John Kelly, Homeland Security Pick, Isn’t in Lockstep With Trump Team
The New York Times By RON NIXON 1 hr ago
WASHINGTON — Two years ago, Gen. John F. Kelly, then head of the United States Southern Command, delivered a dire warning to Congress: The nation was not focusing on the security threat presented by the financial and operational relationship between terrorist networks and drug smuggling organizations.
“Terrorist organizations could seek to leverage those same smuggling routes to move operatives with intent to cause grave harm to our citizens or even bring weapons of mass destruction into the United States,” General Kelly said.
Now General Kelly, 66, is President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security, and his view of the threat to the southern border is likely to be the subject of questioning during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
The department, with a budget of more than $40 billion and more than 240,000 workers, is responsible for border security, immigration control, responding to natural disasters, cybersecurity and screening passengers at airports, among other duties.
As the commander of about 1,000 military personnel spread over several states and different service branches, General Kelly oversaw an organization with a role similar to that of the department he has been chosen to lead.
General Kelly is expected to be easily confirmed by the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and then by the full Senate. He would be the first noncivilian to head the department since it was created in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The department has been troubled by low morale and overlapping or conflicting missions among its various agencies.
But General Kelly’s biggest challenges might come from within the new Trump administration, particularly over the threat posed by Russia and over Mr. Trump’s plan to build a border wall and to increase the number of border agents.
In previous congressional testimony, General Kelly has often called Russia a threat to United States leadership in the Western Hemisphere. He has argued that under President Vladimir V. Putin, Russia had returned to Cold War tactics to challenge the United States in Central and South America.
He has also called for a more balanced approach to protecting the borders, saying security cannot “be attempted as an endless series of ‘goal-line stands’ on the one-foot line at the official ports of entry or along the thousands of miles of border between this country and Mexico.” He has supported increased aid for economic development, education and a focus on human rights to combat unauthorized immigration and drug trafficking.
“He’s a Marine; he tells it like it is,” said Leon E. Panetta, the former defense secretary. “He’ll speak truth to power, no matter who it is. The new administration will benefit from someone like John Kelly as it finds its footing.” General Kelly served as the senior military assistant to Mr. Panetta.
As the leader of the Southern Command from 2012 to 2016, General Kelly oversaw a sprawling area that covered 32 countries in the Caribbean, Central America and South America.
He also worked closely with Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard, two agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that he has praised in testimony before Congress.
In addition, General Kelly has worked with military, law enforcement and political officials from dozens of countries in Central and South America, and he grasps the socioeconomic and geopolitical situation in the region, other officials say, experiences that will be crucial if he is confirmed.
Adm. James G. Stavridis, a retired Navy officer and another former head of the Southern Command, said that General Kelly’s background made him an ideal choice.
“The job at the Southern Command is the perfect preparation to be secretary of Homeland Security because it overlaps with many of the missions of D.H.S.,” said Admiral Stavridis, who is the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Unlike many of Mr. Trump’s nominees for cabinet positions, General Kelly has drawn praise from Republicans and Democrats.
He has been described as a blunt but pragmatic military officer whose assessment of threats to the border and views on immigration transcend partisanship.
Alejandro Mayorkas, who served as deputy secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration, called General Kelly an “extraordinary partner” of the department during his tenure at the Southern Command.
“He took a very thoughtful and strategic approach to battling smuggling organizations seeking to penetrate the southwest border,” Mr. Mayorkas said.
Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said, “General Kelly has a firm understanding of the threats facing the United States at home and abroad, including the threat from ISIS and other extremists.”
Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, praised General Kelly for his experience in managing “large, complex organizations.”
But Mr. Thompson said he was nevertheless worried about some of the nominee’s more alarmist past statements about border security, such as when he implied that terrorists were crossing the southern border and entering the United States.
Immigration advocates have voiced similar concerns, calling General Kelly’s comments linking terrorism and drug trafficking organizations “over the top.”
“It seems to be designed to get Congress riled up and increase funding,” said Adam Isacson, senior associate for regional security policy at the Washington Office on Latin America, a nonprofit research and rights group.
In congressional testimony, General Kelly has often cited ties between drug trafficking organizations and terrorist groups. For example, he said that supporters of Hezbollah in Lebanese communities in Latin America were engaged in money laundering and other illicit activities that generated profits for the group. According to the State Department’s latest Country Reports on Terrorism, supporters in the region are engaged in efforts to build Hezbollah’s “infrastructure in South America and fund-raising, both through licit and illicit means.” But the report and intelligence analysts say there is no indication that the group is engaged in plans to carry out terrorist attacks against the United States.
One of General Kelly’s most contentious statements, however, was that 500,000 Americans had died from terrorism connected to the drug trade.
“You know, since 9/11, there’s — half a million people have died from narco-terrorism, as we call it in — down where I live,” General Kelly told members of Congress in 2015. “Very few have died from, you know, traditional terrorism, if you will, since 9/11.”
Mr. Isacson said other analysts who study violence in Latin America doubt General Kelly’s claim that a half-million people had died as a result of terrorism connected to the drug trade. Official estimates put the number of Americans who have died as result of terrorism over all since the Sept. 11 attacks at fewer than 1,000.
Still, Mr. Isacson said, General Kelly was always open to meeting with rights organizations.
“I didn’t know him to be someone who had any antipathy toward migrants,” he said.
source
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/john-k...id=UE07DHP
The New York Times By RON NIXON 1 hr ago
WASHINGTON — Two years ago, Gen. John F. Kelly, then head of the United States Southern Command, delivered a dire warning to Congress: The nation was not focusing on the security threat presented by the financial and operational relationship between terrorist networks and drug smuggling organizations.
“Terrorist organizations could seek to leverage those same smuggling routes to move operatives with intent to cause grave harm to our citizens or even bring weapons of mass destruction into the United States,” General Kelly said.
Now General Kelly, 66, is President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security, and his view of the threat to the southern border is likely to be the subject of questioning during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
The department, with a budget of more than $40 billion and more than 240,000 workers, is responsible for border security, immigration control, responding to natural disasters, cybersecurity and screening passengers at airports, among other duties.
As the commander of about 1,000 military personnel spread over several states and different service branches, General Kelly oversaw an organization with a role similar to that of the department he has been chosen to lead.
General Kelly is expected to be easily confirmed by the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and then by the full Senate. He would be the first noncivilian to head the department since it was created in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The department has been troubled by low morale and overlapping or conflicting missions among its various agencies.
But General Kelly’s biggest challenges might come from within the new Trump administration, particularly over the threat posed by Russia and over Mr. Trump’s plan to build a border wall and to increase the number of border agents.
In previous congressional testimony, General Kelly has often called Russia a threat to United States leadership in the Western Hemisphere. He has argued that under President Vladimir V. Putin, Russia had returned to Cold War tactics to challenge the United States in Central and South America.
He has also called for a more balanced approach to protecting the borders, saying security cannot “be attempted as an endless series of ‘goal-line stands’ on the one-foot line at the official ports of entry or along the thousands of miles of border between this country and Mexico.” He has supported increased aid for economic development, education and a focus on human rights to combat unauthorized immigration and drug trafficking.
“He’s a Marine; he tells it like it is,” said Leon E. Panetta, the former defense secretary. “He’ll speak truth to power, no matter who it is. The new administration will benefit from someone like John Kelly as it finds its footing.” General Kelly served as the senior military assistant to Mr. Panetta.
As the leader of the Southern Command from 2012 to 2016, General Kelly oversaw a sprawling area that covered 32 countries in the Caribbean, Central America and South America.
He also worked closely with Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard, two agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that he has praised in testimony before Congress.
In addition, General Kelly has worked with military, law enforcement and political officials from dozens of countries in Central and South America, and he grasps the socioeconomic and geopolitical situation in the region, other officials say, experiences that will be crucial if he is confirmed.
Adm. James G. Stavridis, a retired Navy officer and another former head of the Southern Command, said that General Kelly’s background made him an ideal choice.
“The job at the Southern Command is the perfect preparation to be secretary of Homeland Security because it overlaps with many of the missions of D.H.S.,” said Admiral Stavridis, who is the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Unlike many of Mr. Trump’s nominees for cabinet positions, General Kelly has drawn praise from Republicans and Democrats.
He has been described as a blunt but pragmatic military officer whose assessment of threats to the border and views on immigration transcend partisanship.
Alejandro Mayorkas, who served as deputy secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration, called General Kelly an “extraordinary partner” of the department during his tenure at the Southern Command.
“He took a very thoughtful and strategic approach to battling smuggling organizations seeking to penetrate the southwest border,” Mr. Mayorkas said.
Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said, “General Kelly has a firm understanding of the threats facing the United States at home and abroad, including the threat from ISIS and other extremists.”
Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, praised General Kelly for his experience in managing “large, complex organizations.”
But Mr. Thompson said he was nevertheless worried about some of the nominee’s more alarmist past statements about border security, such as when he implied that terrorists were crossing the southern border and entering the United States.
Immigration advocates have voiced similar concerns, calling General Kelly’s comments linking terrorism and drug trafficking organizations “over the top.”
“It seems to be designed to get Congress riled up and increase funding,” said Adam Isacson, senior associate for regional security policy at the Washington Office on Latin America, a nonprofit research and rights group.
In congressional testimony, General Kelly has often cited ties between drug trafficking organizations and terrorist groups. For example, he said that supporters of Hezbollah in Lebanese communities in Latin America were engaged in money laundering and other illicit activities that generated profits for the group. According to the State Department’s latest Country Reports on Terrorism, supporters in the region are engaged in efforts to build Hezbollah’s “infrastructure in South America and fund-raising, both through licit and illicit means.” But the report and intelligence analysts say there is no indication that the group is engaged in plans to carry out terrorist attacks against the United States.
One of General Kelly’s most contentious statements, however, was that 500,000 Americans had died from terrorism connected to the drug trade.
“You know, since 9/11, there’s — half a million people have died from narco-terrorism, as we call it in — down where I live,” General Kelly told members of Congress in 2015. “Very few have died from, you know, traditional terrorism, if you will, since 9/11.”
Mr. Isacson said other analysts who study violence in Latin America doubt General Kelly’s claim that a half-million people had died as a result of terrorism connected to the drug trade. Official estimates put the number of Americans who have died as result of terrorism over all since the Sept. 11 attacks at fewer than 1,000.
Still, Mr. Isacson said, General Kelly was always open to meeting with rights organizations.
“I didn’t know him to be someone who had any antipathy toward migrants,” he said.
source
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/john-k...id=UE07DHP
