Transition 2016

As Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson instituted some necessary reforms to help mature the Department. Many of those reforms were part of the Unity of Effort initiative he kicked off in April 2014 to streamline the Department’s operations, strategy and resource decisions.

Late Friday, word came out of NSA that the highly-respected Deputy Director Rick Ledgett would be retiring in the spring. Understandably, people wondered whether this was the first indication of trouble out of the intelligence community under President Trump. Was this a sign that principled career officials were resigning in protest; were they being pushed out in favor of political allies of the White House?

Neil Gorsuch is an eminent jurist who is undoubtedly qualified to be an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. So too is Merrick Garland. In the law of the jungle that now governs the confirmation process, where principle is absent and power politics alone is what matters, Gorsuch will likely make it to the Supreme Court for the same reason that Garland did not: The Republicans controlled the Senate last year when Obama was President, and continue to control it now when Trump is President. Elections have consequences and the Democrats lost the key ones.

The White House has just released National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 (NSPM-2), which defines the organization and functions of President Trump's National Security Council (NSC) and Homeland Security Council (HSC).