President Trump on Tuesday announced he is planning to nominate current acting secretary Chad Wolf to be the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Wolf has served as the acting Homeland Security Secretary since November 2019. He previously served as chief of staff to former secretary Kirstjen Nielsen until her departure in April 2019. Wolf then became Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Strategy, Plans, Analysis and Risk – a position not subject to Senate confirmation.
Wolf concurrently served as Acting Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Strategy, Policy and Plans. He was nominated in February 2019 to serve permanently in this role and his Senate confirmation hearing was held in June.
Wolf was officially confirmed as the Under Secretary on November 13, clearing a necessary legal hurdle to serve in an acting capacity as the Secretary of Homeland Security. On the same day, Wolf was sworn in as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, thus formally taking over after Kevin McAleenan’s resignation in October 2019.
The Government Accountability Office on August 14, 2020 determined that an invalid order of succession had occurred at DHS after Nielsen’s resignation in April 2019. Because of this, the GAO’s non-binding legal opinion concluded that Wolf was not eligible to serve as Acting Secretary and would need to receive a presidential nomination to continue serving.
