Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, joined Hoover fellows for a Leadership Forum roundtable at the Hoover Institution on Wednesday, September 24. The discussion brought together Hoover senior fellows, research fellows, National Security Affairs Fellows, and other guests to discuss the state of the nation’s homeland security.
The thoughtful exchange allowed the member of Congress to discuss the ISIS crisis in Syria and Iraq and its impact abroad and at home, strategies for what is next in the Middle East, how best to protect our nation’s borders from Mexico in the south to Alaska in the north, and how the United States can tap into innovation coming out of Silicon Valley. Attending Hoover fellows and guests had expertise ranging from foreign affairs and national security to military affairs.
Congressman McCaul assumed the chairmanship of the House Committee on Homeland Security at the beginning of the 113th Congress. He is the cofounder and cochair of the Congressional High Tech Caucus and the Cybersecurity Caucus and, in 2008, cochaired the Commission on Cybersecurity for the forty-fourth presidency. Before being elected to Congress, Representative McCaul served as chief of Counter Terrorism and National Security in the US Attorney’s office, Western District of Texas, and led the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Wednesday’s roundtable was part of the Hoover Institution’s Leadership Forum program, which seeks to engage influential policy leaders with the Institution, its scholars, and its supporters. In the past, the Leadership Forum has hosted Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, former World Bank president Robert Zoellick, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, and Mayor Chuck Reed of San Jose, among others.
