DHS Secretary Mayorkas guts Homeland Security Advisory Council
CBSN
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has fired dozens of members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council as part of the effort to "reconstitute" the panel, according to a letter obtained by CBS News.
The letter, first reported by Politico, tells members that he has "ended the term of current HSAC members effective March 26, 2021," in order to facilitate "an orderly transition to a new model" for the panel. "I am considering how the HSAC can bring the greatest value to the Department and how the expertise, judgment, and counsel of its members can be harnessed most effectively to advance the Department's mission," Mayorkas wrote. "I expect to work closely with the HSAC and to rely on its Members to help guide the Department through a period of change."Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.