I went to D.C. for a meeting last week with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews, Ambassador Gary Doer and others, to discuss how the United States and Canada can work together to protect North America. I have often said that it is a false choice between security and efficiency. If we’re creative and smart, we can have both. Part of that will require that we view the border as the last line of defense, and not the first.

Today’s meeting was a step in that direction. Minister Toews and Secretary Napolitano meet at least twice a year to discuss common issues. And their staffs work together on a daily basis both in Ottawa and in Washington. A product of that effort was a set of four agreements between the United States and Canada and we will continue to work together on our strategic relationship here in North America.

While I was in D.C., I used the opportunity to meet with several of my friends and colleagues at the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House. While it was great to see so many people, one bears special mention. My good friend Norm Eisen is currently Special Counsel to the President in the White House Counsel’s Office. But he is about to move on. He was recently nominated by the President as the next Ambassador to the Czech Republic.

While I am happy for Norm (and the people in the Czech Republic, to say nothing of the American people) his appointment is a particularly poignant one. During World War II Norm’s mother, who now lives on the West Coast, was deported from Czechoslovakia to a Nazi concentration camp in Germany. While she survived, many of her family members and friends did not. After the war, she came to live in the United States.

There is something special about the fact that her son, a brilliant lawyer who was a friend and classmate of the President, is returning to his family’s homeland as the United States Ambassador.
DJ