President Obama Announces His Intent to Nominate Rand Beers as Homeland Security Under Secretary for National Protection and Programs Directorate

Release Date: April 8, 2009

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

President Barack Obama announced today his intent to nominate Rand Beers as U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), the Department’s primary risk-reducing division. Beers will oversee five major offices in this role, including Cybersecurity and Communications (CS&C), Infrastructure Protection (IP), Intergovernmental Programs (IGP), Risk Management and Analysis (RMA) and US-VISIT.

“More than anyone I know, Rand Beers can be trusted with protecting the security of the United States,” said DHS Secretary Napolitano. “He will be an invaluable asset to NPPD. I thank Rand for his service as Acting Deputy Secretary, and I am grateful that his leadership and vast depth of experience will continue to benefit the Department of Homeland Security.”

As Acting Deputy Secretary, Beers helped guide the Department’s continuity of operations during a major leadership shift. He assumed the role beginning Feb. 11, replacing former Deputy Secretary Paul Schneider, and relinquished it April 3, when new Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute received Senate confirmation. Previously, Beers led President Obama’s DHS agency review team during the transition, where his team helped set the stage for Secretary Napolitano’s confirmation and prepare the incoming Obama Administration on all homeland security issues.

Beers’ responsibilities at NPPD will include continued operations leadership, as well as oversight on intelligence, cybersecurity, technology and coordination with state, local and tribal partners. IP leads a complex national mission to protect the country’s critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR) from threats by analyzing intelligence and executing public and private coordination in order to mitigate risks and effects. CS&C works to prevent or minimize disruptions to our critical cyber and communications infrastructure to protect the overall security of the United States.

Beers brings a long career in national security and law enforcement policy to NPPD. He has served in leadership roles under four Presidents, including as White House/National Security Council Director for Counterterrorism and Counternarcotics; Director for Peacekeeping; Senior Director for Intelligence Programs; Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Combating Terrorism; and Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. In 2006, Beers founded the National Security Network, a foreign policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. He holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.A. from the University of Michigan.

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This page was last reviewed/modified on April 8, 2009.