Statement for the Record
Select Committee on Intelligence
United States Senate
Kenneth L. Wainstein
Nominee to be Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis
Department of Homeland Security
January 12, 2022
Chairman Warner, Vice-Chairman Rubio, and members of the Committee, I am
profoundly honored to appear before you today as the nominee for Under Secretary for
Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) at the Department of Homeland Security.
I am joined here today by my wife Elizabeth and my daughters Mackie, Cecily
and Natalie. I’d also like to recognize my daughter Ellie who is watching this from back
at school. It means a lot to me that they’re with me today, and that they’ve been with me
over the years throughout my career.
I’m grateful to the President for giving me this opportunity to work with his
strong national security team. I’m also grateful to him for looking beyond political optics
and selecting someone who previously served in a Republican administration. In a small
but important way, that is a reaffirmation of the non-partisan approach to national
security that has traditionally been – and must always remain – a bedrock principle of our
government.
That is the approach I have always taken to government service. I was a federal
employee for over two decades, serving the first dozen years as a federal prosecutor -investigating and prosecuting homicides, gang conspiracy cases and white-collar
criminals, working closely with crime victims, and always exercising my prosecutorial
discretion with an eye both to protecting civil liberties and due process rights and to
assiduously avoiding any consideration of politics or political influence.
The attacks of September 11th were a turning point for me, as I pivoted to
focusing primarily on protecting our country against terrorism, espionage and other
national security threats. That was my overriding focus during my service at the FBI, in
establishing the new National Security Division at DOJ, and in advising the President as
his Homeland Security Advisor. In those roles, I took the same non-partisan approach I
had learned as a prosecutor, and approached every decision point with full regard for civil
liberties considerations.
During my government service, I worked closely with DHS. I admired how the
department established itself under the exceptional leadership of Governor Tom Ridge
and how it responded to a constant stream of natural and homeland security threats. I am
clear-eyed, however that DHS now faces an increasingly complex threat environment --

including from nation-state adversaries like China, Russia, and others who target our
elections and steal our sensitive intellectual property and from cybercriminals and
transnational organizations that victimize our communities.
I&A is critical to the department’s ability to meet those threats. To use Secretary
Mayorkas’s words, DHS was established, fundamentally, as “a department of
partnerships,” and it is I&A’s mission to make those partnerships effective. As you well
know, intelligence is the lifeblood of homeland security operations, and we cannot be
effective unless that intelligence is fully circulated throughout the homeland security
enterprise.
I&A performs a range of functions to accomplish that mission. It has primary
statutory responsibility for sharing information and intelligence with our state, local,
tribal, territorial and private sector partners. It serves the intelligence needs of the DHS
components and leadership, ensuring that internal policymaking and operational
customers receive relevant intelligence. It leverages the significant information holdings
of the DHS component agencies to identify and confront threats to our national security.
And, it is tasked with coordinating information-sharing within the Department.
If I am fortunate enough to be confirmed, I will work hard to enhance I&A’s
ability to accomplish those tasks.
First, I will focus on the workforce of I&A. As a manager, I have always
believed that my first duty is to support my personnel, and as a leader of an intelligence
agency, I will vigorously defend their ability to deliver objective, unvarnished analysis
that is free from political influence.
I will review I&A’s operational role in the homeland intelligence enterprise with
an eye to identifying and eliminating unnecessary duplication or operational overlap and
focusing I&A’s role on those areas where it adds particular value.
I will maintain a constant focus on the implications of I&A’s activities on the
privacy and civil liberties of United States persons and the need for strong safeguards,
oversight, and transparency in our intelligence operations. We can only be successful at
safeguarding our people, our homeland, and our values if we maintain the trust of our
fellow citizens.
And importantly, I will work in close collaboration with Congress and with this
Committee, in particular. I have long had a strong relationship with the staff and
Members of this Committee, and if confirmed, you can count on my being a very willing
and collaborative partner in our joint effort to make I&A as effective as it can be.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today and for the honor
of considering me for this position. I am happy to answer any questions you might have.

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