President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Kirstjen Nielsen to run the Department of Homeland Security, taking on the job at a time when the agencies under its umbrella are at the center of national political controversies.
Nielsen has close ties with White House chief of staff John Kelly, who previously served as DHS secretary. The position has been vacant since he moved to the White House in July. Nielsen was DHS chief of staff under Kelly, and then became his principal deputy chief of staff when he switched to his current position.
“The Secretary of Homeland Security has such a wide range of responsibilities, some of which have very little relation to others. Getting the right person is hard. Getting the right person for this president, given his incredible personal volatility on substance and personnel, makes getting the right person much, much harder,” said Todd Rosenblum, former Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs under President Barack Obama.
Rosenblum said Nielsen “strikes me as an excellent candidate, especially recognizing the number of people unwilling to work for this president.”
Homeland Security, which oversees border protection, customs and services, has been tasked with stepping up enforcement of Trump’s controversial immigration policies. And in the midst of a deadly hurricane season, its emergency management arm is also in the spotlight.
One top Democrat said she would take a wait-and-see approach to Nielsen’s nomination.
“As our country continues to face ever-evolving threats posed by terrorism, cyber criminals, drug trafficking organizations, natural disasters, and more, it is critical that we have a leader at the Department of Homeland Security with the qualifications and experience necessary to keep Granite Staters and Americans safe,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire) in a statement.
“I look forward to evaluating Ms. Nielsen’s management experience and leadership abilities throughout the confirmation process,” she said.
The other Senate Democratic lawmakers from the Homeland Security Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Michael Chertoff, former Homeland Security Secretary from 2005-2009, said Nielsen’s “extensive familiarity” with DHS policy issues will likely prove useful if she is confirmed. “You need to have someone leading the department who has learned the lessons the hard way and has the bureaucratic experience to get things done,” he said.
“She certainly has my confidence,” said Former DHS Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis Charles Allen, who knew Nielsen from his time in the department. Allen is now a principal at The Chertoff Group, told The Cipher Brief.
“She’s strong, she’s tough, she’s deeply knowledgeable about some of the biggest rocks that have to be moved at Homeland Security,” he said.
One of the most significant national security challenges facing the U.S. is the threat to critical infrastructure, such as risks to electrical grids or communications systems. Nielsen deeply understands those issues, Allen said, and she also has “substantive” knowledge on other key problems DHS must tackle like human trafficking and cybersecurity.
DHS Acting Secretary Elaine Duke has been serving in the role, stirring controversy recently for describing the government’s response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico as a “good news story.” President Trump himself also provoked outrage by suggesting that federal aid for the stricken U.S. territory would need to end at some point.
Nielsen on Thursday said “we will remain fully engaged in the long recovery effort ahead of us.” Earlier that morning, Trump tweeted a statement that “we cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!”
Nielsen served as a special assistant to the president for prevention, preparedness, and response on the White House Homeland Security Council under then-President George W. Bush and prior to that created and managed the Offices of Legislative Policy and Government Affairs at the TSA.
For six years she was a senior fellow and member of the Resilience Task Force at the George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, and she also worked in the private sector at Sunesis Consulting and Civitas Group.
Mackenzie Weinger is a national security reporter at The Cipher Brief. Follow her on Twitter @mweinger.
