I am proud and excited to inform you that President Biden will designate Kristie Canegallo as the Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. Kristie will assume her new role on July 21, 2023 following Deputy Secretary Tien’s retirement.
Since January 2022, Kristie has been serving as our Department’s Chief of Staff. She has helped oversee our Department across its wide-ranging missions and organizational lines of effort. Most recently, she has led work across DHS with our Agency leaders and interagency partners in preparation for the return to Title 8 processing at our Southwest Border. She is an exceptional leader, manager, and colleague, equally comfortable with the toughest strategic challenges and the most nuanced operational details. Kristie, like Deputy Secretary Tien and me, views her primary responsibility as helping enable each of you to do your best work.
Kristie has spent most of her career in public service, starting as an intern in the Department of Defense in 2005. Through 2017, she served in a range of national security, domestic policy, and management roles in the Bush and Obama-Biden Administrations, concluding as Deputy Chief of Staff to President Obama from 2014 through 2017. When Kristie was Deputy Chief of Staff and I was DHS Deputy Secretary, we worked together on many issues, including cybersecurity and immigration. In that role, she was charged with cross-agency implementation of many of the U.S. Government's most complex issues, including the successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act that expanded health care to tens of millions of Americans. Her experience driving execution at scale – both in the Federal Government and in the private sector at Google, where she led the global team charged with keeping people safe online while using Google products – will serve her well in the role of Deputy Secretary. Prior to serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff to President Obama, Kristie served on the National Security Council staff and worked as a civilian at the Department of Defense, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Leaders across our Department, from every Agency and Office, have worked closely with Kristie since she began her tenure as the Chief of Staff more than 18 months ago. We know through experience how fortunate the Department and all of us are that she will serve as our Acting Deputy Secretary. She brings a pragmatic, problem-solving mindset and a singular focus on our mission. I am grateful and eager for all of you to have the same opportunity to learn that firsthand.