Deputy Under Secretary
James McCament has served since March 2018 as the first Deputy Under Secretary of the Department’s Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans (PLCY). In that civil service position he supports DHS-wide policy development, implementation, and strategic planning through oversight of the PLCY employees working within five Assistant Secretary-led PLCY offices: Border Security and Immigration; Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Risk, and Resilience; Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention; International Affairs; and Trade and Economic Security.
A founding civil service member of DHS, Mr. McCament has served since March 2003 in multiple leadership roles within DHS. He previously served from March 2017 to March 2018 as the Deputy Director of U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). As Chief Operating Officer of USCIS he was responsible for overseeing the immigration benefits agency’s operations, its $4 billion plus budget, more than 200 offices and its 19,000 employees as they processed more than 7 million immigration applications annually received. Prior to serving as USCIS Deputy Director, McCament served from 2015 to 2017 as Deputy Associate Director for USCIS Service Center Operations, overseeing the work of the five USCIS service centers in their processing of more than four million applications annually received.
From 2014 to 2015, McCament served in the Office of the USCIS Director in the roles of acting Chief of Staff and acting deputy chief of staff. McCament served from 2009 to 2014 as chief of the USCIS Office of Legislative Affairs, overseeing a team of more than 140 with responsibility for case work and maintaining relationships with members of Congress and their staff. From 2008 to 2009, McCament served as DHS field office director in Havana, Cuba. From 2006 to 2008, McCament served as the senior counselor to the director of USCIS.
From September 2003 until 2006, McCament served as a Special Advisor to DHS Secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff. At the start of DHS Mr. McCament served as an attorney, and founding member, of the DHS Office of General Counsel from March-September 2003. Prior to joining DHS, he served as an Honors attorney in the Department of the Treasury Office of the General Counsel from 2001-2003 where he worked on matters related to banking and finance, foreign assets control and anti-terrorism litigation. From 2000-2001 McCament served as a law clerk to then Chief Judge William C. Lee of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
McCament received his Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame Law School and his bachelor’s degree from Mount Vernon Nazarene College. A Harvard Kennedy School Senior Executive Fellow and Federal Executive Institute graduate, McCament is bar licensed in Ohio and is adjunct professor of law at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.