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Obama Names Napolitano as Homeland Security Secretary

Hillary Clinton for secretary of state.

Photo: Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Barack Obama's nominee for Homeland Security Secretary.

President-elect Barack Obama today announced that Sen. Hillary Clinton is his nominee for secretary of state, and that he will retain Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Republican. Obama also named Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary. Eric Holder for attorney general, Susan Rice for ambassador to the United Nations, and retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones is Obama's pick for White House national security advisor.

In a press release today, Napolitano said she will deliver her State of the State address, and will then present a balanced budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2010. She said that upon U.S. Senate confirmation as Homeland Security secretary, she will submit her resignation as governor of Arizona, and Ariz. Secretary of State Jan Brewer will then take over. She said that in the meantime, members of her staff will oversee the Arizona transition, "to ensure that power and responsibility are transferred seamlessly."

Wayne E. Hanson served as a writer and editor with e.Republic from 1989 to 2013, having worked for several business units including Government Technology magazine, the Center for Digital Government, Governing, and Digital Communities. Hanson was a juror from 1999 to 2004 with the Stockholm Challenge and Global Junior Challenge competitions in information technology and education.