Thread: With Napolitano out at DHS, White House begins to vet replacements

With Napolitano out at DHS, White House begins to vet replacements


By Jordy Yager - 07/14/13 06:00 AM ET

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President Obama and his security advisors are busily compiling and vetting a list of possible candidates to replace outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.


With immigration reform on Congress’s front burner, the next nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will receive an extraordinary amount of scrutiny. But their resumes must go above and beyond the current immigration debate, according to those close to discussions. As the federal government’s largest umbrella department, DHS oversees more than two-dozen agencies and areas, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The following is a list of those being floated to become the next Homeland Security secretary.
William Bratton
With Republicans clamoring for more enforcement, both along the border and in America’s fight against terrorism, Bratton is the obvious choice for Obama.
As the former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and former commissioner of the Boston and New York City police departments, Bratton has earned his stripes and knows the threats facing America intimately.
Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum, said Obama needs to choose a secretary who is an enforcement expert but is adept at juggling the plethora of other issues that come with immigration, such as naturalization and customs.
Bratton’s no stranger to the gamut of areas within DHS’s purview. He has been a sitting member of the department’s advisory council for years, which provides policy and strategy recommendations to the secretary.
Ray Kelly
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough on Friday to recommend Kelly, the current commissioner of the New York Police Department (NYPD), who has long been floated as a possible candidate to take the helm of DHS.
DHS’s next “leader needs to be someone who knows law enforcement, understands anti-terrorism efforts, and is a top-notch administrator, and at the NYPD, Ray Kelly has proven that he excels in all three,” said Schumer in a statement.
Though he enjoys a healthy approval rating among New Yorkers, Kelly has been at the heart of some controversy over the NYPD’s secret spying on Muslims in the city, without probable cause, which could slow down a potential confirmation process.
Immigration advocates look relatively favorably on Kelly, however, calling attention to his three years as head of the U.S. Customs Service under President Clinton.
Richard Clarke
Having served in various security capacities within the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush, Clinton and George H.W. Bush, Clarke’s name was on Obama’s shortlist of potential DHS heads when he first took office in 2009.
His dust-up in 2004 with the last Bush administration over its handling of al Qaeda and terrorist threats in the lead up to the September 11, 2001, attacks could place him squarely in Senate Democrats’ favor.
Thad Allen
As a Coast Guard admiral, Allen used to head the largest of DHS’s many divisions, overseeing more than 40,000 people.
Allen was widely lauded on Capitol Hill for the rescue efforts under his command during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as well as the initial response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf.
Allen was also floated as a possible contender against Napolitano during Obama’s first term.
James Witt
President Clinton’s head of FEMA, Witt got his start in Arkansas but quickly turned FEMA into a well-respected disaster-relief organization that people came to depend on over the course of more than 300 emergencies while he was in office.
In 2005, former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco hired Witte to lead the state’s reconstruction efforts after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area.
Joe Lieberman
Lieberman earned the wide respect of Republicans and Democrats while serving as the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The former senator from Connecticut still has enough pull among his colleagues in the Senate and remains entrenched enough in the details of homeland security to have been called back earlier this year to testify in the House about the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.)
Rogers was widely floated as a possible candidate to be the next director of the FBI and a Senate bid was speculated to be in his future. But with both of those ships having sailed, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee may be hard pressed to turn down an opportunity to head DHS.
The former FBI agent has not been slow to criticize the administration on certain security matters, such as its response to the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, or its course of action in the ongoing Syria conflict, but it has not cost him the fresh bipartisan comity that he helped bring to the committee in 2010.

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Bye-bye, President Obama

By Bernie Becker - 07/14/13 06:00 AM ET


Janet Napolitano’s Friday announcement that she would step down as Homeland Security secretary to take the top spot at the University of California is just the latest personnel move in President Obama’s Cabinet.

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In his four-plus years in the Oval Office, Obama has seen key members of his administration depart for a variety of reasons, ranging from funding frustrations to practical burnout. Six of Obama’s original team remain in their Cabinet position: Attorney General Eric Holder; Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack; Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services; Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Education Secretary Arne Duncan; and Eric Shinseki, the secretary of Veterans Affairs.
The Hill takes a look at where 17 others who have served in Obama’s Cabinet, or in Cabinet-rank positions, have gone:
Secretary of State:
Current: John Kerry
Previously: Hillary Rodham Clinton (Jan. 2009 – Feb. 2013)
Clinton left Foggy Bottom after four grueling years of globetrotting as America’s top diplomat. And of course, armed with her new Twitter feed, much of Washington is watching for clues about whether the former New York senator will make another run for the White House in 2016.
Treasury Secretary:
Current: Jack Lew
Previously: Tim Geithner (Jan. 2009 – Jan. 2013)
Geithner headed back to New York after the "fiscal cliff," after being immersed in fiscal fires and dragdown budget battles during his stint in Washington. The former head of the New York Fed, who held that position during the 2008 fiscal crisis, is now a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and scored a book deal.
Defense Secretary:
Current: Chuck Hagel
Previously: Robert Gates (Dec. 2006 – July 2011)
A holdover from George W. Bush’s administration, Gates suggested in 2010 that it would be a mistake for Obama to try to find a replacement in a presidential election year. Still, Gates’s four-and-a-half years heading the Pentagon is among the longest for Defense secretaries.
Leon Panetta (July 2011 – Feb. 2013)
Panetta, first elected to Congress in 1976 and previously CIA director, decided to retire almost a half century after he joined the Army. He returned to his walnut farm in California, where, he joked, he would be “dealing with a different set of nuts” than in Washington.
Interior Secretary:
Current: Sally Jewell
Previously: Ken Salazar (Jan. 2009 – April 2013)
Salazar returned to Colorado, whose voters sent him to the Senate in 2004, after an eventful tenure that included the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Commerce Secretary:
Current: Penny Pritzker
Previously: Gary Locke (March 2009 – Aug. 2011)
A former Washington governor, Locke left Commerce to cross the Pacific and take over as ambassador to China. In Beijing, he replaced Jon Huntsman – who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for president last year.


John Bryson (Oct. 2011 – June 2012)
Bryson, a former energy executive in California, resigned after only eight months on the job, after he suffered a seizure and was involved in a series of car crashes. The Senate did not confirm a successor to Bryson for more than a year.


Labor Secretary:
Current: Seth Harris (Acting); Tom Perez (Nominee)
Previously: Hilda Solis (Feb. 2009 - Jan. 2013)
A former congresswoman, Solis stepped down amid chatter she would seek a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.


Transportation Secretary:
Current: Anthony Foxx
Previously: Ray LaHood (Jan. 2009 – July 2013)
An advocate for high-speed rail and against distracted driving, LaHood left the administration after growing frustrated with the battles in Congress over how to fund highway and transit programs.


Energy Secretary:
Current: Ernest Moniz
Previously: Steven Chu (Jan. 2009 – April 2013)
A Nobel Prize winner, Chu returned to academic life in the Bay Area, at Stanford. His tenure saw the administration pour resources into clean and efficient energy – to the consternation at times of Republicans, who saw those technologies as a risky bet.
White House Chief of Staff:
Currently: Denis McDonough

Previously: Rahm Emanuel (Jan. 2009 – Oct. 2010)
The famously bombastic Emanuel, in place for many of Obama’s signature achievement, left to seek – and eventually secure – the Chicago mayor’s office.


William Daley (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012)
Another Chicagoan, Daley left for home even after the president pressed him to stay. Known to be business-friendly, Daley had been unable to help hash out a bipartisan budget deal, and gave up some day-to-day operations to Pete Rouse before departing.
Jack Lew (Jan. 2012 – Jan. 2013)
Obama shifted Lew, a known budget wonk, to Treasury as tax-and-spending issues continue to be one of the central issues in Washington.


Environmental Protection Agency Administrator:
Current: Robert Perciasepe (Acting)
Previously: Lisa Jackson (Jan. 2009 – Feb. 2013)
After an at times frustrating tenure, Jackson landed as top environmental officer at the tech giant Apple.




Office of Management and Budget Director:
Currently: Sylvia Mathews Burwell
Previously: Peter Orszag (Jan. 2009 – July 2010)
Orszag, who eventually landed at Citigroup, was perhaps the first major figure to leave the Obama administration, doing so not long after the passage of the signature healthcare law.


Jack Lew (Nov. 2010 – Jan. 2012)
Lew's switch from OMB to White House chief of staff, after being a key player in ultimately unsuccessful grand bargain talks, illustrated the importance of budget issues in the 2012 election year.


U.S. Trade Representative:
Currently: Michael Froman
Previously: Ron Kirk (March 2009 - March 2013)
A former Dallas mayor, Kirk returned to the Lone Star state to practice law with Gibson Dunn, a move he said would allow him to stay connected to global issues.


U.S. Ambassador to United Nations:
Current: Rosemary DiCarlo (Acting)
Previously: Susan Rice (Jan. 2009 – July 2013)
Rice’s assertions, shortly after the Benghazi attack, that there wasn’t evidence that the assault was planned derailed any chance she had at potentially getting confirmed for secretary of State. Obama later tapped her to be National Security Adviser, a position that doesn’t require the Senate’s consent.


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DHS’ Napolitano Leaves Legacy Of Corruption, Lies, Lawsuits, And Waste

July 14, 2013
in Front Page, Government




By Bob Adelmann

Many were surprised at Janet Napolitano’s announcement that she will leave her position as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at the end of August to become president of the University of California. Chosen from more than 300 candidates vying for the position, Napolitano managed to keep her interest in that position, and her successful bid for it, from the public until Friday.
She issued the usual departure appreciation statement:

I thank President Obama for the chance to serve our nation during this important chapter in our history. And I know the Department of Homeland Security will continue to perform its important duties with the honor and focus that the American public expects.
In response the president issued his dutiful reply:
Since day one, Janet has led my administration’s effort to secure our borders, deploying a historic number of resources, while also taking steps to make our immigration system fairer and more consistent with our values.
And the American people are safe and more secure thanks to Janet’s leadership in protecting our homeland against terrorist attacks.
Senator Jeff Sessions, (R-Ala.), saw things just a little differently: Napolitano’s tenure has been marked “by a consistent disrespect for the rule of law,” he observed.
Almost from her first day in office Napolitano failed to grasp the difference between truth and falsehood. Taking office in January 2009, she stoked controversy and an angry response from the Canadian ambassador when she incorrectly claimed that the September 11, 2001 attackers had entered the United States from Canada. When caught, she demurred without apology:
DHS’ Napolitano Leaves Legacy Of Corruption, Lies, Lawsuits, And Waste [continued]







http://libertycrier.com/dhs-napolita...its-and-waste/