Official website of the Department of Homeland Security
Happy Birthday, United States Coast Guard! On Thursday, August 4, the United States Coast Guard celebrated 226 years of protecting our maritime interests to secure the homeland. Semper Paratus – Always Ready.
Blog
August 5, 2016
2:13 pm
Category: coast guard, Maritime, Maritime Safety and Security Team, uscg
August 4, 2016
11:20 am
Today, the U.S. Coast Guard celebrates 226 years of honor, respect and devotion to duty. As the nation’s premier maritime law enforcement community, Coast Guard personnel serve to save lives, protect the environment and defend the homeland.
The U.S. Coast Guard is one of the five armed forces of the United States and the only military organization within the Department of Homeland Security.
First established in 1790 by President George Washington to enforce tariffs, the U.S. Coast Guard has become a military force and federal law enforcement agency dedicated to the safety, security and stewardship of the Nation’s waters.
The Coast Guard’s motto is “Semper Paratus” – always ready – to protect our nation and carry out the DHS mission.
Happy birthday, U.S. Coast Guard!
August 3, 2016
9:56 am
The Department of Homeland Security ensures that our Nation and its people are safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards.
Last week, more than 2,600 personnel from the Department of Homeland Security ensured the safety and security of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. They started their work only hours after completing the same task at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 46 people after their ship sank off the coast of Alaska. U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested suspected human smugglers off the coast of Florida. NPPD took the lead on developing a new National Cyber Incident Response Plan for cyberattacks. TSA discovered 74 firearms in carry-on bags. And USCIS naturalized hundreds of new citizens.
And that was just last week.
Every single day, across the country and around the world, the dedicated men and women of the Department of Homeland Security keep our nation secure, and our people safe.
Whether they’re protecting our borders, ensuring our cybersecurity, preventing terrorist attacks, or enforcing our immigration laws: the incredible work the 229,000 employees of DHS do each day is not always recognized, but it is always vital.
We celebrate our accomplishments. We honor our personnel. And we continue to do what is hard, in order to keep our nation safe. That’s all in a day at DHS.
With honor and integrity, we will safeguard the American people, our homeland, and our values.
A text transcript of this video is provided in lieu of an audio description.
Download: Video (226 MB MP4) | Closed Captions (3 KB SRT)
July 29, 2016
6:14 pm
PHOTO OF THE WEEK: “We are a resilient nation. I still remember on September 12, 2001, the people in Manhattan came to work.” Secretary Johnson opened the 2016 Aspen Security Forum with a candid conversation on the state of our nation’s security, and the impenetrable, unbreakable nature of the American spirit.
Official DHS Photo by Barry Bahler | Download High-Resolution Image (2100 x 1500)
July 29, 2016
3:33 pm
By: Chip Fulghum, Deputy Under Secretary for Management/Chief Financial Officer
Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security concluded its first ever two-day hiring event aimed at filling mission-critical positions to protect our Nation’s cyberspace. Several thousand people attended this innovative hiring event, which marked the first time eligible candidates could interview for an opening, receive a tentative job offer, and initiate the security process – all on the spot.
DHS was able to expedite the hiring process, interview hundreds of potential candidates, and immediately extend tentative job offers to over 150 talented entrepreneurs, computer scientists, engineers, and problem solvers. DHS employees also hosted an exhibition hall, where visitors were able to learn about how cyber and tech professionals support the DHS mission. In addition to the exhibition hall, we held several “Find and Apply” and “Improving your Federal Resume” sessions. Each session provided a great opportunity for participants to learn more on the Federal hiring process. Over 400 employees from across DHS volunteered for the event and helped make it a success.
Deputy Secretary Mayorkas and Deputy Under Secretary for Management/Chief Financial Officer, Chip Fulghum participate in a cyber demonstration at one of the several Component exhibits.
Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas greets DHS employees and visitors at the DHS Cyber and Tech Job Fair, July 27.
Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Deputy Under Secretary for Management/Chief Financial Officer, Chip Fulghum address participants at the DHS Cyber and Tech Job Fair, July 27.
We are excited to welcome these new employees to DHS, and welcome all those who could not attend to visit www.dhs.gov/careers for more information about future opportunities. DHS is committed to building a world-class cyber workforce. Candidates who received tentative job offers will have an opportunity to serve our nation and make a difference for millions of Americans.
For more information on careers at DHS, visit www.dhs.gov/careers.
July 29, 2016
2:27 pm
This month, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Blue Campaign is marking an important milestone - six years of work to combat human trafficking in the United States. Since 2010, the Blue Campaign has served as the unified voice for the Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking.
Throughout the past year, we have made significant strides in our efforts to raise public consciousness of human trafficking across the United States, through law enforcement trainings, public awareness materials, and resources for both government and private sector partners.
The Blue Campaign recently expanded our suite of tools and resources. In the coming year, we plan to release a new Public Service Announcement, as well as new awareness materials depicting the different types of human trafficking and its many victims in communities across the United States.
In the past year, the Blue Campaign has greatly increased the number of people who can recognize the signs of human trafficking through training and educational materials. For the first time, the DHS Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) included human trafficking awareness training in its basic training courses for over 90 federal law enforcement agencies. We also introduced online awareness materials for Native American communities, DHS employees, and different industries; and trained hundreds of airline personnel through the Blue Lightning Initiative. Through our train-the-trainer programs, we hope to reach even more people in the coming year.
The Blue Campaign is proud to stand alongside many others in this fight, because no one combats human trafficking alone. In the past year, we entered nine formal partnerships with the North Dakota Public Health Association; the Houston Mayor’s Office; the Birmingham, Alabama Mayor’s Office; the California Hotel and Lodging Association; the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission; the D.C. Office of Human Rights; and the Virginia Office of the Attorney General. In the coming year, we hope to add even more partners that can help spread awareness across the country and increase the number of individuals, families, and communities across the nation who have learned to recognize and report human trafficking.
Six years in, we have made great strides in our efforts to raise public awareness and identify and rescue more victims of trafficking. But we need your help. To learn more about the Blue Campaign and to get involved, visit www.dhs.gov/bluecampaign
July 29, 2016
9:54 am
Originally posted on the USCIS Blog
Through a national campaign that began last July, we’ve worked hard to promote greater awareness of the rights, benefits and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship. An estimated 8.8 million lawful permanent residents are currently eligible to apply for citizenship. The Citizenship Public Education and Awareness Campaign enabled us to reach out to many of them with information about how to become a U.S. citizen and the free study materials available from USCIS.
Due to the growing need for reliable information about citizenship, we released the first set of digital ads in four states last summer. In the fall, we ran digital and print ads in the 10 states with 75 percent of the lawful permanent resident population: California, New York, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Virginia, Washington and Arizona. Ads appeared in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Tagalog. We ran ads for a third time earlier this year in the same 10 states, along with new Facebook ads which expanded our reach. The campaign generated over a million clicks and nearly two million page views online and reached 19 million people through our print ads.
We couldn’t have done it alone. We would like to thank the many organizations that helped us promote the campaign across the country, ensuring it was a success. These include state and local governments, federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations.
The year-long effort succeeded in increasing visits to our Citizenship Resource Center, which provides detailed information and tools to assist with the naturalization process. But informing the public about the benefits and meaning of U.S. citizenship is central to the USCIS mission, and we will continue to do that moving forward. We encourage you to use and share the informational resources available from the campaign which can be found on our website.
July 28, 2016
5:53 pm
Today, Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reflected on the state of cybersecurity at DHS and the implications of the new Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) on Cyber Incident Coordination at the International Conference on Cybersecurity in New York. The PPD was announced by Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, at the same conference earlier in the week. 
Deputy Secretary Mayorkas called the issuance of the directive a “seminal” moment for cybersecurity and laid out the important role DHS plays in securing the nation’s critical assets, under the new directive. The PPD spells out the lines of responsibility within the federal government for responses to a significant cyber incident, and specifies who to contact in the government in the event of an incident. DHS is unique among federal agencies in that we have responsibilities in both threat response – investigating the crime - and asset response – helping the victim(s) and identifying the point of vulnerability.
"The asset response is a very different framework because what it is designed to do is to identify the nature of the attack, to expel the harm," said the Deputy Secretary.
Threats in cyber space are unlike traditional crimes because they can easily be automated and reproduced, making asset response critical to keeping the nation safe. Put simply, the more quickly we fix vulnerability, the less likely the damage will spread to other victims.
With this in mind, DHS is working towards fully automated information sharing among federal entities and private sector partners. Deputy Secretary Mayorkas acknowledged that while this approach may be “antithetical to normal threat response, the sharing of information is critical in the cyber world.” In fact, effective asset response depends on efficient, rapid, information-sharing about the incident.
Under the PPD, DHS will also take a lead role in drafting a National Cyber Incident Response Plan.
“We’ll take a page out of FEMA’s playbook,” explained the Deputy Secretary, in creating a plan to describe how the federal government will work with the private sector and state, local, and territorial governments in responding to a large-scale cyber incident. That plan will be ready in September.
For more information about the President’s Policy Directive, visit here. For more information on cybersecurity at DHS, visit www.dhs.gov/cyber.
July 26, 2016
4:05 pm
CBP Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske looks on during a Change of Command ceremony honoring new Academy Chief Dan M. Harris, Jr., on July 20, 2016 in Artesia, N.M.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske recently named Chief Dan M. Harris, Jr., as the new Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol Academy in Artesia, N.M.
During a Change of Command ceremony at the New Mexico academy, Commissioner Kerlikowske honored Chief Harris for his continued commitment to the Border Patrol, and to training the next generation of agents.
“Providing top notch professional training to new Border Patrol Agents is of the utmost importance,” said Commissioner Kerlikowske. “Under Chief Harris’ steady head, I am confident that the Academy will continue to serve as the finest foundation for producing the best-qualified agents to keep our nation and its border safe and secure.”
Commissioner Kerlikowske, CBP Chief Mark Morgan and Chief Dan M. Harris, Jr. stand in formation during the Change of Command Ceremony July 20, 2016 in Artesia, N.M.
Since September 2004, CBP has merged its training of new agents at the Artesia location as part of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) Office of Artesia Operations (OAO).
The Artesia location is one of three FLETC residential training sites in the United States. Named for the town where it is located in the heart of southeast New Mexico’s oil and dairy belt, the 3,620-acre site includes a full range of facilities for conducting basic and advanced law enforcement training.
Commissioner Kerlikowske and Chief Mark Morgan talk to Border Patrol Agent interns in Artesia, N.M.
To maintain the high standards of Border Patrol Agents across the United States, the Border Patrol Agent basic training curriculum is undergoing an update in order to utilize the most effective methods and tools available.
The new training curriculum incorporates recommendations from several Use of Force Reviews, the 21st Century Policing Report, the CBP Integrity Advisory Panel report, and also Non-Governmental Organizations. Training will be performance-based, in realistic training environments, with increased focus on safe tactics, de-escalation strategies, and communication techniques.
Under Chief Harris’ command, the U.S. Border Patrol Academy will continue to serve as a reminder of the success of DHS and the FLETC OAO’s ability to train those who protect our homeland.
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July 25, 2016
4:06 pm
I’ve been working as an explosives detection canine handler at the Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) since 2010. My canine partner is Doc. He’s a male black Labrador and is 5 years old. He’s also a former Marine!
It’s a blast getting to work with him every day. There isn’t a day that goes by when he isn’t excited to come to work. I have to say that his excitement is contagious. It gets me even more excited when I see his energy. So as you would imagine, we work really well together.
Canines like Doc bring an exceptional capability to the screening process. There isn’t a machine that can duplicate what he and I can do together. We’re mobile and responsive and that nose of his can’t be beat. Think of it this way. When your mom is cooking soup and you come home – what do you smell? You smell soup. The dog smells the salt and pepper in the broth. He smells the carrots, the chicken and every other ingredient in the soup. That sensitive nose can smell more than delicious food though. It can also detect the materials that make up explosives.
TSA K-9’s undergo extensive training at the Lackland Air force base in San Antonio, TX, before being assigned to a permanent partner. Once that happens, the K-9s live with their handlers as part of their families. The handlers and dogs must develop a strong bond of trust and knowledge of each other to help handlers identify those subtle nuances their partner may exhibit when doing a search. My partnership with Doc has truly given me a worthy partner and a best friend. I spend more time with Doc than anyone else in my life. We work together, live together, and even go on vacation together!
It’s an honor to be a K-9 handler with Doc. Our mission makes a difference every single day. Most people don’t realize that without our efforts, multiple things would come to a halt at the airports and transportation systems across the nation. While extremely cute, our partner’s noses are also an extremely important tool in the fight against terrorism.
Lori Potoczek- TSA Explosives Detection Canine Handler
Originally posted on the TSA Blog