Jeh Johnson | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2014 | |
| 4thUnited States Secretary of Homeland Security | |
| In office December 23, 2013 – January 20, 2017 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Deputy | Alejandro Mayorkas |
| Preceded by | Janet Napolitano |
| Succeeded by | John F. Kelly |
| General Counsel of the Department of Defense | |
| In office February 10, 2009 – December 31, 2012 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | William J. Haynes II |
| Succeeded by | Stephen W. Preston |
| General Counsel of the Air Force | |
| In office October 15, 1998 – January 20, 2001 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Sheila C. Cheston |
| Succeeded by | Mary L. Walker |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jeh Charles Johnson (1957-09-11)September 11, 1957 (age 67) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Education | Morehouse College (BA) Columbia Law School (JD) |
Jeh Charles Johnson (/ˈdʒeɪ/ "Jay"; born September 11, 1957) is an American lawyer and former government official. He wasUnited States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017.
From 2009 to 2012, Johnson was thegeneral counsel of the Department of Defense during the first years of theObama administration. Before joining the Obama administration, he was a federal prosecutor, the general counsel of theDepartment of the Air Force, and an attorney in private practice.
Johnson is currently a partner at the law firmPaul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, a member of the board of directors ofMetLife, and a trustee ofColumbia University.
Johnson was born on September 11, 1957, in New York City, the son of Norma (Edelin), who worked forPlanned Parenthood, and Jeh Vincent Johnson, anarchitect and lecturer atVassar College.[1][2][3] Jeh and Norma met through his friendship with her brother Milton. He and Milton were the only black students in their respective classes atColumbia University's School of Architecture.[4] Among other notable family members, Norma's brotherKenneth C. Edelin was a physician and a defendant in a landmark case involving abortion rights.[5] And Jeh Vincent Johnson's father wasCharles S. Johnson, asociologist and president ofFisk University. The first name Jeh was taken from aLiberian chief, who reportedly saved his grandfather's life during aLeague of Nations mission to Liberia in 1930.[6]
Raised inWappingers Falls, New York,[7] Jay Charles Johnson graduated fromRoy C. Ketcham High School in 1975.[8] He later described himself as "a big underachiever," earning Cs and Ds in school, which he attributed to the scarcity of "African-American role models" in his mostly white community.[9] During his sophomore year in college, however, a vision of becoming an attorney, he said, finally inspired him to work to increase his "GPA above a dismal 1.8."[10]
Johnson graduated fromMorehouse College (B.A.) andColumbia Law School (J.D.). He is the recipient of thirteen honorary degrees.
Johnson began as an associate atPaul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in November 1984, then left in 1989 to serve as an assistantUnited States Attorney in the public corruption section at the Southern District of New York. There, he prosecuted politicians, police, and immigration agents.[11][12]
Johnson returned to Paul, Weiss in 1992 and was elected partner (the firstAfrican-American partner at the firm) in 1994.[12]
In 1998, Johnson was appointed General Counsel of theAir Force by PresidentBill Clinton and confirmed by theU.S. Senate.[13] As General Counsel, Johnson was the senior legal official in the Air Force and the Governor of the Air Force-administeredWake Island.[14] His tenure coincided withOperation Allied Force in 1999. He was awarded theDecoration for Exceptional Civilian Service for his efforts.[13]
After his service in the Clinton administration, Johnson returned to Paul, Weiss in 2001, where he tried large commercial cases.[13]
Johnson was a member of the executive committee of theNew York City Bar Association. From 2001 to 2004, he served as chairman of the City Bar's Judiciary Committee, which rates and approves all federal, state and localjudges in New York City. In 2007, Johnson was shortlisted by theNew York State Commission on Judicial Nomination to beChief Judge of New York[15] though the incumbent,Judith Kaye, was ultimately reappointed by former GovernorEliot Spitzer.
Johnson was active inDemocratic Party politics, as a fundraiser and adviser to presidential campaigns. Johnson served as special counsel toJohn Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign,[16] and was an early supporter ofBarack Obama's presidential campaign, active as a foreign policy adviser and as a member of his national finance committee.[17][18]
On January 8, 2009, then President-elect Barack Obama announced Johnson's nomination as Department of Defense General Counsel.[19] On February 9, 2009, he was confirmed by the Senate by avoice vote.[20]
In 2009, Johnson was heavily involved in the reform of military commissions, and testified before Congress numerous times in support of theMilitary Commissions Act of 2009.[21] In February 2010, the Secretary of Defense appointed Johnson to co-chair a working group, along with Army GeneralCarter Ham, to study the potential impact of a repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. In November 2010, following an extensive study, Johnson and General Ham reported that the risk to overall military effectiveness of a repeal would be low.[22]
As general counsel, Johnson gave a number of speeches on national security. In a speech delivered atThe Heritage Foundation in October 2011, Johnson warned against "over-militarizing" the U.S. government's approach to counterterrorism: "There is risk in permitting and expecting the U.S. military to extend its powerful reach into areas traditionally reserved for civilian law enforcement in this country."[23] At a speech atYale Law School in February 2012, Johnson defended "targeted killings".[24]
At theOxford Union in November 2012, shortly before his resignation, Johnson delivered an address titled "The conflict against al Qaeda and its affiliates: how will it end?" In that speech, he predicted a "tipping point" at which the U.S. government's efforts against al Qaeda should no longer be considered an armed conflict, but a more traditional law enforcement effort against individual terrorists. Johnson stated:
"War" must be regarded as a finite, extraordinary and unnatural state of affairs. War permits one man—if he is a "privileged belligerent," consistent with the laws of war—to kill another. War violates the natural order of things, in which children bury their parents; in war parents bury their children. In its 12th year, we must not accept the current conflict, and all that it entails, as the "new normal." Peace must be regarded as the norm toward which the human race continually strives.
The Oxford Union speech received widespread press attention,[25][26][27][28] and editorial acclaim as the first such statement coming from an Obama administration official.[29]
According to published reports, Johnson personally authored the legal opinion that provided the basis for U.S. special operations forces to go into Pakistan tokill Osama bin Laden.[30]
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Johnson was nominated by PresidentBarack Obama to be the fourthU.S. Secretary of Homeland Security in October 2013, and was subsequently confirmed by theUnited States Senate on December 16, 2013, by a 78–16 vote.[31][32] He was sworn in on December 23, 2013.[33]
When Johnson entered office one of his top priorities was to fill all of the high level vacancies. By April 2015 the President had appointed and the Senate confirmed all but one of Johnson's senior leader positions.[34] One of Johnson's first major efforts as Secretary was hisunity of effort initiative to set the conditions for the department to operate in a more unified fashion and develop a culture that recognizes and responds adequately to the diverse challenges the Department of Homeland Security faces.[34]
In the spring and summer of 2014 the southern border of theUnited States experienced a large influx of immigrants, many of whom were children, coming from Central America.[35] Secretary Johnson and his department worked with theDepartment of Health and Human Services to coordinate a response to address the immigrants' needs. In June, U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Servicesasylum officers were reassigned to conductcredible fear interviews, while prioritizing the cases of recently apprehended unaccompanied children, adults with children, and other recent border crossers.[35] At the same time, Secretary Johnson asked for the support of Congress to increase border security and prevent more spikes like this from happening again.[35] After the flow of immigrant children to the United States, the Department of Homeland Security established three family residential centers, and they immediately became the focus of much controversy.[36] TheACLU has compared them toJapanese internment camps and in July 2015 a U.S. District Court Judge in California ordered that the family residential centers comply with a 1997 settlement concerning the detention of children.[36]
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During the summer and fall of 2014, Secretary Johnson oversaw the Department of Homeland Security's response to the ongoingEbola crisis in West Africa.[37] TheEbola epidemic was the largest in history, and impacted multiple West African countries. In response, theDepartment of Homeland Security developed policies, procedures and protocols to identify travelers for screening who could have been potentially infected to minimize the risk to the traveling public.[37] This response was chosen by the department over limiting travel visas to the United States, which Secretary Johnson contended would have been a mistake given the leadership position of the U.S. and likelihood of influencing other countries to take the same action.[38]
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After theHouse of Representatives failed to act onBill S. 744, Secretary Johnson andPresident Obama issued ten new executive actions on November 20, 2014, to address the11 million undocumented individuals in the United States.[39][independent source needed] Johnson is said to have worked heavily on drafting theexecutive actions at the behest of the President.[40]
For theinauguration of Donald Trump, Johnson was chosen as thedesignated survivor and would have become the next president if a disaster or attack had occurred.[41]
After leaving office in January 2017, Johnson rejoined the law firmPaul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City.[42][13] He is also a member of the boards of directors ofMetLife,[43] theNational September 11 Memorial & Museum,[44]WBGO,[45] and a trustee ofColumbia University. He is also now a frequent commentator on NBC'sMeet the Press, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, NewsNation, Bloomberg Television, and other networks, and the author of numerous op-eds. Johnson also hosts a radio show on FM public radio station WBGO, based in Newark, New Jersey, All Things Soul, that features classic R&B music and commentary, along with interviews.[46]
In June 2018, he was an outspoken critic of the Trump administration's family separation practice at the border.[47] Several days later, he wrote to criticize calls to abolish ICE.[48] Johnson has called for a more civil dialogue from political leaders on both sides of the aisle.[49] In December 2021, he co-authored with Leon Panetta, Jane Herman and Bill Bratton, a statement arguing against parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the convicted killer of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.[50]
In December 2018, Secretary Johnson was the recipient of the Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Award, presented at the Reagan Presidential Library, for “contributing greatly to the defense of our nation” and “guiding us through turbulent times with courage and wisdom.” He has received numerous other awards and acknowledgments, including three Department of Defense medals for distinguished public service.[51] In December 2021, Johnson was a recipient ofThe American Lawyer's Lifetime Achievement Award.[52] In May 2022, Johnson was the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.[53]
Johnson also delivered the convocation address atLiberty University on September 11, 2020, in which he discussed the importance of morality in political leadership.[54][55]
In April 2020, GovernorPhil Murphy appointed Johnson to represent New Jersey in the seven-state regional working group to develop a plan for reopening theeconomy following the COVID-19 crisis.[56]
In June 2020, Chief Judge of New York StateJanet DiFiore, appointed Johnson as Special Advisor on Equal Justice in the courts.[57] After a four-month review, Johnson issued a 100-page public report that contained a number of recommendations. In the report Johnson noted:
“[I]n one form or another, multiple interviewees from all perspectives still complain about an under-resourced, over-burdened New York State court system, the dehumanizing effect it has on litigants, and the disparate impact of all this on people of color. Housing, Family, Civil and Criminal courts of New York City, in particular, continue to be faced with extremely high volumes of cases, fewer resources to hear those cases and aging facilities. Over and over, we heard about the ‘dehumanizing’ and ‘demeaning cattle-call culture’ in these high-volume courts. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of civil and criminal litigants in the Housing, Family, Civil and Criminal courts in New York City are people of color. The sad picture that emerges is, in effect, a second-class system of justice for people of color in New York state.”[58]
In August 2023, the president of the American Bar Association asked Johnson and former federal appellate judge J. Michael Luttig to lead a national task force to recommend ways to restore public trust in the American democracy.[59] In June 2023, the president of the New York State Bar Association asked Johnson to co-chair a task force to study the impact of the Supreme Court's decision in the Harvard and UNC cases on affirmative action.[60] In 2020, Johnson was floated as a possible candidate forUnited States Secretary of Defense,United States Attorney General andDirector of National Intelligence in theBiden administration.[61] In February 2023, Johnson and his family history were profiled onPBS'sFinding your Roots.[62] In January 2024, Johnson was the recipient of the gold medal, the New York State Bar Association's “highest honor."[63]
On March 18, 1994, Johnson married Susan Maureen DiMarco, adentist, atCorpus Christi Church of New York City.[2] The pair had grown up across the street from one other inWappingers Falls, New York.[64] At the request of the Secretary of the Navy, Dr. DiMarco was the sponsor at the christening of the USS New Jersey, a Virginia-class submarine.[65]
He has been a resident ofMontclair, New Jersey.[66]
Johnson was in New York City during theSeptember 11 attacks, which coincided with his 44th birthday.[67][68][69] He has frequently referred to the attacks in his speeches.[70][71]
He was the only Black student in his class, and he became good friends with Jeh Johnson '53CC, '58GSAPP, the only black student in the class ahead of his. (Jeh would also later become his brother-in-law.)
Besides his wife and four children, Edelin is survived by eight grandchildren; a brother, Milton; and a sister, Norma Edelin Johnson.
Johnson, who previously served as the Pentagon's general counsel, is a 1975 graduate of Roy C. Ketcham High School in Wappingers Falls.
JJ:... My dad was an architect, and he ended up teaching at Vassar for 37 years. But I was a big underachiever in school. PG: Was that rebellion? JJ: It was a predominantly white, mostly blue-collar town, and I didn't have a lot of African-American role models. I became a C/D student.
Specifically, my first semester of sophomore year at Morehouse College, after I finally realized I was not going to be a professional baseball or football player. I had no more excuses to avoid the books, and lifting my GPA above a dismal 1.8.
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| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | General Counsel of the Air Force 1998–1999 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | General Counsel of the Department of Defense 2009–2012 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | 4thUnited States Secretary of Homeland Security 2013–2017 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former US Cabinet Member | Order of precedence of the United States as Former US Cabinet Member | Succeeded byas Former US Cabinet Member |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
