Chad Wolf, a former travel industry lobbyist and protégé of former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, was not President Trump's first or even second choice to take over as acting secretary after he first ousted Nielsen, then her acting replacement, Kevin McAleenan, quit, "frustrated at the increasing politicization of the DHS," The Washington Post reports. But neither of Trump's favorites at the Homeland Security Department, Ken Cuccinelli and Mark Morgan, were eligible for the acting secretary position.
After Wolf's appointment as acting DHS chief last year, his staff made him a Trump-lauding Instagram page in April to raise his stature, but it wasn't until the deployment of militarized federal agents to Portland, Oregon, in early July that Wolf "eclipsed" both Cuccinelli and Morgan "to win the president's favor," the Post reports. Current and former DHS officials, including the department's first two Republican secretaries, worry that federal overreach in Portland has caused "long-term reputational damage" at the department, set up to protect the U.S. against foreign terrorism after the 9/11 attacks.
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