Department of Homeland Security - Obama Presidency Oral History Department of Homeland Security Index / Organizations Transcripts John Morton ...the office and for the powers of the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] and the CBP and ICE needed to b... ...the Department of Homeland Security [ DHS ] and the CBP and ICE needed to b... ...in softer steps in other parts of the Department of Homeland Security , as well, from an immigratio... ...officials, including myself, within the Department of Homeland Security , that came together and talked abou... ...were working on. So a lot of it was in DHS . The politics, particularly in thos... ...position than CBP was. The way DHS was structured, and ICE was structured... ...in the wake of the creation of the Homeland Security Department was that ICE had a portion of th... ...you were doing a reorganization of DHS , would you uncouple the two? It's ... ...the government. I used to work in the Department of Homeland Security , and did this and this.'” But I d... Show more... Melody Barnes ...the local law enforcement community, at DHS [Department of Homeland Security], the... ...law enforcement community, at DHS [ Department of Homeland Security ], they were important issues. So w... Loretta Lynch ...our national security. So both DOJ, DHS [Department of Homeland Security], NS... ...national security. So both DOJ, DHS [ Department of Homeland Security ], NSA [National Security Agency] wer... ...we spent a lot of time, both at DOJ and DHS , trying to come up with programs t... Farhana Khera ...We called on the administration and the Department of Homeland Security [DHS], which oversees the borde... ...the Department of Homeland Security [ DHS ], which oversees the border officials... ...we were focused. In those early years, DHS is under Janet Napolitano. Eric Holde... ...think generally yes. I'm going to take DHS first, so under Secretary Napolitano... Neil Eggleston ...with Jeh Johnson, the secretary of DHS [Department of Homeland Security], an... ...Jeh Johnson, the secretary of DHS [ Department of Homeland Security ], and he did it personally at DHS. I... ...Security], and he did it personally at DHS . It was interesting. He really took i... Dan Pfeiffer ...Emergency Management Agency] and the Department of Homeland Security . So we had some very serious... Jennifer Palmieri ...Treasury, and head of public affairs of DHS [Department of Homeland Security]. Bu... ...and head of public affairs of DHS [ Department of Homeland Security ]. But I was not the final candidat... Alan Bersin ...as chief diplomatic officer for the Department of Homeland Security [DHS], where he served for th... ...the Department of Homeland Security [ DHS ], where he served for the remainder o... ...it in this far-flung, relatively new Department of Homeland Security , there are eight different people wh... ...the ground different, but now you had DHS , which was a very different kind o... ...that had taken place, Nicky, was that DHS , for all of its difficulties, whic... ...broad a series of missions. But what DHS had accomplished, largely in respons... ...departments. But in 2003, when DHS was formed, it was in the Department o... ...Yes, to the extent that we saw not only DHS and the Department of Justice but als... ...of Health and Human Services], DHS , with a real coordinating element a... ...result of nine-eleven and the birth of DHS in that context, Customs and Borde... ...particular Mexico and Canada— DHS actually is the principal agency in th... ...that was implemented as a whole of DHS approach. I think this was the mai... ...the secretary were really the key. But DHS didn't control that legislation. ... ...Council. We really partnered on this, DHS , largely CBP. Chap Lawson was an MI... ...outreach for other agencies at DHS . I want to ask you about a few mor... ...this context. One of the things that DHS was able to do in terms of not onl... ...is a real theme that was developed at DHS and adopted, but partially, by th... ...would be good and the extent to which DHS is really very much involved in th... ...also chief diplomatic officer for the Department of Homeland Security where he served for the remainder o... ...had to deal with in your time at the Department of Homeland Security . You touched, last time, a little bi... ...all, Customs and Border Protection and DHS is responsible for border management... ...disease. So in the case of Ebola, we in DHS had a limited role geared primarily t... ...the international affairs section at DHS , and I think by and large it wa... ...Janet Napolitano was the secretary of DHS and, given her familiarity with th... ...was such a big part of, obviously, DHS 's overall mission and your work a... ...your approach to counterterrorism in DHS . Because of the nine-eleven moment... ...so to speak, and the creation of DHS two years afterwards in 2003... ...was the cornerstone mission of DHS and every component agency within DHS... ...DHS and every component agency within DHS . What we saw at the beginning of th... ...and the country, I think, looked to DHS , together with emergency management i... ...was incorporated into the operations of DHS and CBP in quite a remarkable way fro... ...into the international role that DHS came to play over time—we began t... ...the Obama administration, that the Department of Homeland Security , paradoxically enough, became th... ...but in terms of civilian deployment, DHS took on a role that had not been th... ...Was that a particularly intense time at DHS ? Did it feel different from othe... ...particularly true with regard to the Department of Homeland Security I think, but not uniquely so. The Stat... ...on many occasions. But in the case of DHS , the difficulties of relatively ne... ...on cybersecurity affecting your job in DHS ? It was pointed out in 2015, '1... ...of the prioritization of threats that DHS regularly conducts, and indeed the U... ...very much a priority for attention. DHS is responsible for protecting th... ...country. Those responsibilities caught DHS very much behind the curve. Th... ...office. I think the achievement that DHS , and perhaps generally for the Obam... ...trade side of the work that you did at DHS ? This was one of the challenges and... ...was the cornerstone mission of DHS and every component within it... ...given, to the counterterrorist roles of DHS and CBP. This was to th... ...really look to Secretary Johnson, the DHS secretary, as our secretary of state... ...of our foreign affairs actually involve DHS . And while we're engaged with th... ...with irregular migration that puts the DHS secretary in this role.” Tha... ...bit more about your work with Canada in DHS . Just speaking personally, I live... ...And that was largely the function of DHS . Obviously the State Department wa... ...Canada and the United States fell to DHS , and the relationship of the DH... ...to DHS, and the relationship of the DHS secretary to the minister of borde... ...close, and were. So the visits between DHS secretaries and their counterparts i... ...and the work of the United States and DHS in particular, the International Civi... ...also chief diplomatic officer for the Department of Homeland Security , where he served for the remainder o... ...today, about elections. You were in the Department of Homeland Security during the 2016 election. There's a lo... ...really forged very deep ties between DHS but also the American government an... ...for a second, let's talk about the Department of Homeland Security . You were there for all eight years... ...There's been a lot of debate around DHS about whether it needs to b... ...true within the immigration part of DHS around ICE and CBP. What are you... ...are your thoughts on how functional DHS is and whether or not it needs to b... ...situation changes, I think by and large DHS , with all of its faults, has actuall... ...missions caused by crises that only DHS actually is in a position to respond t... ...Protection. We saw the central role of DHS in responding to the Haitia... ...the continuing border crises always put DHS at the center. But I think we'r... ...of homeland security. And while DHS is only one part of the homelan... ...enterprise, that enterprise as well as DHS will change as a result of th... ...a fact of American life. And I think DHS came of age in a significant way unde... ...remember how many—the conversion of the Department of Homeland Security basically into a department o... ...on January sixth. All of this—again, DHS wasn't the only department injure... ...are not well founded. We do need a Department of Homeland Security , and we need it to be organized an... Show more... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Financial Reform and Regulation Financial Reform and Regulation go to the Veterans Veterans go to the Criminal Justice Criminal Justice go to the Labor Labor go to the Native America Native America