The Senate has confirmed by a vote of 78 to 16, the former general counsel at the Pentagon, Jeh Johnson, as the next DHS secretary, taking over from acting secretary Rand Beers who has been serving in the interim since September.
Jen Johnson is a close ally of Obama, having worked on the White House’s drone policy and the repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Most recently he has worked as a partner at the law firm Paul Weiss.
Johnson said during a recent confirmation hearing that a key priority would be to fix a leadership vacuum at DHS and filling numerous, vacant key leadership positions.
The chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Tom Carper, D-Del., praised Johnson for character and leadership qualities, noting that he has been a key player in the management team that ran the Defense Department underSecretaries Bob Gates and Leon Panetta.
