The 10 Most Important Jobs to Be Filled Quickly at DHS

Those policies will reverberate throughout DHS’s components and have serious security implications.

“From a management perspective, this position has responsibilities that affect many of the offices and directorates within the department,” a Republican House Homeland Security staff aide said, adding that intelligence will be especially important during the first year of a president’s term. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell recently became the latest in a string of experts to identify that time as a period of vulnerability.

DHS has also pushed in recent years to increase intelligence and information-sharing among federal, state and local agencies. In that environment, the intelligence chief “will be the starting point for critical information that goes out to the fusion centers as well as other key components,” said Rich Cooper, a principal at the homeland consulting firm Olive, Edwards and Cooper.

• Undersecretary for Management — The next administration might have a little more time to find and then ease a qualified nominee into this position. The Homeland Security Advisory Council has urged DHS to make sure that Undersecretary Elaine C. Duke stays onboard to aid in the presidential transition.

The move emphasizes how important the job is to DHS operations. Like the assistant secretary for policy, the undersecretary for management is a key figure in the day-to-day running of the department. Whoever gets the nod will be in charge of personnel and acquisitions, two persistent problem areas for DHS, so he or she will have to be prepared to be one of the officials on whom Congress calls when it wants accountability.

“Regardless of the fact that the department is over five years old now, it is still in need of a personnel system that works: books that can be audited; acquisitions that occur without hassle or havoc; and a whole lot more,” Cooper said. “Keeping track of over 200,000 employees, thousands of contractors and billions of dollars in taxpayer funds and more falls to the undersecretary for management. This person is accountable to the secretary, the Congress and the rest of us for what happens here and there are no easy answers for them to present.”

• Undersecretary for National Protection and Programs Directorate — Robert D. Jamison’s current position crosses over into many of DHS’s critical functions. The assistant secretaries for cybersecurity and infrastructure protection report to him. He deals with states and municipalities, as well as federal agencies outside DHS. His work is affected by intelligence and information-sharing. Basically, if something involves managing or reducing risk, it involves the head of NPPD.

“The deputy administrator for national preparedness is responsible for overseeing how terrorism preparedness is integrated with disaster preparedness as well as setting policies that guide state and local use of grant funds,” said a Republican Committee on Homeland Security staffer.

The position will require someone who can serve as an effective communicator and can stand the heat of oversight. The undersecretary for NPPD will be the person “on the hook for management and execution” on fronts like cybersecurity and infrastructure, Cooper said, as well as “having to manage the various turf battles that go on with this issue.”

• Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security and Communications — This job, currently held by Gregory Garcia, is an example of a position covering a domain that might not have been considered especially important a decade ago. But, with reports of attackers from foreign nations trying to penetrate U.S. networks, critical facilities reporting thousands of attempted breaches and digital communications becoming increasingly important in how government and infrastructure functions, it has shot up the charts.

“Cybersecurity, by anyone’s measure, is a growing issue and one that will be with us for a long time,” said Donald H. Kent Jr., former DHS assistant secretary of legislative affairs and a current vice president at Navigators LLC.

Whoever gets the job faces a mountain of challenges, starting with the federal government’s attempt to build a comprehensive cyberdefense in as short a time as possible, with a blueprint that keeps evolving. Even within DHS, authority over the cyberdomain is divided, a situation the Center for Strategic and International Studies has labeled problematic. Adding to the difficulties: suggestions that the White House take over stewardship of cybersecurity, and the act that most of the nation’s critical infrastructure lies in private, not government, hands.

• Assistant Secretary for Policy — With his hands in everything from cargo security to visa waiver expansion, from REAL ID to E-Verify, and Secure Flight to immigration overhaul and interagency conflicts, Stewart A. Baker’s job is both important and underrated.

The 10 Most Important Jobs to Be Filled Quickly at DHS

“It’s absolutely critical, said the first person to hold the job, Stewart Verdery, who now serves as president of Monument Consulting Group. “It really should be an undersecretary, but they’ve had a hard time pushing it through Congress.”

Baker’s office deals with the private sector, other government entities and coordinates policy within DHS itself, making it a major player in the ongoing efforts to make it a more cohesive department. And failure in this position can come with tangible consequences.

“Ill-informed, ill-prepared and ill-advised policy can lead to disaster as DHS experienced with the Dubai Ports World controversy in 2006,” Cooper said. “The next assistant secretary for policy will have the challenge of trying to tune the DHS band of instruments into some sort of harmony. If they can’t, they risk the noise and dissonance that come from everyone not being on the same sheet of music and that will only make the department’s overall job in critical areas that much harder to do.”

• Customs and Border Protection Commissioner — The next three positions are dually important. First, they represent the heads of three of DHS’s largest and most active security components. And second, they have some of the largest public profiles of any DHS agencies.

Much of the Bush administration’s homeland security emphasis went toward America’s southern border, leaving Ralph Basham’s successor as CBP commissioner in charge of the border fence and the Secure Border Initiative, two areas that have presented plenty of headaches.

“We’ve had so many problems with the border,” Hamilton said.

Additionally, CBP has been drafted as a major player in Congress’ 100 percent cargo screening mandate.

“CBP is at a crossroads,” House Homeland Chairman Thompson said. “The next commissioner must have the right background and vision to deliver the results we have been seeking in border and maritime policy.”

Those pressures add up to a tough, nearly thankless job.

• Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement — Caught up in the middle of the debate between immigration enforcement and immigration overhaul, ICE is praised in some corners and denounced in others whenever it makes news.

“ICE’s enforcement actions have been branded by a few congressional members and other politically notable individuals as ‘terrorist’ and cruel,” Cooper said. “Whatever feelings people may have about their job and the methods they use, they are enforcing laws enacted by Congress and approved by president. It will be up to the new president and Congress how they act with these responsibilities and the end judgment of the American people whether they approve of it or not come Election Day 2010 and 2012.”

Meanwhile, Julie Myers’ successor will have to consider issues such as medical care for detainees and whether programs like Operation Scheduled Departure — which allows illegal immigrants to leave the country on their own terms in up to 90 days — are productive solutions. And he or she will have to be ready to take hits in the media and in front of Congress.

• TSA Administrator — Thompson said Kip Hawley, this position’s current occupant, brought stability to “an agency that struggled since 2002 under poor managers.” But the next in line still has a lot of work to do.

The 10 Most Important Jobs to Be Filled Quickly at DHS

“With a large workforce and important mission, the next assistant secretary will have to continue improvements while investing in the workforce but be open to collective bargaining,” Thompson said.

Over the next few years, TSA’s issues will include sustaining its workforce, bringing in new screening technology to airports and balancing initiatives like the 100 percent cargo screening mandate against its impact on commerce and daily operations. And, with staff at every airport security gate in the country, TSA also must serve as one of DHS’s most visible workforces.

• Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection — Unlike most DHS positions, which operate mainly within the government, a big part of this position is working with the private sector. Although the government has secure facilities and computer networks that current Assistant Secretary Robert B. Stephan has been put in charge of protecting from terrorist attacks and disasters, most of the country’s critical infrastructure is in private hands. That includes lines of communication, power plants and hospitals.

“This person will have to be not just the champion of the private sector but also their coach and critic pushing them to take more aggressive steps to protect themselves and improve their overall resilience,” Cooper said. “To do that, they will have to forge relationships of trust and respect with a range of public and private sector interests that are almost always at odds with one another. It will require balance, perspective and perseverance to manage it all in what are often highly charged political and operational environments, but the job has to be done.”

Rob Margetta can be reached at rmargetta@cq.com.