Janet Napolitano
University of California President Janet Napolitano headed the Department of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. When she took over, the agency was less than a decade old but was responsible for a vast range of security challenges — including immigration, terrorism, cybersecurity and natural disaster response. In her new book, “How Safe Are We?”, Napolitano surveys the nation’s security gaps and rising threats. She argues that policy fights over border security and immigration are missing the mark and that the most urgent threats America faces are climate change and cybersecurity.
She joins us in the studio for a discussion about domestic security, the leadership shake-up at Homeland Security and the college admissions scandal involving UC Berkeley and other elite schools.
Immigration and Border Security
The Trump administration announced today that it would seek an emergency order to keep sending migrants back to Mexico while their asylum cases are decided. A federal judge earlier in the week had temporarily halted the new program. On Sunday, Kirstjen Nielsen abruptly resigned as Homeland Security secretary after meeting with President Trump, who has been threatening to close the U.S.-Mexico border to address a surge in migrants from Central America. Customs and Border Protection chief Kevin McAleenan, who has been tapped to replace Nielsen as acting secretary, said last month that immigration enforcement had reached “a breaking point” as officials contend with hundreds of migrants arriving each day at the border and ports of entry.
Guests:
- Julián Aguilar, reporter, Texas Tribune
- Professor Deep Gulasekaram, professor, Santa Clara University School of Law
Valerie Jarrett
Valerie Jarrett was President Barack Obama’s longest-serving senior adviser, a post she held from 2009 to 2017. Before beginning her public service career in Chicago, she worked as a corporate lawyer while raising her daughter as a single mother. In her new memoir, “Finding My Voice,” Jarrett sheds light on key moments of the Obama presidency while revealing formative events in her life and personal history, including early childhood years spent in Iran and working in the administration of Chicago’s first African American mayor.