WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump on Friday evening named Chad Wolf as the next acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, ending nearly a month of uncertainty over who would fill the job once the outgoing acting chief, Kevin McAleenan, steps down.
"He is right now acting," Trump told reporters late Friday afternoon.
Wolf, who currently serves as the acting undersecretary in the department's Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans, would be the fifth person to lead the agency since Trump took office less than three years ago.
His appointment reflects the latest tumult in a presidency that has experienced record turnover, especially in vacancy-riddled DHS, which has struggled to hold on to a DHS chief eager to pursue a hard-line immigration policy as aggressively as Trump would like.
Wolf was nominated for the DHS undersecretary position in February, but Democratic senators have blocked him from being appointed permanently because of his work as chief of staff to former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who was forced out of the position in April.
McAleenan then took over as acting DHS secretary director. His last day was scheduled to be Oct. 31, three weeks after he turned in his resignation to the White House. During a hearing Wednesday, he said he agreed to stay on until his successor was named and to help with the transition.
