President Barack Obama plans to nominate former Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Johnson as the next homeland security secretary, The Daily Beast reported Thursday.
Daniel Klaidman writes that if confirmed, Johnson would become the fourth DHS secretary and succeed Janet Napolitano, who resigned in September to join the University of California System as president, according to the report.
Johnson served as the Pentagon’s general counsel during Obama’s first term in office and was involved in national security and counterterrorism policies, Klaidman reports.
He left the Pentagon in 2012 to rejoin New York-based law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Johnson started his career at the firm in the 1980s and returned in 2001 after serving in the Clinton administration as general counsel for the U.S. Air Force.
