President-elect Barack Obama on Monday named Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano -- who has pioneered security efforts along the volatile Arizona-Mexico border -- to head the nation's Department of Homeland Security.

Napolitano, 51, has gained national notice for her work on border security efforts and her opposition to President Bush's border-control strategies, including his plan to build a 700-mile fence. In her command of Arizona's National Guard, Napolitano has pushed for providing border security with more resources while providing reasonable opportunity for worker visas.

The Arizona governor "insists on competence and accountability," Mr. Obama said in a news conference. "She knows firsthand the need to have a partner in Washington that works well with state and local governments. She understands as well as anyone the danger of an unsecure border. And she will be a leader who can reform a sprawling Department while safeguarding our homeland."

Napolitano inherits a homeland security department wrought with controversy and challenges. With illegal immigration rates continuing to rise, the ongoing threat of terrorism and a continuing war on illegal drugs filtering in across the U.S. border, Napolitano will be tasked with major reform projects.

New homeland security efforts will include "a communication network linking state and local officials in a crisis, a system to scan shipping containers for terrorist weapons, and a massive border-control initiative," the Boston Globe reported.

Napolitano, who was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006, serves as Arizona's third female governor. An executive committee member of the Democratic Governor's Association, Napolitano also sparked national attention at the 2000 and 2004 Democratic National Conventions. A breast cancer survivor, Napolitano spoke at the 2000 convention just three weeks after a painful mastectomy.

In 2004, she was considered as a serious candidate to be Democratic nominee John Kerry's running mate. In February 2006, Napolitano was named by the White House Project as one of "8 in '08," a list of eight female politicians likely to run for president in 2008.

Before her gubernatorial election, Napolitano was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993 as U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona. She was elected to be the state's attorney general in 1998.

In Napolitano's first run for governor, she narrowly defeated Republican opponent and former congressman Matt Salmon. In 2006, she was re-elected by a nearly 2-to-1 margin over challenger Len Munsil.

Outside of her political work, Napolitano is known for a cool head and sense of humor. When asked in a 2006 interview how a female is elected governor, she deadpanned, "I got more votes," the Agence France-Presse reported.

Napolitano then described one of her personal goals as a second-term governor: paying off her condominium.

"I have the only gubernatorial condominium in the United States," she said.

Napolitano was born and raised in New York City and attended Santa Clara University in California before getting her law degree at the University of Virginia.

In 1991, she represented Anita Hill in her lawsuit against then-Supreme Court justice nominee Clarence Thomas for sexual harassment.

-- Compiled from wire reports and other media sources