The Senate last Thursday confirmed by voice vote Chip Fulghum as chief financial officer (CFO) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), leaving just two senior level nominees awaiting confirmation before all the senior posts at the department are filled.
For the past two years Fulghum was the budget director in the DHS Office of the CFO and has been serving as acting CFO since 2013. He is a former Air Force officer.
Since becoming the Homeland Security Secretary last December, Jeh Johnson has made filling leadership vacancies at DHS a priority. After the Senate returns following congressional elections in November, Johnson expects the chamber to confirm Russell Deyo to be under secretary for Management and Sarah Saldana to be director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“I am pleased that, since and including my own in December of last year, there have now been 10 Senate-confirmed presidential appointments to senior-level positions within this department,” Johnson said in a statement.
Fulghum’s confirmation came before a story in the Washington Post on Monday about high turnover rates among senior leaders at DHS the past few years. Johnson issued a statement the same day saying the story “is about the past and disregards the present.”