Deputy takes the reins at DHS
Elaine Duke steps into the top job at DHS, as outgoing chief John Kelly moves to the White House as Trump's chief of staff.
DHS Deputy Secretary Elaine Duke will lead the department as her former boss moves to a White House job.
Department of Homeland Security chief and retired Marine general John Kelly attended his first cabinet meeting as President Donald Trump's chief of staff on July 31.
With Kelly's departure, the Department of Homeland Security will be led on an acting basis by Deputy DHS Secretary Elaine Duke.
Although Duke was confirmed as deputy secretary only in April, she has a long history with the agency. She served as undersecretary of homeland security for management under George W. Bush and Barack Obama from July 2008 to April 2010. In 2010, she left for the private sector to work as an acquisition and business consultant.
Earlier still, Duke was deputy assistant administrator for acquisition at the Transportation Security Administration, where she oversaw the agency's post 9/11 acquisition program that federalized passenger and baggage screening at U.S. airports. Before that, she held various positions with the Department of Defense.
Possible candidates to permanently replace Kelly include Rep. Michael McCaul, (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee; Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
Kelly has been instrumental in implementing the Trump administration agenda on immigration and homeland security, although he didn't see eye to eye with his boss on every detail.
For instance, where the president campaigned on building a uniform, imposing physical barrier along the entire southern border, Kelly voiced support for a more pragmatic, layered approach using a variety of detection and surveillance technologies in terrain where a wall was impractical.
"A physical barrier -- [speaking] as a military person -- won't do the job," Kelly said at his Jan. 10 confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
At the same hearing, Kelly said he accepted with "high confidence" the intelligence on the hacking that found Russian agencies and its surrogates meddled with U.S. election interests. The White House has disputed that intelligence community consensus.
In a July 28 statement, Kelly thanked DHS employees, telling them that they were on a par with the Marine Corps in terms of professionalism and commitment.
Kelly is bringing Kirstjen Nielsen, his own chief of staff at DHS, with him the White House.