Borras named DHS acting deputy secretary
More than a dozen top leadership spots remain without permanent appointees.
Rafael Borras will become acting DHS secretary.
The White House has tapped Rafael Borras to become acting deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. Borras has been undersecretary for management at the agency since 2011. Chris Cummiskey, DHS's deputy undersecretary for management, will step into Borras' old job in an acting capacity. DHS officials confirmed both appointments.
The two appointments come as DHS has more than a dozen top-level managers' slots that are either vacant or filled by acting officers.
Borras replaces Rand Beers, who had stepped in for acting deputy secretary Jane Holl Lute after she left DHS in May. Lute is now president and CEO of the Council on CyberSecurity, a nonprofit organization launched in mid-August.
DHS has been under pressure to fill its vacant leadership posts. At a Sept. 19 House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) remarked that 18 of the agency's top 40 management positions were vacant.
The agency lost former DHS secretary Janet Napolitano in September when she departed the agency to become president of the California's state university system. Napolitano's permanent replacement has not been nominated.
President Barack Obama's nominee to fill the deputy secretary position, Alejandro Mayorkas, is still awaiting a Senate confirmation vote. Mayorkas, who is currently director of the Citizenship and Immigration Service, is being investigated by the DHS inspector general as part of a broader inquiry into CIS's foreign investor program.