Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of Homeland Security

The order sets a four-position succession line for the Secretary of Homeland Security, to be triggered only after the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary for Management, and any Secretary-designated successors under 6 U.S.C. 113 are all unavailable. In order, the acting Secretary role falls to: the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, the Director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, and the Region 3 Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The order includes key exceptions: officials already serving in acting capacities in those roles may not use this order to act as Secretary; anyone designated by the Secretary under 6 U.S.C. 113 follows the Secretary's designated order, not this list; and the President retains discretion to depart from this succession. Executive Order 13753 of 2016 and Section 88 of Executive Order 13286 of 2003 are revoked or struck.

Senior officials within the Department of Homeland Security whose acting-Secretary responsibilities are now formally ranked, including the TSA Administrator, the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, the Director of Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, and the FEMA Region 3 Administrator.

DHS, which oversees border security, disaster response, and transportation safety, now has a clear pre-set chain of command during any leadership gap, reducing ambiguity about who holds legal authority to direct the department if the Secretary and top deputies are simultaneously unavailable.