Michael Chertoff
AP
Chertoff headed the Justice Department's criminal division from 2001 to 2003, when he played a central role in the nation's legal response to the Sept. 11 attacks. He also served as the Senate Republicans' chief counsel for the Clinton-era Whitewater investigation. In 2000, he was special counsel to the state Senate Judiciary Committee that investigated racial profiling in New Jersey, where he was the state' U.S. attorney from 1990 to 1994.
Chertoff was actually the president's second pick for the job vacated by Tom Ridge, who helped create the department after the Sept. 11 attacks. Former New York City police chief Bernard Kerik withdrew as a nominee, citing immigration problems with a family housekeeper.
Ridge, the nation's first Homeland Security chief, resigned from the post in November 2004. He became President Bush's chief adviser on homeland defense after the Sept. 11 attacks, serving as Homeland Security director prior to the creation of the new Cabinet-level department. He stepped down as governor of Pennsylvania to join the Bush administration.
Ridge grew up near Erie, Pa., and graduated from local Catholic schools, worked his summers as a union laborer and went to Harvard University. Sent to Vietnam in the spring of 1970, Staff Sgt. Ridge earned several combat medals, including the Bronze Star for Valor. After returning to Pennsylvania and earning his law degree, he became an assistant district attorney in Erie County. He was successful in his first bid for Congress in 1982 and served 12 years. Ridge was narrowly elected governor in 1994 and re-elected handily in 1998.
Ridge was twice mentioned as a potential Republican candidate for vice president - for a brief period during the early days of Bob Dole's run for the presidency in 1996 and more prominently as a potential running mate for candidate Bush.