5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable · Needs Congress
Legislate a political-only DHS line of succession
Printed page 136 5. Department of Homeland Security
“Based on previous experience, the department needs legislation to establish a more durable but politically oriented line of succession for agency decision-making purposes. … in circumstances where a career employee holds a leadership position in the department, that position should be deemed vacant for line-of-succession purposes and the next eligible political appointee in the sequence should assume acting authority.”
What has happened
- Not started
No legislation establishing a politically oriented DHS line of succession, and no order treating a career-held leadership position as vacant for succession purposes, was found. Nothing has been introduced.
No action found yet. This entry is the starting point, not a finding.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Instrument sought: legislation rewriting the DHS line of succession, or a presidential memorandum designating an order of succession.
Searched, in records current to 2026-08-28: presidential documents, final rules, proposed rules and notices in the Federal Register from DHS and its components; bills and public laws in Congress, from congress.gov; White House presidential actions; and federal court dockets (CourtListener), including the bulk snapshot of 1.2 million dockets. No succession bill and no succession memorandum for DHS was found.
- Action
- create
- Object
- DHS line of succession
- ID
- 284