Donald Trump Picks Retired Gen. John Kelly to Head Homeland Security Four-star Marine general led the U.S. Southern Command and troops in Iraq; his son was killed in Afghanistan By Gordon Lubold and Damian Paletta

Posted By on December 7th, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-picks-retired-gen-john-kelly-to-head-homeland-security-1481132088

WASHINGTON—Donald Trump has picked retired Marine Gen. John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security in his new administration, people familiar with the decision said Wednesday.

The move would put a military commander who directly supervised U.S. operations in Central and South America in charge of one of the president-elect’s signature platforms: securing the border between Mexico and the U.S.

Gen. Kelly would become the second retired Marine general to join Mr. Trump’s cabinet. Both he and retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, the choice for defense secretary, must be confirmed by the Senate.

Mr. Trump also has tapped retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as national security adviser. And he is considering whether to nominate Adm. Michael Rogers to be the director of national intelligence, and retired Army Gen. David Petraeus as secretary of state, although there are several candidates for that post.

In addition to Gen. Mattis and Gen. Kelly, the chairman of the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joe Dunford, also is a Marine and will be in that post through most of 2017.

Gen. Kelly’s last job was as chief of the U.S. Southern Command, the division that oversees U.S. military activities south of Mexico, including Central America, South America and the Caribbean. As Southern Command chief, Gen. Kelly focused on homeland-security issues, because his post involved monitoring drug trafficking and other illicit smuggling activity south of the U.S.

Gen. Kelly’s views on immigration and tightening the border were likely to have appealed to Mr. Trump. Before retiring, Gen. Kelly testified that the border between Mexico and the U.S. was too loose. “The border is, if not wide open, then certainly open enough to get what the demand requires inside of the country,” he said during congressional testimony.

Mr. Trump has vowed to erect barriers between the U.S. and Mexico, despite controversy and criticism about the potential cost. As a presidential candidate, Mr. Trump traveled earlier this year to Mexico and met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. CONTINUE AT SITE

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