teaching of lessons" here.
That's left for the classroom.
He just did his job. And very well too I might add.
In this country, we promote those who efficiently carry out their duties in serving the state. That is why is now nominated for Homeland Security Chief.