Obama names Holder, Napolitano to lead domestic security (Roundup)

Dec 1, 2008, 15:45 GMT

Washington - US president-elect Barack Obama on Monday named Eric Holder and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to lead domestic security efforts in the United States.

Holder will be the United States' first African-American attorney general, the top US law enforcement official. One of his first jobs will be overseeing the closure of the US' controversial detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a pledge Obama made during the presidential campaign.

Holder and Napolitano will be part of the first Democratic-led team to lead US security efforts since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

Obama made the announcement in Chicago, his hometown and headquarters for operations until he is formally inaugurated on January 20.

Obama said Holder, who served as deputy attorney general under former president Bill Clinton, has the stature to assume the job immediately, something that is 'even more important in a transition that demands vigilance.'

The Justice Department came under fire during the Bush administration from human rights groups for a heavy-handed approach to terrorism, including controversies over the warrantless wiretapping of terrorism suspects and years-long detentions at Guantanamo Bay without trial.

Holder said the Justice Department's task was 'to ensure not only that the nation is safe but also that our laws and traditions are respected. There is not a tension between those two.'

Napolitano will lead the Department of Homeland Security, an agency first created in a wholesale reorganization after the 2001 attacks to improve the US' domestic response to terrorism.

Napolitano is known as an expert on immigration from her time as governor of Arizona, which shares a border with Mexico.

'She knows firsthand the need to have a partner in Washington that works well with state and local governments. She understands as well as anyone the danger of an unsecure border,' Obama said.

Napolitano also served as Arizona's attorney general and has been a vocal supporter of comprehensive immigration reform that has stalled in the US Congress. She also pledged to bolster the department's response to natural disasters.

Holder and Napolitano's appointments were part of a broader unveiling in Chicago of Obama's national security team. Obama also named Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and Robert Gates to continue serving as secretary of defence.

All cabinet appointments must still be confirmed by the Senate.