Everything You Need to Know About Gen. John Kelly

“I believe this is a mistake”, Kelly told the panel.

“Mr. Pruitt’s record is not only that of being a climate change denier, but also someone who has worked closely with the fossil fuel industry to make this country more dependent, not less, on fossil fuels”, said Vermont Sen.

Kelly, 66, would be the third general Trump has tapped for a high-level position in his administration.

Trump also selected a Midwest governor with close ties to China as ambassador to Beijing as he was named Wednesday Time’s “person of the year” and signaled tough “American first” economic policies.

Kelly also differs with President Obama’s stance that the military prison at Guantanamo Bay should be shuttered.

Kelly, a Boston native, served more than 40 years in uniform, including stints as an aide to Defense secretaries Leon E. Panetta and Robert M. Gates.

In July 2014, General Kelly called the border with Mexico an “existential threat” in terms of the steady flow of illegal drugs, weapons and people from Central America – and said much more funding and equipment was required to secure it.

And interestingly, three of the best-known secretaries of DHS before him were lawyers – Michael Chertoff, Janet Napolitano and the current one, Jeh Johnson.

He also had a more painful distinction as the highest-ranking USA military officer in years to lose a son or daughter in combat.

And he knows about sacrifice in a way few can imagine – not only has Kelly served in combat himself but his son, First Lt. Robert Kelly, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

Three sources close to the selection process said Mr Romney’s stock is on the rise again within Mr Trump’s circle after a period in which the celebrity businessman had cooled on the candidacy of the former MA governor. “Retired Gen. David Petraeus is also reportedly being considered for secretary of state”. Trump settled on Kelly in part for his Southwest border expertise, according to people familiar with the deliberations. Southern Command, based in South Florida, regularly works with DHS to dismantle immigrant smuggling networks. It has partnered with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an operation targeting human smuggling into the US and helped with the rescue of children arriving alone at USA borders. He publicly sparred with the outgoing president, opposing President Barack Obama’s plans to close Guantanmo and expressing concerns over the Pentagon’s order to open all jobs in combat units to women. “I know it doesn’t apply to anyone in this room today, but if anyone thinks you can somehow thank them for their service, and not support the cause for which they fight-our country-then these people are lying to themselves and rationalizing away something in their own lives, but, more importantly, they are slighting our warriors and mocking their commitment to this nation”.

Trump, a man advised on the choice said, has not yet formally offered the employment to General Kelly, to some extent on the grounds that the general is out of the nation this week. Kelly asked. “It’s not for me to say”.

Donald Trump has said that drugs are coming over the southern border “at a record clip”, and that building a wall along that border will help address the opiate epidemic in places as far away as New England.

NEW YORK- Retired Marine Corp generals continue to be front and center as President-Elect Donald J. Trump makes pick for top government jobs. President George H.W. Bush wrote President Bill Clinton a warm note when Clinton took office, while President Obama has repeatedly spoken of how accommodating President George W. Bush’s team was to Obama in the lead-up to him taking office in 2009.