Jane Lute

Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security (since April 2009)

(DHS)

Why She Matters

For the last several years, Lute has supervised crises all over the world as the United Nation's assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping. Now, she'll turn her focus towards domestic troubles as the new deputy secretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Lute's experience is mostly global. She served in Operation Desert Storm as a member of the Army and served as a Europe expert on the Clinton National Security Council before joining the United Nations. But Lute said her previous focus on international issues is no hindrance in a department aimed at protecting the homeland. "I have spent my entire adult life working on the issues at the heart of the Department of Homeland Security, the heart of its mission; protection, prevention, preparedness, response, recovery and resilience," she said at her 2009 Senate confirmation hearing.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Assistant U.N. Secretary-General for Field Support, United Nations (2003 to 2008); Executive Vice President, United Nations Foundation (2000 to 2003); Executive Director, Carnegie Commission on Ending Deadly Conflict (1994 to 1997)
Hometown: New Jersey
Alma Mater: Montclair State University, B.A., 1978; University of Southern California, M.A., 1985; Stanford University, Ph.D., 1989; Georgetown University, J.D., 2000

Spouse: Gen. Douglas Lute
Web site

Path to Power

Lute was born in New Jersey. She graduated from Montclair State University in 1978 and joined the U.S. Army later that year. She was sent to Berlin, where she served at the border during the Cold War.

Lute went on to earn her master's at University of Southern California in 1985 and her Ph.D. in political science at Stanford in 1989.

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She returned to the Army and was sent to Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm or the first Gulf War. In 1990, she was tapped by President George H. W. Bush to join the National Security Council as a director for European affairs. She stayed on under President Bill Clinton.

Lute retired from the Army in 1994 and joined the Carnegie Commission on Ending Deadly Conflict as executive director. There, she led a multi-year study on the causes of ethnic, nationalist and religious conflicts.

In 1999, she earned her J.D. from Georgetown University. In 2000, Lute accepted a job with the United Nations Foundation and the Better World Fund as executive vice president. There, she helped give away around $1 billion donated by Ted Turner.

United Nations Peacekeeping Supervisor

In 2003, she was named assistant U.N. secretary-general for field support. In that position, she supervised all peacekeeping operations. She also advocated for increased resources and pushed to grow the peacekeeping budget from $1.8 billion to $8 billion.

But Lute also faced several dire problems. In 2004, she was embroiled in a scandal involving 150 peacekeepers in the Congo who were charged with rape, sex with children and prostitution. A report by the U.N. suggested that there are cases of alleged sexual misconduct involving U.N. peacekeepers in various locations from Pakistan, Nepal, Uruguay, Morocco, Tunisia, and South Africa.

Lute said her department addressed the problem as soon as it was brought to her attention, increasing training, establishing clear behavior standards and investigating the charges. "Zero tolerance, in effect Mr. Chairman, means to us, zero complacency, zero impunity," she said in 2005.

But some critics said the U.N. peacekeeper program was fundamentally broken. "When I see U.N. peacekeepers, generally I see that there are large numbers of troops that are ill-equipped and ill-trained," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) said at a 2007 hearing. "Their effect on the mission and their actual ability to achieve the goals are so small compared to what American troops can do.

In May 2009, she was confirmed as deputy DHS secretary for the May 2009. In that job, she will act as a chief operating officer, overseeing the management of 200,000 people.

The Issues

DHS, the youngest and largest department in the federal government, has suffered some serious growing pains, and it will be up to Lute and Napolitano to right it. Among the challenges are developing better lines of communication and planning between the department's 22 agencies and figuring out how to strengthen the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

DHS also suffers from low morale - in a Partnership for Public Service Best Places to Work Survey, the department ranked second-to-last in employee satisfaction. Lute emphasized that one of her top priorities was to address these issues by better engaging employees.

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Lute will also be asked to quickly address a variety of security issues, including violence along the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada, protecting the nation's infrastructure and addressing emerging threats from cybersecurity.

Transparency at DHS

At her confirmation hearing, Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, expressed serious concerns over Lute's work at the U.N. They cited an internal audit during Lute's tenure that suggested 43 percent of purchases by the U.N.'s peacekeeping division were tainted by kickbacks and corruption while Lute ran the agency. Lute said she recommended better internal oversight and generally agreed with the auditors' recommendations that that it is difficult to impose changes in the U.N.'s system. Lute instituted a requirements review panel for peacekeeping missions and a mission start-up monitoring process.

In one instance, Lute came under fire in a U.N. report for recommending that a contract be granted in a non-competitive process to Lockheed Martin. Lute contends that the reason for the recommendation was a rush to install U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur, which made it impossible to weed out potential hires.

But several senators were critical of the contract at Lute's confirmation hearing. "If you're confirmed and are managing procurement and operations for programs such as FEMA, should we expect you to ... excuse management failures or procurement fraud?" Coburn (R-Okla) asked pointedly.

Civil Liberties

One of Lute's top DHS responsibilities will be balancing civil liberties and national security. She has said that maintaining robust civil liberties are important to her and that she will draft policies that protect Americans' rights.

She also decried reports that the U.S. monitors extremist organizations domestically. "Let me be very clear: we don't monitor groups' ideologies We don't care if you're a right-wing ideologue or left-wing ideologue; we monitor violence and the kind of terrorist acts."

FEMA

Deciding whether FEMA should be its own agency will be at the top of the agenda for the DHS leadership. Neither Lute nor Napolitano gave a firm answer about whether the agency, which has about 2,500 full-time employees, should remain within DHS. "Napolitano has said what we really need to focus on is a strong FEMA, able to discharge its core responsibilities of protecting and preparing the country for all hazards," Lute said at her 2009 confirmation hearing.

The Network

Lute's husband, Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, was President George W. Bush's "war czar," and President Barack Obama has said Gen. Lute will continue to work on Iraq and Afghanistan policy at the National Security Council. Lute is also close to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), who spoke at her confirmation hearing.

Lute was on the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict with Esther D. Brimmer, who was nominated as assistant secretary of State for international organizations.

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Campaign Contributions

Lute gave $774 to President Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and $250 to Sen. John F. Kerry's (D-Mass.) 2004 presidential campaign.

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