"Let it never be said that people like you have done nothing in the past for this country," he said. "This country is grateful for the service you provided before you were citizens."

Participants also heard from retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert S. Silverthorn Jr., who told them he was proud of the courage they showed by leaving their homes behind and coming to America to begin a new life. Stephen A. Leishman, registrar general with The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, also welcomed the new citizens, and encouraged them to get involved in their communities.

The society has hosted a naturalization ceremony for each of the past three years. Prior to Friday's ceremony, Leishman said he thought the event fit nicely with the society's mission.

"All our patriotic ancestors came to this country," he said. "They were immigrants 250 years ago."

Q: What changes if any there have been under the new administration and under Secretary Napolitano for the Coast Guard. How has it affected the mission, has it changed it at all?

A: If I were to give you a general observation, having a governor as a secretary has brought a focus on what I would call integrated concepts of homeland security related to all the different levels of government and what federalism really means, if you will. She has a very good understanding of the responsibilities of being a governor, the governor of a state on the southwest border. While they don't have hurricanes they certainly have wildfires and other things that require them to interact with FEMA.

Q: You're from that area.

A: I'm from Tucson, yes. She was my governor.

So what I think that you see is a pretty comprehensive view of the roles of government and the responsibilities of different levels of government clear down to what citizens ought to be doing in terms of preparedness and things like that. And I think that a hallmark of her tenure so far has been a sense of collaboration with governors in trying to understand the local implications of federal decisions. If I were to give you an overarching theme it is probably that.

Q. When you came in, you had this vision of independent commands; innovating, taking initiative, and carrying out the mission. Has it changed your vision, the vision you had of the Coast Guard, under this new administration?

A. No, in fact, some of the roles and missions of the Coast Guard are going to be more finely described or described with greater accuracy.

The Secretary issued the following statement this afternoon on the tragic aircraft collision last night:

"My thoughts and prayers, along with those of the entire Department of Homeland Security, are with the men, women and families of the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Marine Corps today. We are providing every available resource to fully support the multi-agency search effort underway to locate survivors of this devastating accident. As we hope for the best, we are reminded of the danger and personal risk that the courageous men and women of the Department of Homeland Security and our Armed Forces confront everyday in order to ensure the safety, security and resilience of our great nation."

Got a few thoughts on how to create a better national strategy for
long-term disaster recovery? The Obama administration's new Long-Term Disaster Recovery Working Group wants to hear them, and on Wednesday, the working group's leaders, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, launched a new Web site to solicit suggestions from state and local partners and the public.

The site, DisasterRecoveryWorkingGroup.gov, adorned with photos of President Obama's Oct. 15 town hall at the University of New Orleans, provides a 16-part online questionnaire that begins: "How would you define a successful disaster recovery?"

It also includes such questions as: "What unmet needs are common to most disasters that do not seem to be adequately addressed under the current systems and programs?" and "What are best practices for integrating mitigation and resilience into recovery?"

The purpose of the questionnaire, according to a statement from Donovan's office, is to make it easy for people to "submit ideas for disaster recovery; articulate objectives for recovery assistance going forward; identify examples of best practices; raise challenges and obstacles to success; and share thoughts, experiences and lessons learned."

US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will travel next week to Europe and the Middle East for talks with her counterparts on fighting terrorism and other global security concerns.

Napolitano, the top US official tasked with keeping America safe from terrorism and other domestic threats, will travel to Belgium, Denmark, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom from November 2-8, on her third visit to Europe, according to a press release.

Napolitano will meet in Belgium with members of the European Parliament and with Belgian officials on combating crime and terrorism while protecting civil liberties. She also planned to meet with World Customs Organization Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya on international efforts to crack down on smuggling and strengthen cargo screening.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement unveiled today a 50-member task force comprised of federal, state, local and Canadian agencies designed to combat cross-border crimes.

The Border Enforcement Security Task Force, or BEST, will focus on national security and terrorist threats, human smuggling and trafficking, contraband smuggling, money laundering, bulk cash smuggling, transnational gang activities and other criminal acts. The team, which is the third along the northern border, covers 721 miles. The initiative will be housed in the federal building downtown.

"For those who are involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking or selling firearms, the international border really doesn't exist," said Terrence Berg, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan."They operate across the border bringing in drugs to the U.S. and importing firearms, and this is a continuing problem. It's very rare to have this kind of cooperation, especially at the international level to have all of these agencies working together."

Upwards of 1,000 people descended on the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center Monday to get a first glimpse of the government‘s plans to transform the 157-year old St. Elizabeth‘s mental institution into the new Department of Homeland Security headquarters.

Officials hope the vast new complex will infuse the neighboring Congress Heights area with much-needed economic vitality, while finally consolidating DHS‘s 22 member agencies and departments (about 14,000 employees), which are now flung across 48 locations and in some 100 different buildings.

"We‘re scattered to the four winds. We are trying to harness this, trying to make it a single focus," said Donald Bathurst, DHS‘s Chief Administrative Officer. "It‘s a tremendous opportunity for us to have a campus that will help us focus on our mission."

A calculated move to inspect a heavy chessboard paid off for customs officers at Philadelphia International Airport. Federal officials seized more than two pounds of hashish and more than half an ounce of marijuana hidden inside the wooden game board.

Agency spokesman Steve Sapp says the hash was shipped from Tanzania but he declined to say where it was headed. Officials estimated the drugs' street value at about $30,000.

The federal government will spend an estimated $1.5 billion to build a new data center in Utah to support intelligence and defense agencies' cybersecurity programs, according to state and federal officials.The National Security Agency will run the center that Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said would cost $1.5 billion to build and employ 4,000 to 5,000 people statewide.

The facility will be built at the Utah National Guard's Camp Williams, near Salt Lake City. Glenn Gaffney, deputy director of national intelligence for collection, announced the project Oct. 23 in Utah and he was joined by elected officials from the state.

"The new data center we are announcing today will support the intelligence community's mission in providing foreign intelligence about cybersecurity threats," Gaffney said.