Obama Selects Former Pentagon Attorney to Lead Department of Homeland Security
This story appears in the Oct. 28 print edition of Transport Topics.
President Obama has nominated Jeh Johnson, who was the Department of Defense’s top lawyer, to be secretary of Homeland Security.
If confirmed by the Senate, Johnson will oversee U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency responsible for freight security at ports, airports and the Mexican and Canadian borders.
Among the programs Johnson would inherit as secretary is the agreement signed with Canada in March for a pilot program allowing U.S.-bound trucks to be inspected on the Canadian side at two crossings.
The two are Fort Erie, Ontario, near Buffalo, N.Y., and at Surrey, British Columbia, across from Blaine, Wash. The program is intended to speed freight across the border.
Johnson was nominated Oct. 18 to replace Janet Napolitano, who left the post last month after four years to become president of the University of California.
“From the moment I took office, Jeh was an absolutely critical member of my national security team, and he demonstrated again and again the qualities that will make him a strong secretary of Homeland Security,” Obama said.
“He’s been there in the Situation Room at the table in moments of decision, working with leaders from a host of agencies to make sure everyone is rowing in the same direction,” the president said.
Johnson faces confirmation hearings before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
“Mr. Johnson brings a wealth of experience from the Department of Defense, and I am eager to meet with him and discuss his vision for the Department of Homeland Security,” Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), committee chairman, said in a statement posted on the panel’s website.
Committee spokeswoman Jennie Westbrook said no date has been set yet for the hearings.
This will not be Johnson’s first experience with the Senate confirmation process.
He had to be confirmed before becoming general counsel at DOD in February 2009 and in 1998 after President Clinton appointed him general counsel to the U.S. Air Force. He served in that post until 2001 before resuming private practice at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City.
At the White House announcement, Johnson said he is a New Yorker and was in Manhattan during the 9/11 attacks.
“I wandered the streets of New York that day and wondered and asked, what can I do,” Johnson said. “Since then, I have tried to devote myself to answering that question.”
