<P> The United States Secretary of Homeland Security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the body concerned with protecting the U.S. and the safety of U.S. citizens . The secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet . The position was created by the Homeland Security Act following the attacks of September 11, 2001 . The new department consisted primarily of components transferred from other cabinet departments because of their role in homeland security, such as the Coast Guard, the Federal Protective Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (which includes the Border Patrol), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (which includes Homeland Security Investigations), the Secret Service, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It did not, however, include the FBI or the CIA . </P> <P> On January 20, 2009, the Senate confirmed Barack Obama's appointment of Janet Napolitano to be the third Secretary of Homeland Security, effective January 21, 2009 . Napolitano resigned effective August 2013 to head the University of California . On October 17, President Obama announced his intention to nominate former General Counsel of the Department of Defense Jeh Johnson, and on December 16, the US Senate confirmed the nomination . </P> <P> The current Secretary of Homeland Security is Kirstjen Nielsen following the appointment of the then - incumbent secretary, John F. Kelly, to the post of White House Chief of Staff by President Donald Trump . It was announced on October 12, 2017, that Kirstjen Nielsen was nominated as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security by President Donald Trump . She was confirmed by the Senate on December 5, 2017 . </P> <P> Traditionally, the order of the presidential line of succession is determined (after the Vice President, Speaker of the House, and President pro tempore of the Senate) by the order of the creation of the cabinet positions, and the list as mandated under 3 U.S.C. § 19 follows this tradition . </P>

Whos in charge of the department of homeland security