United States Secretary of Homeland Security

Secretary of Homeland Security of the United States of America
Seal of the Department of Homeland Security
Flag of the Secretary of Homeland Security
Incumbent Elaine Duke[1] Acting since July 31, 2017
United States Department of Homeland Security
Style	Madam Secretary
Member of	Cabinet
Reports to	The President
Seat	Washington, D.C.
Appointer	The President with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	6 U.S.C. § 112
Formation	January 24, 2003
First holder	Tom Ridge
Succession	Eighteenth[2]
Deputy	Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
Salary	Executive Schedule, level 1
Website	www.dhs.gov

The United States Secretary of Homeland Security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the body concerned with protecting the U.S. and the safety of U.S. citizens. The secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet. The position was created by the Homeland Security Act 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 (which includes the Border Patrol), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (which includes Homeland Security Investigations), the Secret Service, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It did not, however, include the FBI or the CIA.^[3]

On January 20, 2009, the Senate confirmed Barack Obama's appointment of Janet Napolitano to be the third Secretary of Homeland Security,^[4] effective January 21, 2009.^[5] Napolitano resigned effective August 2013 to head the University of California. On October 17, President Obama announced his intention to nominate former General Counsel of the Department of Defense Jeh Johnson, and on December 16, the US Senate confirmed the nomination.^[6]

The current Acting Secretary of Homeland Security is Elaine Duke following the appointment of the then-incumbent secretary, John F. Kelly, to the post of White House Chief of Staff by President Donald Trump.^[7]

Inclusion in the presidential line of succession

Traditionally, the order of the presidential line of succession is determined (after the Vice President, Speaker of the House, and President pro tempore of the Senate) by the order of the creation of the cabinet positions, and the list as mandated under 3 U.S.C. § 19 follows this tradition.

On March 9, 2006, 43rd President George W. Bush signed H.R. 3199 as Pub.L. 109–177, which renewed the still controversial Patriot Act of 2001 and amended the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 to include the newly created Presidential Cabinet position of Secretary of Homeland Security in the line of succession after the previously authorized Secretary of Veterans Affairs (§ 503) (which are listed and designated in the order that their departments were created). In the 109th Congress, legislation was introduced to place the Secretary of Homeland Security into the line of succession after the Attorney General but that bill expired at the end of the 109th Congress and was not re-introduced.

List of Secretaries of Homeland Security

Prior to the establishment of the 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

  Republican (2)   Democratic (3)   Independent (1)

Status

  Denotes acting Homeland Security Secretary

No.	Portrait	Name	State of residence	Took office	Left office	President(s)
1		Tom Ridge	Pennsylvania	January 24, 2003	February 1, 2005		George W. Bush
–		James Loy	Pennsylvania	February 1, 2005	February 15, 2005
2		Michael Chertoff	New Jersey	February 15, 2005	January 21, 2009
3		Janet Napolitano	Arizona	January 21, 2009	September 6, 2013		Barack Obama
–		Rand Beers	District of Columbia	September 6, 2013	December 16, 2013
4		Jeh Johnson	New Jersey	December 23, 2013	January 20, 2017
5		John F. Kelly	Virginia	January 20, 2017	July 31, 2017		Donald Trump
–		Elaine Duke	Virginia	July 31, 2017	Acting

¹ James Loy served as acting secretary in his capacity as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from February 1, 2005, to February 15, 2005.

² 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 from September 6, 2013, to December 23, 2013.

³ Elaine Duke serves as acting secretary in her capacity as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from July 31, 2017, to present.

Living former Secretaries of Homeland Security

As of August 2017, there are six living former Secretaries of Homeland Security, the oldest being Tom Ridge (served 2003–2005, born 1945).

Order of succession

The order of succession for the Secretary of Homeland Security is as follows:^[8]

1. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
2. Under Secretary of Homeland Security for National Protection and Programs
3. Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Management
4. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Policy (acting as Under Secretary-equivalent)
5. Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology
6. General Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security
7. Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration
8. Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
9. Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
10. Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
11. Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
12. Chief Financial Officer
13. Regional Administrator, Region V, Federal Emergency Management Agency
14. Regional Administrator, Region VI, Federal Emergency Management Agency
15. Regional Administrator, Region VII, Federal Emergency Management Agency
16. Regional Administrator, Region IX, Federal Emergency Management Agency
17. Regional Administrator, Region I, Federal Emergency Management Agency

Administration-cited potential nominees

Bernard Kerik

George W. Bush 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.^[9]

Raymond Kelly

By July 2013, Raymond Kelly had served as Commissioner 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.^[10]

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".^[11]

Later in July 2013, the online internet news website/magazine Huffington Post 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".^[12] Days after that article, Kelly penned a statistics-heavy Wall Street Journal opinion article 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."^[13]

Kelly was also featured because of his NYPD retirement and unusually long tenure there in a long segment on the CBS News 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.

References