U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security
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The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the
federal department Federal is a department of Entre Ríos Province (Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it ...
tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the United States. The position was created by the
Homeland Security Act The Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002, () was introduced in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and subsequent mailings of anthrax spores. The HSA was cosponsored by 118 members of Congress. The act passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of ...
following the attacks of September 11, 2001. The new department consisted primarily of components transferred from other Cabinet departments because of their role in homeland security, such as the Coast Guard, the Federal Protective Service,
U.S. Customs and Border Protection United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilit ...
(which includes the
United States Border Patrol The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States' U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Customs and Border Protection and is responsible for securing ...
), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (which includes Homeland Security Investigations), the United States Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It does not, however, include the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
or the
U.S. Marshals Service The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforcem ...
. They continue to operate under U.S. Department of Justice. The current secretary of homeland security is Alejandro Mayorkas, since February 2, 2021. He is the first Latino and immigrant to lead the Department of Homeland Security.


List of secretaries of homeland security

Prior to the establishment of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, there existed an assistant to the president for the Office of Homeland Security, which was created following the September 11 attacks in 2001. Parties (5) (3) (4) Status a. James Loy served as acting secretary in his capacity as
Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security The deputy secretary of homeland security is the chief operating officer of the United States Department of Homeland Security, with responsibility for managing day-to-day operations. The department has over 208,000 employees and an annual budge ...
. b. Rand Beers served as acting secretary in his capacity as confirmed Undersecretary of Homeland Security for National Protection and Programs and Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security; Beers was the highest ranking Senate-approved presidential appointee at the Department of Homeland Security. c. Elaine Duke served as acting secretary in her capacity as
Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security The deputy secretary of homeland security is the chief operating officer of the United States Department of Homeland Security, with responsibility for managing day-to-day operations. The department has over 208,000 employees and an annual budge ...
. d. Kevin McAleenan served as acting secretary in his capacity as Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. His tenure was ruled unlawful. e. Chad Wolf served as acting secretary in his capacity as
Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Strategy, Policy, and Plans The Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It was created by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, replacing the former Office of Policy, and creating a new Senat ...
. His tenure was ruled unlawful. f. Peter Gaynor served as acting secretary in his capacity as Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator. g. David Pekoske served as acting secretary in his capacity as Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration


Order of succession

While appointment of acting officials is generally governed by the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 (FVRA), the
Homeland Security Act of 2002 The Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002, () was introduced in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and subsequent mailings of anthrax spores. The HSA was cosponsored by 118 members of Congress. The act passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of ...
creates exceptions to FVRA, mandating that the under secretary of homeland security for management is third in the line of succession for Secretary of Homeland Security, and establishes an alternate process by which the secretary can directly establish a line of succession outside the provisions of the FVRA. As of November 8, 2019, the order of succession is as follows. However, the legality of this update was challenged. #
Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security The deputy secretary of homeland security is the chief operating officer of the United States Department of Homeland Security, with responsibility for managing day-to-day operations. The department has over 208,000 employees and an annual budge ...
#
Under Secretary for Management The Under Secretary of State for Management is a position within the United States Department of State that serves as principal adviser to the Secretary of State and Deputy Secretary of State on matters relating to the allocation and use of Depar ...
# Commissioner of the
U.S. Customs and Border Protection United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilit ...
# Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans # Administrator and Assistant Secretary of the Transportation Security Administration # Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Formerly, an April 10, 2019 update to the DHS Orders of Succession, made pursuant to the
Homeland Security Act of 2002 The Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002, () was introduced in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and subsequent mailings of anthrax spores. The HSA was cosponsored by 118 members of Congress. The act passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of ...
, provided a different order in the case of unavailability to act during a disaster or catastrophic emergency: # Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security # Under Secretary for Management # Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection # Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency # Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency # Under Secretary for Science and Technology # Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis # Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration # Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement # Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services # Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans # General Counsel # Deputy Under Secretary for Management # Deputy Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection # Deputy Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration # Deputy Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement # Deputy Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services # Director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers As a result of Executive Order 13753 in 2016, the order of succession for the secretary of homeland security was as follows: # Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security # Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Management # Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency # Under Secretary of Homeland Security for National Protection and Programs #
Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology The Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Homeland Security. The Under Secretary, as head of the Science and Technology Directorate at DHS, is the pri ...
# Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis #Commissioner of
U.S. Customs and Border Protection United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilit ...
#Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration #Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement #Director of
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that administers the country's naturalization and immigration system. It is a successor to the Immigration and Naturalizati ...
# Assistant Secretary for Policy #General Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security #Deputy Under Secretary for Management #Deputy Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection #Deputy Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration #Deputy Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement #Deputy Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services #Director of the
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center The Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) serves as an interagency law enforcement training body for 105 United States government federal law enforcement agencies. The stated mission of FLETC is to "...train those who protect our home ...


Administration-cited potential nominees


Bernard Kerik

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
nominated Bernard Kerik for the position in 2004. However a week later, Kerik withdrew his nomination, explaining that he had employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny.


Raymond Kelly

By July 2013, Raymond Kelly had served as
Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for nearly 12 straight years. Within days of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano's announcement that she was resigning, Kelly was soon cited as an obvious potential successor by New York senator Charles Schumer and others. During a July 16, 2013, interview, President Obama referred generally to the "bunch of strong candidates" for nomination to head the Department of Homeland Security, but singled out Kelly as "one of the best there is" and "very well qualified for the job". Later in July 2013, the online internet news website/magazine ''
Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' detailed "a growing campaign to quash the potential nomination of New York City Police commissioner Raymond Kelly as the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security" amid claims of "divisive, harmful, and ineffective policing that promotes stereotypes and profiling". Days after that article, Kelly penned a statistics-heavy '' Wall Street Journal''
opinion article An opinion piece is an article, usually published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about a subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals. Editorials Opinion pieces may take the form of an editorial, ...
defending the NYPD's programs, stating "the average number of stops we conduct is less than one per officer per week" and that this and other practices have led to "7,383 lives saved—and... they are largely the lives of young men of color.""Ray Kelly: The NYPD: Guilty of Saving 7,383 Lives"
by Ray Kelly, ''Opinion: The Wall Street Journal'', July 22, 2013, retrieved August 4, 2013.
Kelly was also featured because of his NYPD retirement and unusually long tenure there in a long segment on the
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
program '' Sunday Morning'' in December 2013, especially raising the question of the controversial "stop and frisk" policy in New York City and the long decline and drop of various types of crimes committed.


See also

*
Interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
* List of current interior ministers


References


External links

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