Johnson
Jeh Johnson was sworn in Monday as the fourth Secretary of Homeland Security. He is in charge of the third largest federal department, with 240,000 employees and agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard under his oversight. Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was also sworn in Monday. His nomination had been held up by Republicans who questioned his handling of visas approvals as head of another DHS agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. But Mayorkas and several others picked by President Obama to lead federal agencies were able to get approval after Majority Leader Harry Reid changed the Senate’s internal rules so that confirmations only require a simple majority, not a super majority of 60, to break a filibuster.
Prior to joining DHS, Johnson served as general counsel for the Defense Department.
About 40 percent of the department’s top management jobs remain vacant or filled by career bureaucrats, according to Politico.
