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. 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 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 governor of Maryland in 1966". References External links |- |- |- 1942 births 21st-century American politicians United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War Clinton administration personnel Dartmouth College alumni George W. Bush administration personnel Harvard Kennedy School staff Living people Obama administration cabinet members People from Washington, D.C. United States Department of Homeland Security officials United States Marine Corps officers United States Secretaries of Homeland Security University of Michigan alumni Washington, D.C., Democrats