Chad Fredrick Wolf (born June 21, 1976)[1] is an American former government official and lobbyist who was named the acting United States secretary of homeland security in November 2019.

Wolf was an architect of the Trump administration family separation policy in 2018,[5] and was prominently involved in the deployment of federal law enforcement forces in Portland and elsewhere beginning in July 2020.

[16] [18] Wolf worked as a staffer for Republican Senators Phil Gramm, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and then for two and a half years with Chuck Hagel.

[24] Wolf then became Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Strategy, Plans, Analysis and Risk,[16] a Senior Executive Service position not subject to Senate confirmation.

[33][37][38] DHS then had to move the Under Secretary position earlier in the line of succession, because the 210-day period in which an acting official was eligible to be named without a pending permanent nomination had expired.

On September 11, 2020, federal judge Paula Xinis ruled that Wolf was likely unlawfully serving as acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

[48][49] Likewise, on November 14, 2020, federal judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled that Wolf was not lawfully serving as acting secretary of Department of Homeland Security.

[19] Wolf maintained a low public profile during the early part of his term, prior to his prominent involvement in the deployment of federal law enforcement forces in Portland, Oregon, and elsewhere beginning in July 2020.

Berkeley Research Group did not receive any DHS contracts until Wolf started at the agency as chief of staff for the Transportation Security Administration.

[69] In July 2020, lawyers for the Trump administration informed the court that DHS officials had made false statements to justify excluding New York residents from the Trusted Traveler programs, admitting the inaccuracies "undermine a central argument" in their case.

[71] New York subsequently changed its law that had prevented sharing of information with federal law enforcement officers to expressly allow for information-sharing of New York Department of Motor Vehicles records "as necessary for an individual seeking acceptance into a trusted traveler program, or to facilitate vehicle imports and/or exports", and the DHS then removed the Global Entry restrictions.

[73] At the time, career DHS officials and other law enforcement agencies emphasized that the major domestic terrorism threats stemmed from far-right groups, not antifa.

[6][7] In spring 2020, communicating through White House national security adviser Robert C. O'Brien, Wolf allegedly ordered former head of DHS intelligence Brian Murphy to focus his reports on Iran and China.

He also allegedly told Murphy not to expose the Russian origins of an anti-Biden disinformation campaign because the exposure "made the president look bad".

Murphy was demoted in August to DHS management division and filed a whistleblower complaint on September 8, which was released publicly the next day.

[77] On January 11, 2021, Wolf resigned after the storming of the United States Capitol, effective that evening, with FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor as his replacement.

[79] In his resignation letter, he cited "recent events, including the ongoing and meritless court rulings regarding the validity of my authority as Acting Secretary.

[84] Oregon Governor Kate Brown called the actions an "abuse of power" and accused Wolf of "provoking confrontation for political purposes".

[81][85][86] The New York Times reported that an internal DHS memo presented to Wolf before the deployment said the federal agents in question had not been specifically trained in riot control or mass demonstrations.

[88] Tom Ridge, the first head of DHS, sharply criticized the deployment, saying, "The department was established to protect America from the ever-present threat of global terrorism.