PRESS RELEASE
Trump Picks Gen. John Kelly To Head Homeland Security
Dec. 7, 2016 (EIRNS)—President-elect Donald Trump announced today that he had chosen retired Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security. Kelly retired at the beginning 2016 as commander of U.S. Southern Command, from where he repeatedly warned that far too few resources were being devoted to countering drug trafficking from South America. In March 2015, he testified that his command was able to interdict only about 20% of the traffic flow, and that budget sequestration had reduced his intelligence and surveillance capabilities by about 50%.
"Despite the heroic efforts of our law enforcement colleagues, criminal organizations are constantly adapting their methods for trafficking across our borders,"
Kelly told the Senate Armed Services Committee then.
"While there is not yet any indication that the criminal networks involved in human and drug trafficking are interested in supporting the efforts of terrorist groups, these networks could unwittingly, or even wittingly, facilitate the movement of terrorist operatives or weapons of mass destruction toward our borders."
Like Gen. James Mattis, Trump’s nominee to be the next Secretary of Defense, Kelly is reported to have had policy clashes with the Obama Administration, including with respect to Obama’s failed plans to close the detention facility at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo, Cuba.
