DHS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is hitting reset on its search for a permanent Department of Homeland Security secretary due to White House aides’ dissatisfaction with the slate of candidates, according to two people familiar with the process.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul had been considered the front-runner for the job, but he no longer is in contention, these people said. White House chief of staff John Kelly, who led DHS before being tapped for his new West Wing role, privately raised red flags about McCaul’s stance on immigration, which has at times diverged from that of President Donald Trump.
One person close to the process said the Trump administration is now ‘back to square one’ on the search, and it could be weeks before a final decision is made.
The department is being helmed by Acting Secretary Elaine Duke, a career civil servant who was Kelly’s deputy, as it copes with the fallout from Trump’s new travel restrictions, his decision to end DACA and a series of powerful hurricanes that have ravaged Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.”
-Andrew Restuccia and Eliana Johnson, “White House ‘back to square one’ in search for DHS secretary,” Politico, Sept. 28, 2017 11:32am