The primary responsibility of the Military Advisor is to provide counsel and support to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary in affairs relating to policy, procedures, preparedness activities, and operations between DHS and the Department of Defense (DoD). As the senior military officer at DHS headquarters, the Military Advisor’s essential functions include:
- Deploying at the discretion of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary for major incidents or other contingencies.
- Serving as the focal point for DHS-DoD collaboration through established working groups and a cooperative approach to homeland security, homeland defense, and incident management.
- Being a key advisor to DHS senior staff and Components on matters involving policy and procedure development, information and resources exchanges, and operations between DHS and DoD.
- Enabling synchronization and coordination with DoD through the fostering of relationships, including hosting and supporting DoD senior liaisons at DHS from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, and the National Guard Bureau.
- Facilitating action involving USCG component level issues for maximum responsiveness as the senior USCG officer resident as DHS headquarters.
- Overseeing the Military Assistants to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary. The Military Assistants serve as emergency action officers during an incident. Duties include providing support throughout an incident response, ensuring communications with senior leaders across government, coordinating activities in support of the Continuity of Operations Plan, and engaging DHS Components to ensure the Secretary and Deputy Secretary have all required information to successfully respond to an incident.
- Serving as DHS Head of Delegation to the United States and Canada Permanent Joint Board on Defense (PJBD).