Editing Rand Beers

{{Short description|American government official|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{BLP sources|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Rand Beers
| image               = Rand Beers official portrait.jpg
| office              = [[United States Secretary of Homeland Security]]
| status              = Acting
| president           = [[Barack Obama]]
| deputy              = [[Rafael Borras]] (acting)
| term_start          = September 6, 2013
| term_end            = December 23, 2013
| predecessor         = [[Janet Napolitano]]
| successor           = [[Jeh Johnson]]
| office1             = [[United States Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security]]
| status1             = Acting
| president1          = [[Barack Obama]]
| term_start1         = April 9, 2013
| term_end1           = September 6, 2013
| predecessor1        = [[Jane Holl Lute]]
| successor1          = [[Rafael Borras]] (acting)
| office2             = [[Under Secretary of Homeland Security for National Protection and Programs]]
| president2          = [[Barack Obama]]
| term_start2         = June 19, 2009
| term_end2           = March 6, 2014
| predecessor2        = [[Robert D. Jamison|Robert Jamison]]
| successor2          = [[Suzanne Spaulding]]
| office3             = 7th [[Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs]]
| president3          = [[Bill Clinton]]<br>[[George W. Bush]]
| term_start3         = October 25, 1998
| term_end3           = August 31, 2002
| predecessor3        = [[Robert S. Gelbard]]
| successor3          = [[Robert B. Charles]]
| birth_date          = {{nowrap|{{birth date and age|1942|11|30}}}}
| birth_place         = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| education           = [[Dartmouth College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[University of Michigan]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])
| allegiance          = {{flag|United States}}
| branch              = {{flag|United States Marine Corps}}
| serviceyears        = 1964–1968
| battles             = [[Vietnam War]]
}}
'''Robert Rand Brittingham Beers'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/beers-robert-rand-brittingham|title=Robert Rand Brittingham Beers (1942–)|work=Office of the Historian, U.S. State Department}}</ref> (born November 30, 1942) is an American government official. He served as Deputy Homeland Security Advisor to the [[President of the United States]] during the [[Barack Obama]] administration.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/01/03/rand-beers-heads-to-white-house/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103230328/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/01/03/rand-beers-heads-to-white-house/ |archive-date=2014-01-03 |title=Rand Beers heads to White House|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] }}</ref> He also served as acting [[Secretary of Homeland Security]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dhs.gov/acting-secretary-rand-beers |title = Secretary's Corner {{!}} Homeland Security}}</ref> following the resignation of Secretary [[Janet Napolitano]] on September 6, 2013, until [[Jeh Johnson]] assumed that office on December 23, 2013.

==Early career==
Beers began his professional career as a [[United States Marine Corps|Marine]] officer and rifle company commander in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] (1964–1968). He entered the [[United States Foreign Service|Foreign Service]] in 1971 and transferred to the Civil Service in 1983. He served most of his career in the [[United States Department of State|Department of State]], including as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Regional Affairs in the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, focusing on the [[Middle East]] and [[Persian Gulf]] (1992–1993). He was Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (1998–2002).

Beers also served on the NSC Staff in the following capacies: Director for Counter-terrorism and Counter-narcotics (1988–1992), Director for Peacekeeping (1993–1995), and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs (1995–1998), and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Combating Terrorism on the NSC Staff (2002–2003).

He resigned from the NSC Staff in March 2003, retired from government service in April 2003, and served as national security advisor for the [[John Kerry|Kerry]]-[[John Edwards|Edwards]] campaign (2003–2004).

==John McCain controversy==
Beers stirred up controversy with remarks<ref>[http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/06/top-dem-mccain.html 'Top Dem: McCain 'Limited' by POW Years']</ref> he made at an event hosted by the [[Center for American Progress]] in June 2008.  The event, dubbed "McCain University," was a comprehensive effort to illustrate [[John McCain]]'s policy proposals in the context of the 2008 Presidential Election.  During the question and answer portion of the event, Beers noted that "his [John McCain's] national security experience [...] is sadly limited" due to the fact that "he was in isolation essentially for many of those years and did not experience the turmoil here or the challenges that were involved for those of us who served in Vietnam during the Vietnam war." McCain, a captured [[U.S. Navy]] aviator, was a [[prisoner of war]] of the [[North Vietnam]]ese government for several years, and was repeatedly tortured.  Beers's comments elicited widespread criticism from conservative observers such as [[Rush Limbaugh]]<ref>[http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_070108/content/01125100.guest.html Rush Limbaugh Website, Comment on Rand Beers Remarks]</ref> and [[Karl Rove]],<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,374643,00.html Karl Rove Fox News]</ref> as well as a variety of right-wing blogs.<ref>[http://www.slate.com/id/2194565/ Blog]</ref>{{Failed verification|date=April 2011}}

==Homeland Security career==
As Under Secretary, Beers directed the Department's efforts to reduce risks to physical, cyber and communications infrastructures.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} NPPD collaborates with all levels of government, the private sector, non-government organizations, and international bodies to prevent, respond to, and mitigate threats to U.S. national security from acts of terrorism, natural disasters, and other catastrophic events.

He is a member of the [[National Infrastructure Advisory Council]].<ref>{{cite web|title=National Infrastructure Advisory Council Members|author=|url=https://www.dhs.gov/niac-members|format=|publisher=Homeland Security|date=|accessdate=1 September 2017}}</ref>

Beers served as Counselor to Secretary [[Janet Napolitano]] beginning on January 21, 2009, and continued in that capacity while directing the activities of NPPD. Before his appointment, he was the co-leader of the Department of Homeland Security Transition Team for the incoming [[Presidency of Barack Obama|Obama administration]]. Prior to the 2008 election, Beers was president of the [[National Security Network]], a Washington, D.C.–based foreign policy [[think tank]] he founded in 2006 to foster discussion of progressive national security ideas around the country, and an adjunct lecturer at [[Harvard Kennedy School]] at [[Harvard University]].

Between April and September in 2013, he was the acting [[United States Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security]].

Following Napolitano's resignation on September 6, 2013, Beers became acting [[United States Secretary of Homeland Security]]. His tenure ended when [[Jeh Johnson]] was confirmed as Napolitano's replacement by the [[United States Senate]] on December 23, 2013.

==Personal life==
Beers earned a bachelor's degree from [[Dartmouth College]] and a master's degree from the [[University of Michigan]]. The ''[[New York Times]]'' described Beers as "always a Democrat, though he served in several Republican administrations and says he voted for only one Republican: [[Spiro T. Agnew]] for [[1966 Maryland gubernatorial election|governor of Maryland in 1966]]".<ref>"The New Team", ''New York Times'', February 22, 2014, [http://projects.nytimes.com/44th_president/new_team/show/rand-beers Retrieved 2014-06-27]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{C-SPAN|53760}}

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{{s-ttl|title=[[Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs]]|years=1998–2002}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Robert B. Charles|Robert Charles]]}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Under Secretary of Homeland Security for National Protection and Programs]]|years=2009–2013}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Suzanne Spaulding]]<br />Acting}}
|-
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{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security]]<br />Acting|years=2013}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Rafael Borras]]<br />Acting}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Janet Napolitano]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Secretary of Homeland Security]]<br />Acting|years=2013}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Jeh Johnson]]}}
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beers, Rand}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Clinton administration personnel]]
[[Category:Dartmouth College alumni]]
[[Category:George W. Bush administration personnel]]
[[Category:Harvard Kennedy School staff]]
[[Category:Obama administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:Civil servants from Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:United States Department of Homeland Security officials]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps officers]]
[[Category:United States secretaries of homeland security]]
[[Category:University of Michigan alumni]]
[[Category:Washington, D.C., Democrats]]
[[Category:United States assistant secretaries of state]]