On Friday, an event that was overshadowed by the inauguration ceremony was the swearing-in ceremony of retired Marine Corps General John F. Kelly as the new Secretary of Homeland Security. Secretary Kelly served in the United States Marine Corps for 45 years closing his career as the commander of the United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) in 2016. Secretary Kelly has held senior command positions in Iraq and as the Senior Military Assistant to two Secretaries of Defense.
As President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security, the highly decorated Gen. Kelly now leads the third largest federal bureaucracy in the U.S. including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the United States Secret Service.
Gen. Kelly is another member of Trump’s national security team who actually have experience and expertise in defense, national security, counter-terrorism, law enforcement and other disciplines that require actual experience and education.
For example, Kelly replaces President Barack Obama’s attorney-friend Jeh Johnson whose only real experience was donating money to the Obama campaigns. Gen. Kelly joins U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn (White House national security advisor), and Marine Gen. James Mattis (Secretary of Defense).
“This is quite a lineup and Trump isn’t finished. He hopes to fill the CIA position with former West Point-graduate, U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo. And the Democrats, their water-carriers in the media and so-called human-rights organizations are troubled with these generals,” said for Marine officer and police commander Ross Carpentier. “But look who Obama had on his security team: Susan Rice? Ben Rhodes? Leon Panetta? Robert Gates? Valerie Jarrett? These were political hacks, for sure,” Carpentier quipped.
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