Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill announced today that she will appoint Marine Corps Veteran Tom Hauck to serve as New Jersey’s Director of Homeland Security. Hauck is currently serving as the Director of Intelligence and Operations of New Jersey’s Office of Homeland Security, where he leads the state’s counterterrorism and counterintelligence efforts, works in coordination with the FBI and local law enforcement, and implements intelligence collection and outreach programs to keep communities safe.

“I’m on a mission to deliver for New Jersey, and that means first and foremost keeping our residents safe. Tom brings decades of professional law enforcement experience that will help us do just that. As Director of Homeland Security, Tom will help us protect houses of worship, run the nation’s first state-level cyber information-sharing and incident response center, and be a key part of our preparations to welcome the world to celebrate both the FIFA World Cup and America’s 250^th anniversary,” said Governor-elect Sherrill.

“I am honored to continue to serve the State of New Jersey as Director of Homeland Security. I look forward to working alongside the Governor-elect to lead the Office in our mission to intercept and mitigate threats before they reach communities. Together, we will continue to run the nation’s premier cyber information sharing center, work with state and local law enforcement to protect communities, and be a partner in preparing New Jersey to safely host world-class events this summer,” said Tom Hauck.

Thomas Hauck joined the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (NJOHSP) in July 2022 as the Director of the Intelligence and Operations Division. Mr. Hauck oversees the activities of three bureaus that work in close collaboration with federal, State, and local partners: Operations Bureau, Intelligence and Analysis Bureau, and Mission Support Bureau. He leads NJOHSP’s collaboration efforts on counterterrorism, domestic terrorism, counterintelligence, and other specific criminal matters with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and other law enforcement entities. He also implements intelligence collection and outreach programs and resources to help NJOHSP meet its mission of helping to keep the residents and visitors in New Jersey safe. Mr. Hauck brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the agency, having served the FBI for two decades, most recently as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge and Compliance Officer at the FBI’s Newark Field Office. Prior to the FBI, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps as an Intelligence Officer/Captain.

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3-minute read

• The legislation addresses issues like inflated salaries, nepotism and governance, prompted by a state comptroller’s report on a specific charter school.
• These reforms also aim to prevent the creation of athletic “super teams” and make it easier for high-performing charters to consolidate.

New K-12 bills aimed at curbing inflated salaries and nepotism by improving transparency in the state’s public charter schools are headed to Gov. Phil Murphy for signing, coinciding with a state comptroller’s report that accuses a prominent South Jersey charter school of violating state laws.

The school installed a private vendor to oversee its management without due process, with the school superintendent appointing herself as the vendor’s CEO and naming other family members to key leadership positions, the report said.

The new proposals address transparency, governance, athletics, budgets and salaries for top leadership, said Harry Lee, head of the state’s charter school lobby, the New Jersey Public Charter Schools Association.

They also reward high-performing charter schools by making it easier for schools to consolidate, and introduces a 10-year-renewal clause, up from a five-year renewal, through the state Department of Education.

The Garden State is turning up the heat on parents to help prevent unruly behavior by teenagers.

It’s been an ongoing problem that has played out in the past few years in several beach towns and other communities.

Two bills were signed into law this week by Gov. Phil Murphy that build on prior efforts to crack down on the type of disruptive and violent antics seen in towns throughout the state.

“I think it’s smart to try and, like, kind of corral this issue a little bit, because it’s definitely gotten worse as I’ve gotten older,” Ocean City resident Madelyn Adamson said. “Making sure the parents kind of control their kids a little more is probably the way to go.”

One of the laws aims to hold parents and guardians more accountable by imposing consequences on them.

Any adults who have shown neglect or disregard for supervising their kids who incite public brawls could be charged with a disorderly persons offense.

The grown-ups could also get fined $1,000 for unruly behavior by teens that leads to property damage.

A second law requires the state Attorney General to create a crowd management training program for police in areas hit by more than one pop-up party or flash mob in the past year.

While public safety is at the heart of the new laws, officials say there’s an economic aspect to all of this as well, especially in shore towns that are highly dependent on tourism.

“A Memorial Day weekend public brawl that’s all over the news? People don’t want to come down the shore the next weekend and that hurts all kinds of small business, large business,” NJ Senator Paul Moriarty said.