Chad Wolf

Chad Fredrick Wolf (born June 21, 1976) is an American former government official and lobbyist who was named the acting United States secretary of homeland security in November 2019.

From 2002 to 2005, he worked in the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), becoming Assistant Administrator for Transportation Security Policy in 2005.

It was during this time he first worked with Kirstjen Nielsen.

From 2005 to 2016, he was a lobbyist, helping clients secure contracts from TSA.

From October 2005 to 2016, Wolf was vice president and senior director at Wexler & Walker, a now defunct lobbying firm.

He helped clients obtain contracts from the TSA, his previous employer.

In 2013 he received a Master Certificate in government contract management from Villanova University.

To avoid confusion with a Master's degree, Villanova University now simply refers to this as a Certificate in Contract Management.

In March 2017 Wolf became the Transportation Security Administration's chief of staff.

He served in that position for four months, then became DHS Deputy Chief of Staff and the top aide to Deputy Secretary Elaine Duke.

In July 2017, Wolf became DHS's chief of staff under Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

While working for Nielsen, he was an early architect of the family separation policy.

Under questioning from Senator Jacky Rosen, Wolf later testified to Congress that he was not involved in the policy's development and that his function was to provide information to Nielsen and "not to determine whether it was the right or wrong policy".

A government watchdog group disputed this statement based on internal documents.

Wolf has said he "supported the President's decision when he issued an executive order to stop that practice".

Wolf then became Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Strategy, Plans, Analysis & Risk, a Senior Executive Service position not subject to Senate confirmation.

He concurrently served as Acting Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Strategy, Policy, and Plans.

Wolf was an architect of the Trump administration family separation policy in 2018, and was prominently involved in the deployment of federal law enforcement forces in Portland and elsewhere beginning in July 2020.

Wolf was also the under secretary of homeland security for strategy, policy, and plans from 2019 to 2021.

A member of the Republican Party, Wolf previously served in several positions in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including as chief of staff of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and chief of staff to DHS secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

He was nominated in February 2019 to serve permanently as Under Secretary, and his confirmation hearing was held that June.

Senator Jacky Rosen delayed the nomination to protest poor conditions for children at DHS facilities.

Wolf began serving as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security in November 2019.

Wolf's appointment as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security came after Kevin McAleenan's departure was announced on November 1, 2019.

At the time, he was not considered the first choice for the job, and it has been reported that he was satisfied with his policy job at the time, but others favored by Trump such as Ken Cuccinelli and Mark Morgan were ineligible for the Acting Secretary position.

The fact that he had previously lobbied for the National Association of Software and Services Companies, which was in favor of the H-1B visa program, led to criticism from groups favoring more restrictive immigration policies.

But the Trump administration defended his record and privately asked Republican senators not to oppose his appointment.

The administration waited for Wolf's confirmation as Under Secretary before appointing him Acting Secretary to avoid appointing him as a principal officer from a non-Senate-confirmed position, which many scholars and former government officials have argued is unconstitutional.

DHS then had to move the Under Secretary position earlier in the line of succession, because the 210-day period in which an acting official was eligible to be named without a pending permanent nomination had expired.

His appointment was ruled unlawful in November 2020.

In September 2020, a whistleblower accused him of having ordered staff to stop reporting on threats from Russia.

In November 2020, District Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled Wolf's appointment unlawful, and overturned a set of Wolf's orders as "not an exercise of legal authority".

Wolf resigned his post on January 11, 2021, after a number of similar court rulings.

Chad Fredrick Wolf was born to James B. (Jim) Wolf and Cinda Thompson Wolf in Jackson, Mississippi.

He grew up in Plano, Texas.

He graduated from Plano East Senior High School and then attended Collin College on a tennis scholarship.

He then transferred to Southern Methodist University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in history.

Wolf worked as a staffer for Republican Senators Phil Gramm, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and then Chuck Hagel, for whom he worked for two and a half years.

In November 2020, a federal court ruled his appointment unlawful and overturned a set of his orders as lacking "legal authority".

Wolf resigned on January 11, 2021.