DHSMarine Gen. (Ret.) John Kelly to lead Homeland Security

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Gen. John F. Kelly, 66, a retired four-star Marine general whose son was killed in combat in Afghanistan, as his nominee for secretary of homeland security.

Kelly led U.S. Southern Command, and served for forty years in the Marine Corps. He led troops through tough battles in western Iraq. In 2003 he was promoted to brigadier general while in active combat – the first Marine colonel since 1951 to be recognized this way.

Trump will formally announce the appointment next week, as he unveils the rest of his national security team, including secretary of state.

The Washington Post reports that in 2010, Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, General Kelly’s son, was killed after stepping on a mine while leading a platoon in Afghanistan.

General Kelly has been reticent to talk about the painful experience, but sources close to Trump said he wanted people on his national security team who understood, from personal experience, the personal toll of sending troops on combat missions.

People familiar with the transition said the Kelly’ Southwest border expertise was also a plus. Kelly has sounded the alarm about drugs, terrorism, and other cross-border threats he sees as emanating from Mexico and Central and South America.

In congressional testimony last year, Kelly said the Southern Command was “just barely” able to keep on the “pilot light of U.S. military engagement” in the border region, and he warned that existing smuggling routes into the United States could be used by terrorist groups.

“Despite the heroic efforts of our law enforcement colleagues, criminal organizations are constantly adapting their methods for trafficking across our borders,” Kelly told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “While there is not yet any indication that the criminal networks involved in human and drug trafficking are interested in supporting the efforts of terrorist groups, these networks could unwittingly, or even wittingly, facilitate the movement of terrorist operatives or weapons of mass destruction toward our borders.’’

As commander of the U.S. Southern Command, General Kelly was responsible for a vast area which includes thirty-two countries in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. The commander of the Southern Command is typically called upon to serve as a diplomat as well, since the Southern Command is less combat-focused than other U.S. regional military commands. The Southern Command often relies on “soft power” rather than military might, and it has gotten involved in issues such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and in training local militaries and police forces.

General Kelly made the headlines when he rejected criticism of the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, which was under his area of his responsibility. He said the program to force-feed prisoners who were on hunger strikes was reasonable and humane. He also rejected the argument the keeping Guantanamo Bay open would serve as a recruiting tool for militants.

He was also open in his criticism of the Obama administration for opening all combat jobs to women, arguing that this would lower the physical standards many such jobs require.

“There will be great pressure, whether it’s 12 months from now, four years from now, because the question will be asked whether we’ve let women into these other roles, why aren’t they staying in those other roles?” he said in January, shortly before his retirement.

“If we don’t change standards,” General Kelly added, “it will be very, very difficult to have any numbers — any real numbers come into the infantry, or the Rangers or the SEALs, but that’s their business.”