Posted by January Contreras

As Women’s History Month draws to a close, it’s important to recognize the vital role the Department of Homeland Security continues to play in increasing the safety and security of women and girls.  Today, Secretary Janet Napolitano spoke at a DHS event to commemorate Women’s History Month and to recognize some of the programs and initiatives across the Department that demonstrate our commitment to this priority.

Among the many initiatives highlighted today was DHS’ Blue Campaign – which brings together components from across the Department to help prevent, detect, and investigate human trafficking – a crime that disproportionately affects women and girls.  To further support this effort, this spring, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the DHS Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman and the Department of Health and Human Services will begin a collaborative dialogue with our country’s national network of domestic violence shelters and service providers to address human trafficking and violence against women.

Additional examples of DHS’ efforts to increase the safety and security of women and girls include:

• In 2010, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) administered the full statutory allotment of 10,000 visas for victims of domestic crimes who participated in the investigation and prosecution of their perpetrators – for the first time.
• Since 2008, the U.S. Coast Guard has trained more than 150 victim advocates through its Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program and Family Advocacy Program to help protect women and girls
• The U.S. Secret Service has partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, offering polygraph support to local law enforcement to help crack cold cases of missing children, as well as abuse and homicide cases.
• Through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s Victim Assistance Program, 18 new full-time victim assistance specialists have been deployed to 17 ICE offices, in addition to 250 collateral duty Victim Assistance Coordinators, to provide continued guidance and support for victims of violent crimes.  ICE is also working closely with the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to help ensure the safety and health of women housed in detention facilities.  Across the country, ICE agents are also taking part in anti-trafficking coalitions that partner with local communities to combat human trafficking.
• The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center has deployed programs that train officers on protecting women and girls, including a web-based human trafficking training course and training on violence against women.
• DHS’ Stop.Think.Connect. campaign is increasing public awareness of safe cybersecurity practices and provides parents with the knowledge and tools they need to help their children stay safe online.

While we are extremely proud of our accomplishments in the protection of women and girls, we know there is always the opportunity to do more.  As a Department, we are committed to dedicating even more of our efforts to the security of women and girls in the years to come.
 
January Contreras is the Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) Ombudsman at the United States Department of Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security set fire to a house in Richburg, South Carolina yesterday to prove a point about how simple practices can make your home more resilient to wildfires – part of the DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) Wildfire Ignition Resistant Home Design (WIRHD) program.

A full-scale 1,200 square foot, one-story home was subjected to wind-blown embers, which quickly ignited mulch in the gardens around the house and pine needle and leaf debris in the gutters. Within minutes, many portions of the structure itself were engulfed in flames.

DHS and its partners in the project – the Savannah River National Laboratory, the U.S. Forest Service and the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) – conducted this test to demonstrate differences in the ignition potential of various construction techniques, building materials, and landscaping practices.

Wildfires are common occurrences. According to Forest Service statistics, there have been more than 10,000 wildfires in the United States this year and hundreds of homes have been lost. But the tragedy of losing a home to wildfire can be preventable. Simple measures can be taken to increase a home’s resilience, and most of them are either free or inexpensive, such as keeping gutters clear and avoiding using flammable materials, such as pine straw, in garden beds close to the home.

The IBHS facility is unique in its ability to replicate the conditions of an actual wildfire on a full-scale structure – it’s built on a turntable so all of the materials can be exposed to the ember storm.

The results of the demonstration will be combined in a tool for homeowners evaluate their own homes for resilience to wildfires.

Contrary to what most people believe, it is not the heat and flames of a wildfire that provide the greatest threat, it’s the wind-blown embers. Firefighters frequently find homes that are completely consumed by fire while nearby vegetation is left untouched. That’s because wind-blown embers found combustible materials on or near the home.

DHS got closely involved in this issue following the 2007 wildfires in Southern California. The Forest Service and the firefighter community asked for help in understanding the behavior of wildfires, and demonstrations like this one illustrate how modifications to construction and landscaping design and materials can minimize the damage to homes and businesses – and save lives.

The Obama Administration has dedicated historic levels of manpower, technology, and infrastructure to the Southwest border to ensure the safety of border communities, and these resources have made a significant impact. Some of America’s safest communities are in the Southwest border region, with border city crime rates staying steady or dropping over the past decade.

The security of our border communities strengthens the prosperity of the region. From San Diego, California to Brownsville, Texas, hundreds of billions of dollars of commerce come across the border each year, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs. Thanks in part to the administration’s major investments to improve border infrastructure at our land ports of entry, the value of the trade crossing the Southwest border increased 22 percent in fiscal year 2010 alone.
                                              
Yet, local leaders in border communities say misinformation about the safety of the Southwest border is hurting their communities, driving potential visitors away and hurting local businesses.

The reality is that the Southwest border is open for business. El Paso, Texas is one of the best examples. Not only have crime statistics shown it to be one of the safest big cities in the country, but the value of imports crossing into the United States through El Paso has risen 40 percent just in the last year.

In fact, today I was in El Paso to meet with local officials and business leaders to discuss ways that we can help strengthen trade and travel in the region and help set the record straight about the safety and economic opportunities in their communities.

We all agree that the challenges at the border are real – but so is the progress we’ve made over the last two years. I’m proud to join with our border communities in spreading the word that the Southwest border is, indeed, open for business.

Janet Napolitano

Cybersecurity is of critical importance to securing our nation, which is why it’s one of the top five mission areas for Homeland Security. As part of a broad, government-wide cybersecurity initiative, DHS leads the national effort to secure federal civilian agency and critical infrastructure systems and networks.

In the here and now, we face significant risks, not just to our computers but also to the essential services on which our society depends. That’s why DHS analysts and systems work around the clock with federal, state, and local government, as well as private sector partners to prevent, detect, and respond to a broad array of ever-evolving cyber threats.

But we cannot let these urgent threats lead us to lose sight of the bigger picture. In addition to the critical operational activity we are engaged in on a daily basis, DHS has a responsibility to help create a fundamentally safer and more secure cyber environment in the long term.

Today I am sharing with you a vision for such an environment. We are releasing a white paper, “Enabling Distributed Security in Cyberspace”, which explores technical options for creating a safer, more secure and resilient network of networks. Specifically, the paper looks at how prevention and defense can be enhanced through three security building blocks: automation, interoperability, and authentication. If these building blocks were incorporated into cyber devices and processes, cyber stakeholders would have significantly stronger means to identify and respond to threats—creating and exchanging trusted information and coordinating courses of action in near real time.

The white paper reflects the substantive contributions of thirteen federal agencies that gathered at a federal workshop in Washington last year.  The white paper is intended to stimulate thought and discussion. DHS intends to leverage the expertise of representatives from industry, academia and other government agencies as we work to understand cyber threats and manage risk in cyberspace.

I also welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Together, we can do more to keep America safe, secure, and resilient in cyberspace. I look forward to receiving your input.

Philip Reitinger
Deputy Under Secretary, National Protection and Programs Directorate

You can e-mail comments on this white paper to cyberfeedback@dhs.gov.

Cross Posted from The TSA Blog

Last week, TSA was honored to accept the award for the Best Government Mobile App from the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) at its 9th Annual Excellence.Gov Awards event in Washington, D.C.  The annual event honors programs that have pushed the boundaries of innovation, quality, and overall effectiveness in the federal government’s information technology area to improve services to citizens, enhance government operations and provide a more open and transparent government.

The “MyTSA” mobile web and iPhone app was launched in July 2010 to put the most frequently requested TSA information directly into the hands of travelers, anywhere, anytime.  The app has four features, which include:

    •    Airport Status: Check what airports are experiencing general delays (not flight specific) or search for conditions at a specific airport. This information is provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

    •    “Can I Bring…?”: Type in an item you’d like to bring on a trip to find out if it is permitted or prohibited, and whether you can pack it in your carry-on or checked bags.  If your item isn’t in the app, you can submit it for consideration.

    •    Guide: A consolidated guide to the most frequently requested security information, including the rules for liquids, gels and aerosols; ID rules; tips for packing and dressing to speed through security; and guidelines for the military, people traveling with children and those with special needs.

    •    Security wait times: You can post your security wait time and see what wait times other passengers have posted for U.S. airports. The more people that use the wait time portion of the app, the better it works.

While we greatly appreciate the award for our app, we plan to continue improving our users’ experience by implementing user’s suggestions and other innovations.  A few things we’re working on now are adding type-ahead functionality to the “Can I Bring” part of the app to help find items quickly even if you’re not sure how to spell them, adding video to the Guide section, and increasing the number of airports in the app so users can select the airport nearest them regardless of size and even set a “favorite” airport for status updates.

Thanks to all who have submitted feedback, and if anyone else has ideas for improving the app, you can provide feedback by using the “About” button and selecting “Provide Feedback” on both the mobile web and iPhone versions.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Lynn
TSA Blog Team

Cross posted from The Beacon


By: Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director

Today I am proud to announce the launch of E-Verify Self Check. E-Verify is a smart, simple, and effective web-based tool that allows us to work with employers to help them maintain a legal workforce. E-Verify Self Check is an innovative, first of its kind service that will help protect workers and streamline the E-Verify process for businesses.

Put simply, Self Check gives workers fast and secure access to their employment eligibility information before they apply for jobs. In this way, workers are able to identify whether there are any inaccuracies in their Social Security Administration or DHS records before they seek employment, and submit corrections for any inaccuracies ahead of time. Self Check also assists employers by reducing the number of tentative mismatches that could otherwise result when a worker’s government records are not updated.

Every aspect of E-Verify Self Check was designed to secure users’ personally identifiable information and to prevent misuse of the service. For example, E-Verify Self Check uses an identity assurance process to confirm that the person attempting to run a check is who he or she claims to be to avoid fraud or abuse.

Beginning today, the E-Verify Self Check service is available to users who maintain an address and are physically located in Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Mississippi, Virginia or the District of Columbia. In the coming months, USCIS will continue to expand the E-Verify Self Check service to additional eligible users on a rolling basis.

We at USCIS are proud of this latest E-Verify enhancement, and we are confident that it will prove to be a valuable tool for employees and employers alike. I welcome your feedback as we move forward.

For more details on E-Verify Self Check, I invite you to read the accompanying News Release and Fact Sheet, or visit the E-Verify Self Check Web Page.

In January, President Obama signed an Executive Order requiring all federal agencies to review existing regulations. The goal is to figure out what should stay, what should change, and what should go; making our regulatory program less burdensome, more effective, and better equipped to achieve regulatory goals. As a key step toward fulfilling the President’s mission, DHS today published a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comment on how best to develop a preliminary plan for a DHS-wide review of our existing regulations - It’s all a part of the Obama administration’s efforts to increase transparency and accountability in regulatory compliance across the federal government.

To execute the most efficient review possible, we need to hear from you. That’s why, in addition to the Federal Register comment mechanism, we are encouraging individuals and organizations, and State, local, and tribal entities to submit comments using the IdeaScale public dialogue tool—a simple, web-based forum that facilitates a two way conversation about how DHS regulations can best serve the public while still meeting their regulatory objectives.

Tell us which regulations you think should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed altogether to better serve you and your community. With IdeaScale, you can submit new ideas, add comments on ideas, and vote on ideas submitted by other participants.

It’s a simple and effective way to contribute to the mission of DHS. By participating, you are helping the Department better serve you as we support the Obama administration’s promise to increase transparency and accountability across the federal government.

The dialogue opens today, so get your ideas in and keep them coming for the duration of the comment period. We look forward to hearing from you!

We thank you for your loyal readership of the Leadership Journal; our online forum discussing policy issues from the perspective of the Department’s senior leadership.

Starting today, we will be combining the Leadership Journal and The Blog @ Homeland Security to form one unified blog for The Department of Homeland Security.

On The Blog @ Homeland Security, readers can still expect to see blog posts directly from the Secretary and senior leadership, as well as feature stories from across the Department, all in one convenient location. 

We encourage and welcome your thoughts and comments on The Blog.

This page lives as a standing archive of the Leadership Journal.   Here you will find all of the content published on the Leadership Journal from its beginning in September 2007 to the latest post in January 2011.  Long term, the Leadership Journal will be permanently archived and the URL http://journal.dhs.gov/ will discontinue.

Right now, you can still view any past Leadership Journal entry, each with its original comments still intact.

Please note that the e-mail subscriber list for Leadership Journal will discontinue.  We encourage you to sign up for the e-mail subscriber list on The Blog to receive the latest news and updates from the Department.

In Sterling, Virginia, Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama, Denis McDonough, gives remarks at the Adams Center on partnering with communities to prevent violent extremism in America.

Read the Transcript

The Department of Homeland Security is offering a new program that invites top executive-level talent from the private sector to share their expertise with the Department to fill some exciting and important roles here at DHS. We call it the Loaned Executive Program.

We're looking to our nation's top executives to partner with us as we strive to solve problems, improve processes, and fully realize our mission. Most loaned executive programs last for six months and come with the option to renew for an additional six-month rotation. While these positions don't draw a government salary, participants in the loaned executive program still draw their regular salary and benefits from their private-sector employer. And by serving as a loaned executive, executives will have an opportunity to make a difference in securing our nation.

Homeland Security is looking for loaned executives to fill the following openings:

• Senior Advisor for Strategy Development and Implementation in the Department's Office of Strategic Plans: This loaned executive will have the opportunity to advise on the Department's strategic direction and will examine the long-term impact of evolving threats, challenges and trends.
  
  
•  Senior Advisor for Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Planning in the Department's Office of Cybersecurity and Communications: In this position, a loaned executive will help evaluate the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center's capabilities and refine the Department's cybersecurity strategy.

The deadline for applications is March 21, 2011. To apply, please visit our Loaned Executive Program Current Openings page on dhs.gov.  Got questions? E-mail loanedexecutive@dhs.gov.

Since 9/11, the United States has made important progress in securing our Nation from terrorism. Nevertheless, the terrorist threat facing our country has evolved significantly – and continues to evolve. One of the most striking elements of today’s threat picture is that plots to attack America increasingly involve American residents and citizens.  Indeed, since 2009 more than two dozen Americans have been arrested on terrorism-related charges.

We’ve seen the rise of a number of terrorist groups inspired by al-Qaeda ideology and seeking to recruit Westerners.  These plots are often harder for authorities to identify because they present fewer opportunities for disruption by intelligence or law enforcement than more elaborate, large-scale plots by foreign-based terrorists.

This has profound implications for how we go about securing our country. It requires a new kind of security architecture that complements the structure we already built to protect America from threats coming from abroad.  And a key piece of this is supporting law enforcement at all levels to enhance their relationships with members of diverse communities that broadly and strongly reject violent extremism.

We therefore see countering violent extremism as both a “whole of government” and “whole of nation” effort. This has been a major priority for President Obama from the start. And today, Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough outlined the Administration’s approach in remarks to an audience of people from different faiths and beliefs at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Northern Virginia. Watch the video of the remarks.

At DHS, we have been supporting this approach by working directly with law enforcement and community-based organizations to counter violent extremism at its source, using many of the same techniques and strategies that have proven successful in combating violence in American communities. And we’re pairing this with efforts to better understand the risk confronting the homeland, and to protect the privacy rights, civil rights, and civil liberties of all Americans. As we often say, what’s behind this is a simple, but powerful, idea: that homeland security begins with hometown security. And that we all have a role to play.

Janet Napolitano

(from l to r) Fmr. Secretary Tom Ridge, Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Fmr. Secretary Michael Chertoff.  Moderator, NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell (r) Photo by: Barry Bahler/DHS

Photo by: Barry Bahler/DHS



Photo by: Barry Bahler/DHS

Today marks the 8th anniversary of the Department of Homeland Security. As I said in my “State of America’s Homeland Security” address in January, our nation is more secure than it was two years ago, and more secure than when DHS was founded. Nonetheless, our work never stops.

I am joining my predecessors, Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, today at a public commemoration of the Department’s 8th anniversary. We’ll speak to the history and progress of the last eight years, and to the dedication and service of the more than 230,000 men and women of DHS. A live video stream of the event will be available here.

Since it was formed in 2003, DHS has achieved remarkable progress across our key missions: preventing terrorism; securing our borders; enforcing our immigration laws; securing cyberspace; and ensuring resilience to disasters.

But we know that we have more work to do to counter the evolving threats we face. We must remind ourselves that our mission – a secure homeland – requires our constant vigilance, hard work, and determination to prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from terrorism and other threats.

As I often say, homeland security begins with hometown security. Working hand in hand with first responders, state, local, tribal and territorial governments, community groups, international partners and the private sector, we have made great strides in protecting our nation from terrorism and other threats while building a culture of resiliency and preparedness in our communities. Security is, indeed, a shared responsibility.

I invite you to watch and to learn more about how DHS is working every day to secure our nation. I look forward to the coming years, as we build on the foundation we celebrate today.

Janet Napolitano