Anti-terrorism expert tapped for key post

Rand Beers, the longtime anti-terrorism expert who has served four presidents, will be nominated to take up a key post in a fifth administration as one of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) top deputies.

On Wednesday, the White House announced Beers would be nominated undersecretary for National Protection and Programs, the directorate within DHS aimed at reducing both virtual and physical threats to the nation.

{mosads}Beers served on the National Security Council from 1988 to 1998 and as assistant secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He resigned in 2003, just days before the launch of the war in Iraq, in protest.

A former Marine and career foreign and civil service officer, Beers joined Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) presidential campaign, taking on a high-profile role as the campaign’s national security adviser. Four years later, he headed then-President-elect Obama’s DHS transition team.

In his new post, Beers will oversee offices aimed at ensuring the country’s cybersecurity, infrastructure security and interdepartmental integration of operations with other layers of government.

Beers has already been named a counselor to Secretary Janet Napolitano, a decision that came even before Napolitano was confirmed to lead the department just hours after Obama was sworn in. He will face Senate confirmation hearings shortly.

If confirmed, Beers would be just the third appointee in the Homeland Security Department, along with Napolitano and Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute. Four other Senate-confirmable appointees, including Federal Emergency Management Agency Director-designate William Fugate, are still pending before Senate committees.

Also on Wednesday, the White House announced it would nominate Mary Smith to head the Justice Department’s tax division. Peter Rogoff, the longtime Democratic staff director for the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Transportation subcommittee, has been tapped to head the Federal Transit Administration.