Two Former DHS Bosses Demand Overhaul at Agency: ‘We Need a Reset’

Two former leaders of the Department of Homeland Security said this week that the agency they once steered needs a serious overhaul.

Speaking to NBC News in a joint interview ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Jeh Johnson and Michael Chertoff slammed the agency’s direction under President Donald Trump.

“I think we need to rethink and reimagine Homeland Security in this country,” said Johnson, who headed DHS from 2013 to 2017.

He added: “I fear in many communities DHS has become a pariah, radioactive, the department of mass deportations, heartless, locking up kids, and that is one of the reasons why I think we need a reset.”

Chertoff, who became DHS’s second chief after succeeding Tom Ridge in 2005, said that under Trump, the priorities have shifted.

“I think that we’re spending most of our time worrying about gardeners and home health aides and getting them thrown out of the country, as opposed to focusing on people that actually are doing a lot of damage,” Chertoff said.

Johnson agreed, saying, “The job assignment I was given, and I suspect the job assignment Mike was given, was to keep this country safe,” Johnson said. “The job assignment in the current administration is to be the hammer for a very aggressive enforcement policy.”

“And so there has to be some balance between enforcing even routine laws and focusing on the threats that would have real consequence if they came to fruition,” he added.

Instead, Chertoff and Johnson proposed merging almost all federal law enforcement into one entity.

Doing so “would help the Cabinet secretary deconflict, unify and achieve a common effort of priorities in terms of where to protect the country and how to reduce the most serious threats that we would be facing,” Chertoff said.

But a DHS spokesperson disagreed, telling NBC News, “Counterterrorism and immigration enforcement go hand in hand.

“The department is more than equipped to keep Americans safe in an ever-changing threat landscape,” the spokesperson said, adding, “Under President Trump’s leadership, ICE is targeting these public safety threats. DHS has been recruiting, reforming, and modernizing at a record pace — including in areas of counterterrorism.”

It does not appear that Johnson and Chertoff’s proposal would fly under current DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who blasted sanctuary cities during a 9/11 remembrance ceremony on Friday.

“It is tough to sometimes fight, and I’m not trying to get political here, but I will,” Mullin said in Washington, D.C. “Sanctuary cities, where they don’t want us to go into, and they’re harboring and abetting activities just like this.”

Watch the clip above.

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