Washington - US president-elect Barack Obama on Monday named
Eric Holder and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to lead domestic
security efforts in the United States.
Holder will be the United States' first African-American attorney
general, the top US law enforcement official. One of his first jobs
will be overseeing the closure of the US' controversial detention
facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a pledge Obama made during the
presidential campaign.
Holder and Napolitano will be part of the first Democratic-led
team to lead US security efforts since the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
Obama made the announcement in Chicago, his hometown and
headquarters for operations until he is formally inaugurated on
January 20.
Obama said Holder, who served as deputy attorney general under
former president Bill Clinton, has the stature to assume the job
immediately, something that is 'even more important in a transition
that demands vigilance.'
The Justice Department came under fire during the Bush
administration from human rights groups for a heavy-handed approach
to terrorism, including controversies over the warrantless
wiretapping of terrorism suspects and years-long detentions at
Guantanamo Bay without trial.
Holder said the Justice Department's task was 'to ensure not only
that the nation is safe but also that our laws and traditions are
respected. There is not a tension between those two.'
Napolitano will lead the Department of Homeland Security, an
agency first created in a wholesale reorganization after the 2001
attacks to improve the US' domestic response to terrorism.
Napolitano is known as an expert on immigration from her time as
governor of Arizona, which shares a border with Mexico.
'She knows firsthand the need to have a partner in Washington that
works well with state and local governments. She understands as well
as anyone the danger of an unsecure border,' Obama said.
Napolitano also served as Arizona's attorney general and has been
a vocal supporter of comprehensive immigration reform that has
stalled in the US Congress. She also pledged to bolster the
department's response to natural disasters.
Holder and Napolitano's appointments were part of a broader
unveiling in Chicago of Obama's national security team. Obama also
named Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and Robert Gates to
continue serving as secretary of defence.
All cabinet appointments must still be confirmed by the Senate.
USA
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