DHS personnel chief Neal to retire

After 31 years, the Jeff Neal will leave government. As the CHCO at DHS, Neal has led the hiring of cybersecurity professionals and has pushed strongly to refor...

By Jason Miller
Executive Editor
Federal News Radio

Homeland Security Department chief human capital officer Jeff Neal is retiring after 31 years in government on Aug. 3.

Neal sent an email to staff announcing his decision.

“I would not trade my experience for anything,” Neal wrote in the email obtained by Federal News Radio. “My career has been rewarding and I have had opportunities I would never have dreamed of when I started as a GS-5 in Memphis in 1978. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to work with Secretary [Janet] Napolitano, Deputy Secretary [Jane Holl] Lute, Under Secretary [Rafael] Borras, Under Secretary [Elaine] Duke, the White House, OPM, my fellow DHS Chiefs, the DHS Human Capital leaders, my colleagues on the Chief Human Capital Officers Council and our OCHCO team.”

Neal has been the DHS CHCO since 2009 when Napolitano appointed him, and has worked in senior HR roles at the Defense Logistics Agency and the Commerce Department.

Vicki Brooks is the DHS deputy CHCO and will likely replace Neal on an interim basis.

Over the last two years, Neal has been one of the CHCO community leaders in taking on hiring reform, getting rid of the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) essays and bringing in more employees across all parts of DHS.

“Our leader development program is already bearing fruit with the first class of participants in the unified DHS SES Candidate Development Program,” Neal said. “Our balanced workforce program has done exceptional work to help us understand how and why we use industry to support the DHS mission, and has developed a program that has gained the support of labor, industry and elected and appointed leaders. We have led successful efforts to identify and ensure we meet the Department’s foreign language requirements, improve diversity across the board and particularly in senior positions, and get the Department well on its way to meeting the Secretary’s goal of having 50,000 Veterans in DHS by the end of 2012.”

Neal also highlighted the work his office has been doing to bring collective bargaining to the Transportation Security Administration’s security officers and to bring 1,000 cybersecurity experts on staff through a streamlined hiring process.

“OCHCO team, in partnership with others in DHS headquarters, our components and organized labor,” he wrote.

Neal did not say what he will do next.

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