Obama merges homeland, national security staff
The decision to create one team within the White House to handle both issues reflects president’s holistic approach to security issues.
President Obama on Tuesday announced the creation of an integrated White House national security staff that will work as one team to tackle homeland security and counterterrorism issues.
The move is designed to "end the artificial divide" between those in the White House working on homeland security and national security, Obama said in a statement. The group will report to James L. Jones, the president's national security adviser.
The decision is part of the administration's effort to streamline and unify its approach to domestic security and counterterrorism. The integrated staff will include new directorates and positions to handle cybersecurity, weapons of mass destruction, transborder security, information sharing, and preparedness and response. A new global engagement directorate will combine efforts in areas such as diplomacy, international development and domestic outreach to accomplish goals in both homeland and national security.
The change directly affects only White House personnel.
The revamped organization is a result of a 60-day interagency review led by John Brennan, White House assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism. Obama said the Homeland Security Council will continue to take the lead on issues such as terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, natural disasters and pandemic influenza. The new national security staff will support that council, as well as the National Security Council.
Obama said the assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism -- the position Brennan currently holds -- will remain his "principal White House adviser on these issues." It's not yet clear how Brennan and Jones, who will supervise the combined security team, will coordinate their roles, or how the new White House structure might influence federal agencies.
The president has said previously that homeland security and national security should not be treated as separate issues -- conceptually or functionally. "The White House must be organized in ways that reflect this reality," Obama wrote in a Feb. 23 presidential directive ordering the interagency review.