John F. Kelly and Karen P. Tandy were sworn in as the two newest members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson.
“I welcome the new members to the advisory committee and hope they get to see the great work of our employees, and I thank all the HSAC members for their continued service to the country and to the department,” Johnson said.
“As I look around this table,” he said, “I really do have to marvel at the spectacular and diverse group of talent we have at this table of great Americans. We have a range of experience and background from former members of Congress, former 4-star members of the military, very distinguished prominent members of the private sector and former DHS officials. I look at the people here and have a lot of faith and confidence in the future direction of this committee.”
HSAC is a federal advisory committee to DHS that provides the Secretary of Homeland Security with independent, informed recommendations and advice on a variety of homeland security issues. HSAC is comprised of national policy makers, representatives from state, local, and tribal governments, emergency and first responder communities, academia and the private sector.
Kelly served as Commander, US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) from November 2012 to January 2016.
Kelly was responsible for all Department of Defense security cooperation in the 45 nations and territories of Central and South American and the Caribbean Sea, an area of 16 million square miles. He came to SOUTHCOM from his previous position as the Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense from March 2011 to October 2012.
Kelly commanded Marine Forces Reserve and Marine Forces North from October 2009 to March 2011. From 2002 to 2004, he served as the Assistant Division Commander in Iraq with the Second Marine Division. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1970 and was discharged as a sergeant in 1972.
Following graduation in 1976 from the University of Massachusetts Boston with a B.A. in History and Government, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. In 1984, Kelly graduated with an M.A. from Georgetown University in National Security Affairs. In 1995, he graduated with an M.S. in Strategic Studies from the National Defense University in Washington, DC.
Tandy served as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from July 2003 to November 2007. During her tenure, DEA saw unprecedented improvements in its performance and accountability standards.
Tandy is also a former Associate Deputy Attorney General for the Department of Justice (DOJ) where she was responsible for developing national drug enforcement policy and strategies. She held a variety of positions in the Criminal Division at DOJ and was an Assistant US Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia and the Western District of Washington.
In 2007, Tandy became the Senior Vice President of International Government Affairs for Motorola Solutions Inc., where she worked as Motorola’s top public policy spokesperson. In that role, she oversaw Motorola’s country management, governance and compliance issues in over 70 countries, and worked on telecommunications policy and trade regulation issues. Tandy has a B.S. in Education and a J.D. from Texas Tech University, and is licensed to practice law in Texas and Virginia.
