The Response to the Gulf Oil Spill and National Energy Security
Abstract
As the Assistant Secretary of DHS for Intergovernmental Affairs, Juliette Kayyem played a major role in coordinating federal, state and local efforts to respond to the Gulf oil spill, working with the White House, the Departments of Interior, Commerce, Agriculture, Labor, and Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, Small Business Administration, and other government agencies with existing resources and programs in place to assist the response in the Gulf region. She will speak about the effort. An esteemed security and counterterrorism expert, Ms. Kayyem will also address the broader issue of energy security as a national concern.
About the speaker
Juliette Kayyem was most recently the Assistant Secretary of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Department of Homeland Security. Ms. Kayyem has a unique understanding of the state and local homeland security needs, having previously served as Massachusetts' first Undersecretary for Homeland Security and the Governor's federally designated Homeland Security Advisor. In that capacity she was responsible for developing statewide policies on homeland security, with a focus on all hazards strategic planning, prevention, and response; information sharing; interoperability; and energy security.
Prior to joining Governor Deval Patrick's administration, Ms. Kayyem served as Executive Director for Research at the Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and as a lecturer in public policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School for Government, teaching classes on law, homeland security and national security. She also held the position of co-faculty chair of the Dubai Initiative, a program with the Dubai School of Government.
She began her legal career at the Department of Justice, ultimately serving as an advisor to then Attorney General Janet Reno. Ms. Kayyem was also a congressional appointee to the National Commission on Terrorism, which, in early summer 2001, highlighted major gaps in planning and preparation for a possible terrorist attack. Ms. Kayyem is a current member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Assistant Secretary Kayyem was the most senior Arab American woman in the Obama Administration and was the first Arab American State Homeland Security Advisor. She is a 1995 graduate of Harvard Law School and 1991 graduate of Harvard College.
