Our lead story this week is from an interview with Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff, who talks about reorganizing the department, lessons learned from the Mumbai attacks, and the top challenges facing his likely successor, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. We’ve posted a few video excerpts from the interview — here’s Chertoff on reorganizing DHS: You can view more clips of the interview — which also included Coast Guard commandant Adm. Thad Allen — right here.
Browsing: Homeland Security
The president-elect hinted on Monday that he would keep FEMA inside the Homeland Security Department. DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff said yesterday that the alternative — pulling FEMA out as a separate agency — would be a mistake. Today, two prominent senators voiced their support for keeping FEMA where it is. In a letter to the New York Times, Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine — the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee — said FEMA needs to stay inside DHS. The agency still needs improvement, but our reforms are working: FEMA’s…
Citizenship and Immigration Services has a new director for the third time this year. Jonathan Scharfen announced his resignation today; Scharfen has been the acting director since Emilio Gonzalez left the top job back in April. He’ll be replaced by Michael Aytes, a longtime career staffer who’s currently the acting deputy director. Aytes is also the staffer who was designated to lead the agency between Inauguration Day and the confirmation of a new director. In a memo to employees last week, Scharfen said he was leaving the agency for “new professional challenges in the private sector”; no word on where…
Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff sat down with reporters from Federal Times this morning to share his thoughts on the transition, the department’s big programs, and its progress over the last six years. Chertoff gave high marks to the Obama administration’s secretary-designate, Janet Napolitano; he’s known Napolitano for more than a decade, and praised her management style. He also outlined what he saw as the most immediate priorities for the department under the new administration: Finish implementing the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which requires all travelers to show a passport when entering the United States, even citizens returning from countries…
No surprises from the president-elect’s press conference this morning. You can read about Obama’s national security team, and watch the conference, on the transition Web site. But there was an interesting bit of language in Obama’s introduction of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, his nomination for Homeland Security secretary: She understands the need for a homeland security department that can respond to terrorist attacks and respond to catastrophes. What’s interesting is the part about “respond[ing] to catastrophes.” That’s the responsibility of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And there’s been a lot of talk about removing FEMA from DHS and restoring it…
Earlier today we mentioned that Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is at the top of the list of candidates to take over the Homeland Security Department. And, as the Government Accountability Office reminds us in a new report released today, she would take over an agency full of management challenges. From the GAO: However, most initiatives related to defining and identifying the acquisition workforce and assessing workforce needs have not yet produced results and in some cases are progressing more slowly than originally projected. The department spends more than $10 billion each year on contracts — including some expensive and hard-to-manage…
Note: We’ll continue to update this thread as the president-elect reveals his plans for the Homeland Security Department. Secretary President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly offered the job to Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. The president-elect has reportedly picked Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to head DHS. Napolitano still has to be vetted by Obama’s transition team; a spokesperson for the Arizona governor’s office declined to comment on the selection. She would take over a five-year-old agency that is plagued by organizational problems and struggles with many of its core missions, particularly immigration. The department has spent billions on a still-unproven “virtual fence”…
Plans for a consolidated home for the newest Cabinet agency, the Homeland Security Department, are laid out in impressive detail in a series of documents that were submitted to federal planning officials earlier this week. Here are some highlights: The master plan calls for 4.5 million square feet of new and existing office space, plus another 1.5 million square feet of parking. Most of the development will be located on the west campus of the former St. Elizabeths mental hospital, a 176-acre site in southeast Washington that predates the Civil War. However, about 750,000 square feet of office space and another 270,000 square…