Strengthening Partnerships with our International Allies

Yesterday I announced my upcoming trip and some of the initiatives we’ll be advancing with our overseas partners, especially with respect to our counter-terrorism mission.

We recently signed several important agreements with our European allies to improve information sharing and enhance collaboration on the development of science and technology. My trip, which begins this Saturday and will include visits to Ireland, Britain, Portugal, and Spain, with a final stop in Kuwait to visit our Coast Guard operations, will build on these and other efforts.

• In Ireland I will assess preparations for aviation preclearance operations, which are scheduled to begin on July 29.


• In the UK, I’ll be meeting with the new Home Secretary and the new Transport Secretary on a number of issues, including cyber-security, science and technology collaboration, countering violent extremism, and civil aviation security.


• In Portugal, we will discuss ways to improve and increase information sharing to counter threats in both of our countries.


• And in Spain we will discuss enhancing the security of air travel between our two countries, building off of the recent agreements we’ve made to improve criminal information sharing and science and technology cooperation.

In addition to these issues, we will focus on matters of interest to both the United States and European Union as a whole, including the protection of privacy while improving law enforcement and security cooperation, and the Visa Waiver Program and its security enhancements.

We have a strong partnership with Europe when it comes to fighting terrorism and other forms of transnational crime. In the coming weeks, I’ll be talking more about our counter-terrorism efforts both at home and abroad, especially as we approach the 5th anniversary of the release of the 9/11 Commission Report on July 22.

It will be a good opportunity to assess how far we’ve come in our fight against terrorism, our work to secure our country – and what steps remain.

Janet Napolitano

A Focused Effort on Cybersecurity

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak at the World Affairs Council Global Education Dinner about our Department’s increasing focus on the issue of cybersecurity.

Of all the threats America faces, the integrity of our cyber infrastructure demands special attention. These are no longer emerging threats. They are with us now, and are happening every day. Over the past two years, for example, cyber crime has cost Americans more than $8 billion.

Any victim of identity theft understands the damage and permanent harm that this can cause to personal finances, credit, and reputation. Cyber threats also pose clear national security risks to major public and government networks and systems – from banking and energy to communications and transportation.

For this reason, President Obama has made cybersecurity the object of one of his first executive actions, declaring our nation’s cyber infrastructure as a strategic national asset and outlining a comprehensive plan for how our nation will prepare for and respond to cyber threats.

Our Department is playing a key role in this effort. For example, we are taking the lead in defending federal executive branch networks and systems – the “dot-gov” domain – as well as coordination with the private sector to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure and key resources.

What the Department is Doing

This is a top priority for us. Accordingly, I have centralized all of the Department’s cybersecurity functions under a new deputy undersecretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate, Philip Reitinger. This individual will coordinate cyber security across the Department, including our U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) and our National Cyber Security Center.

We’re also in the process of recruiting some of the best and brightest to lend their talents to our Department. We recently asked a well-known former computer hacker to join the Homeland Security Advisory Council to help us better understand the kind of threats that can come from hackers seeking to do harm.

Because cyber threats are not limited by international boundaries, we are also working with our overseas partners. For example, we are part of a coalition called the “International Watch and Warning Network” where 15 countries collaborate on policy issues, and response to cyber attacks.

Of course, the government can’t do this work alone. Everyone has a role to play in making cybersecurity a regular habit. For more information on that front, I encourage you to visit the U.S. CERT website to learn about how you can help.

By taking prudent, common-sense measures, we can reduce our individual and collective vulnerability to cyber threats and increase our resiliency as a nation. Because cybersecurity is not an end point, but rather an ongoing set of efforts, this will continue to be a major priority for our Department in the weeks and months ahead.

Janet Napolitano

The Department’s Five Responsibilities

When President-elect Obama nominated me to become our country’s third Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, I was warned that the vast Department was too cumbersome to lead; that the 225,000-strong workforce was too big to manage; that the 22 agencies with 22 corresponding missions that were brought together in 2003 were too disparate to meld into a coherent structure with a clear vision.

Yet, nearly five months into my tenure, the purpose of our Department is unambiguous: we must guard against terrorism; we must secure our borders; we must enforce our immigration laws; we must improve our readiness for, response to, and recovery from disasters; and we must unify the Department so that we can even more effectively carry out our mission.

On each of the five fronts, we have already made important strides.

Protecting the American people from terrorist threats is the founding principle of the Department and our highest priority. This is an effort where everyone--families and communities, first responders, the private sector, state and local governments, as well as the Department--must contribute. My approach is simple: direct every resource available towards prevention and preparedness, and ask Americans to live in a constant state of readiness, not a constant state of fear.

Since January, we have forged new partnerships with our international allies to provide more tools in the fight against terrorism. We have dedicated new resources to detect threats at our transportation hubs and protect our critical infrastructure. And, we are strengthening information-sharing efforts, working hand-in-hand with state, local and tribal law enforcement.

Fulfilling our mission also means securing our borders—our Southern border, our Northern border, and our air and sea ports. Every year, we apprehend and deport more than one million illegal immigrants, no doubt deterring countless more from trying to cross the border. Recently, we announced a new initiative to strengthen security on the Southwest border to disrupt the drug, cash and weapon smuggling that is helping to fuel cartel violence in Mexico.

When it comes to immigration, we need to facilitate legal immigration while we crack down on those who violate our nation’s laws. A few weeks ago, we issued new guidance to our agents in the field to focus our efforts on apprehending criminal illegal aliens and prosecuting employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. At the same time, we are committed to providing employers with the most up-to-date and effective resources to maintain a legal workforce. This new focus is drawing widespread praise--from law enforcement to the business community--because it addresses the root cause of illegal immigration.

As a nation, we must develop a more urgent sense of readiness. Hurricanes happen. Tornadoes happen. Floods happen. And as we recently experienced, so do health outbreaks like the H1N1 flu. The Department plays a critical role in helping communities in all stages of a disaster--preparation, response and long term recovery. Since January, we have worked in close coordination with state and local authorities to respond to severe storms in Arkansas, Kentucky, and Missouri and flooding in North Dakota and Minnesota. We have taken bold new steps to accelerate recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast region, streamlining decision making and consolidating offices to eliminate redundancies.

And we took immediate and aggressive steps to lead the federal government’s efforts to confront the H1N1 flu outbreak.

Finally, we must unify and mature our Department. Our goal is simple: one DHS, one enterprise, a shared vision, with integrated results-based operations. Through a consolidated headquarters, we are bringing 35 locations together. We have launched an expansive efficiency initiative that is leveraging the economies of scale in our Department in order to recover hundreds of millions of dollars and create a culture of responsibility and fiscal discipline.

Throughout these five priority areas, we are applying a series of cross-cutting approaches. We are bolstering cooperation with our partners at the local, tribal, state, federal and international levels; we are expanding our capabilities through the deployment of science and technology while developing and maturing new technologies for tomorrow; and we are maximizing efficiency to ensure every security dollar is spent in the most effective way.

We cannot afford to relent on any of these five fronts because together, they amount to our one overarching mission—a mission whose scope is massive, challenging, and humbling, but also a mission so straightforward and clear that it is contained in our name: securing the homeland.

Janet Napolitano

Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative: Boosting Border Security and Efficiency

Before January 2008, United States and Canadian citizens were not required to present specific travel documents when entering the United States through a land or sea port. That meant that a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer might only have the traveler’s word on which to base his or her decision to allow someone to enter the United States. Not surprisingly, this practice significantly hampered our ability to quickly verify a traveler's identity or citizenship, determine if they pose a threat, and importantly, hampered our ability to speed legitimate travelers across the border. Every day, CBP encountered hundreds of individuals trying to game the system and pass themselves off as American or Canadian—an untenable scenario that turned each traveler into a potential imposter.

On June 1, CBP will implement the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), a result of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 and a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission that requires U.S. and Canadian travelers to present a secure travel document that denotes identity and citizenship when entering our country. WHTI narrows the list of acceptable identity and citizenship documents to those in which we have great confidence because of their issuance process and physical security features. As a result, WHTI will strengthen our borders as we facilitate entry for U.S. citizens and legitimate foreign travelers – a core component of CBP's mission.

CBP is fully prepared to implement WHTI—we have ensured that you, the traveling public, have a choice among travel documents to best meet your needs; we have installed infrastructure in our ports to make your entry and inspection process go more quickly and more smoothly; and we have worked hard to communicate the new requirements to you well in advance of the June 1 deadline. We have also heard your concerns and made special provisions to accommodate U.S. and Canadian children under age 16—and those under age 19 traveling in school, sports, religious or other office groups—who need only present a copy of a birth certificate or alternative proof of citizenship to enter the United States by land or sea from Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean.

Now we need your help to make these improvements to our border security as successful as they can be. We encourage you to obtain WHTI-compliant travel documents for entering the U.S. on June 1 and beyond. Approved documents include the traditional passport book as well as cards that are equipped with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to make your trip even faster and more efficient: the U.S. passport card, a NEXUS, SENTRI or FAST Trusted Traveler Program card, or a state- or province-issued enhanced drivers license.

RFID-enabled documents are easy to use. When entering the United States from Mexico (or Canada), hold up your travel card (and those of any passengers in your car), drive slowly toward the inspection booth, and stop for an interview with the officer. The automated read of the RFID tag (a unique number that contains no personally identifiable information) links to a secure CBP database. Before you arrive at the booth, the CBP officer can review your photograph, biographic information, and the results of law enforcement checks. By queuing up this information while you’re still driving toward the booth, the officer can more quickly verify your identity and focus more attention on talking to you while shaving 6 – 8 seconds off of the current inspection process. Because all the RFID-enabled travel cards can be read at one time, it saves the officer from having to manually type information about each individual in your car.

We realize that some travelers arriving at the border will not have WHTI-compliant documents. I encourage you to continue with your travel plans and to obtain facilitative and secure WHTI travel documents as soon as possible. U.S. and Canadian citizens who lack WHTI-compliant documents but are otherwise admissible will not be denied entry into the United States on June 1 and during the subsequent transition period.

Obtaining a WHTI-approved document and complying with the law will help make our borders more secure. Getting your WHTI-compliant document will help make your border crossings easier and faster.

For more information on new documents that go into effect on June 1, please visit www.getyouhome.gov.

Jayson P. Ahern
Acting Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Originally published in the May 30, 2009 edition of the Houston Chronicle