Obama nominates new Homeland Security chief
US President Barack Obama named Jeh Johnson to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama Friday named Jeh Johnson, a former top Pentagon lawyer, to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Johnson would succeed Janet Napolitano who left earlier this year.
In his previous role, Johnson "helped design and implement many of the policies that have kept our country safe, including our success in dismantling the core of Al-Qaeda and the Fatah," Obama said at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.
"He s been there in the situation room. At the table, in moments of decision," the president said, stressing that, "from the moment I took office, Jeh was an absolutely critical member of my national security team."
Johnson said he found he could not refuse the nomination, even though he had left the government to return to private practice.
"I am a New Yorker. And I was present in Manhattan on 9/11, which happens to be my birthday," he said.
As the Pentagon s top lawyer, Johnson was responsible for a prior legal review of every military operation ordered by the president or the secretary of defense.
He was also part of a review team behind the repeal of the "Don t Ask, Don t Tell" prohibition on gays serving openly in the military, earlier in the Obama administration.
And he was involved in legal decisions surrounding the US drone program that has targeted terror suspects, and other key military operations.
The Homeland Security Department was set up after the September 11 attacks in 2001, and is responsible for counter-terror operations and protection on US soil.
It also oversees border enforcement, agencies including the Secret Service and works to combat natural disasters such as hurricanes.
Johnson served as the Defense Department s general counsel during Obama s first term.
His nomination must be confirmed by the Senate.
