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DHS employees work hard every day to protect the homeland, and are proud to serve this Department and this Nation. Watch this video to find out Why We Serve.

By George Selim, Director of the DHS Office for Community Partnerships and the CVE Task Force.

One of the most powerful images I can show people is the front page of the Washington Post in December of 2014.  A photo of two parents, both with downcast eyes and the quote, "We were just frozen," when they learned their three teenagers had run away from home to join Islamic State militants in Syria. This is part of a growing number of Americans who are attempting to travel to Syria or Iraq to join the Islamic State.  And we anticipate more as recruiters from the Islamic State target youth on social media.

This was part of the discussion yesterday, when Lisa Monaco, President Obama's Homeland Security and Counterterrorism advisor visited our new offices for the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Community Partnerships and the interagency CVE Task Force. Monaco, who was joined by Deputy Homeland Security Advisor Amy Pope, met with the Task Force to go over what we are doing to face this threat at home.

Lisa Monaco, President Obama’s Homeland Security and Counterterrorism advisor, meets with the interagency CVE Task Force.

President Obama and Secretary Johnson have made countering violent extremism a key focus of our work to secure the homeland. In the current threat environment, we have to build bridges to communities and support them; they are our best defense against efforts by violent extremists to recruit and radicalize.

At the Office for Community Partnerships, we are taking our support for communities to the next level. In the coming weeks, DHS will issue a notice of funding opportunity. Non-governmental organizations will be able to apply for grants to support and develop community-based programs to prevent and intervene in the process of radicalization. This appropriation by Congress, $10 million, is a modest start, but these grants will be an important step forward. We have opened the door to providing communities with new resources to lead at the local level.

We were honored to have President Obama's top homeland security advisors with us yesterday. It shows the dedication and focus the Administration has given to this critical mission. I know that promoting trust and building relationships with communities takes time and patience. But by continuing to seek understanding and promote respect for our individual rights, we can empower communities across this country to confront the existing threat. That is what it takes to protect the homeland.

The Office for Community Partnerships staff greet Lisa Monaco and Amy Pope for their meeting with the Task Force.

This week, ICE led the largest street gang take-down in New York City history, totaling more than 120 members and associates of two rival gangs operating in the Bronx. Official photo by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office’s (DNDO) efforts in nuclear forensics and detection were highlighted at the fourth Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. from March 31 to April 1, 2016.  The Nuclear Security Summit has focused international efforts to address nuclear terrorism since it was launched by President Obama in 2010.

In support of the 2016 Summit, DNDO led the development of two nuclear forensics contributions, commonly known as “house gifts,” which are a nation’s accomplishments since the previous Summit.  These house gifts provide a means for further collaboration with international partners.

The first house gift was a fact sheet on certified reference materials, which are used to verify the accuracy of nuclear forensics conclusions.  DNDO is working with the interagency to develop these materials and make them available to the international community.  Nuclear forensics helps a nation to determine the origin of interdicted nuclear and radiological material and hold responsible parties accountable.

The second was a model that can be used for communicating with the public in a timely and effective manner during a nuclear security incident as well as in the day-to-day environment.

Additionally, we worked with other countries on a pair of nuclear security commitments made jointly by multiple international partners. The first commitment is to combat illicit trafficking and malevolent use of nuclear and other radioactive material by developing a framework, or architecture, for detecting, analyzing, and reporting on material that is outside of regulatory control. This is the first time ministers and heads of state formally endorsed efforts to develop and implement national-level nuclear security detection architectures.

The second commitment is to present the Illicit Trafficking Radiation Program report to the international community. This program was a joint U.S.-European Union effort to evaluate nuclear detection technologies against common performance goals. This report will allow international partners to better understand the performance of commercially available detectors, harmonize standards, and encourage industry to advance technology.

DNDO will continue to support international efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism after this Nuclear Security Summit through participation in international fora such as the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism and the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as through bilateral engagements with partner nations.  These efforts help protect the Homeland against the threat of nuclear terrorism.