Steady Progress on the Gulf Coast

Earlier today, I was at the Southern University of New Orleans (SUNO), which sustained major damage from Hurricane Katrina nearly four years ago. Today, there are signs of progress across the campus, and I was proud to announce an additional $32 million in funding to continue the rebuilding of SUNO.

Overall, more than $400 million has been obligated under this Administration toward the repair and replacement of educational facilities and projects throughout Louisiana.


Thanks to a concerted effort by FEMA, our Gulf Coast Rebuilding Office, and all the federal agencies involved, Gulf Coast communities have a strong ally in their rebuilding efforts.

Certainly, when we look back on the last four years, there’s much to learn from. But right now:

• We have the right people in place
• We are cutting through bureaucratic red tape and getting decisions made faster, and
• We are addressing the most difficult challenges head-on rather than working around them.

What this all means is that – from the federal perspective – we are keeping the promises that we've made.

Last February, we committed to working to help resolve the lingering problems that many families were having with housing. Since then, we have assisted more than 3,200 Louisiana households move out of FEMA temporary housing and into more suitable, longer-term, functional housing.

Overall, roughly 99 percent of households displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita have found longer-term means of housing.

Back in March, we created two teams to aid in the resolution of disputed projects. The Joint Expediting Team and the Unified Public Assistance Project Decision Team together have since resolved 73 disputed projects. And two weeks ago, we announced an additional avenue for fairly and promptly resolving public assistance projects through independent arbitration panels.

We've made significant progress over the past seven months, but at the same time, we all acknowledge how far we still need to go.

Rebuilding the Gulf Coast, and making it stronger and more resilient, is a long-term project that requires the engagement of federal state and local government, communities, faith groups, and the private sector.

Today, I shared the message that this Administration is committed to rebuilding in the long term. Our expectations are high, and I look forward to coming back to see more signs of progress soon.

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

Trip to the Gulf Coast

Last week, I joined Secretary Donovan of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Craig Fugate, the President’s new nominee to be FEMA Administrator, on a two-day trip to the Gulf Coast. Our goal was to get a firsthand look at the recovery efforts underway since Katrina and Rita, meet with state and local leaders, and identify outstanding issues.

What we saw on our trip were very clear signs of progress and a clear determination by the people of the Gulf Coast to rebuild and recover from these terrible storms. But we also saw too many communities still in disrepair, too many construction projects either incomplete or not yet started, and too many people still struggling to reclaim their lives.

We spoke with community leaders, first responders, school teachers, and ordinary citizens to get their perspective. We also took a bus and helicopter tour of New Orleans and a helicopter tour of the Mississippi coast to get a better sense of the remaining challenges.

While in New Orleans, I made several announcements that are designed to cut through some of the red tape that for too long has stalled the completion of a number of important projects, including the reconstruction of two police stations and a fire station.

FEMA will provide replacement funding to rebuild these facilities, as well as an additional $12 million to repair a water treatment plant in St. Bernard parish. It will also provide significant funding to Benjamin Franklin High School, one of our nation’s best high schools that suffered significant damage from Katrina.

To ensure that future public assistance requests aren’t bogged down in endless disputes and paperwork, I also announced the creation of two new teams consisting of FEMA and state representatives that will work together to expedite these requests and make decisions.

Finally, FEMA will be extending relocation assistance for people displaced by Katrina and Rita to help them find permanent housing solutions. And it has extended the deadline for hazard mitigation funding for Mississippi, which will give people more time to file their applications and ultimately build more resilient homes and communities.

All of these actions will help the people of the Gulf Coast continue their recovery. We stand with them, and we will continue to support them.

Janet Napolitano

Responding to the Ice Storms

This past week, the Midwest was hit by a terrible ice storm that took the lives of several dozen of our fellow citizens, damaged homes and property, and left many across the region without power. More bad weather is expected to continue over the next several days.

I've been in touch with the Governors of Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas and moved quickly to provide federal support. FEMA continues to be actively engaged in the region, providing generators, meals, cots, blankets, and bottled water to residents. It is also helping with debris removal, conducting damage assessments, and assisting with disaster claims. We’re also in touch with the relevant power companies to see how quickly permanent power can be restored.

We are working as quickly as we can to help the victims of this storm and return a sense of normalcy to their lives and the region.

Next week I'll be visiting Kentucky and Missouri to meet with state and local officials and identify what else the federal government can do to support their citizens as they plan for recovery.

Beyond dealing with these recovery efforts, I'll also be traveling to Kansas and Iowa to work on our preparations for the upcoming flood and tornado season, which is just around the corner.

The time to prepare is now. Indeed, last year FEMA faced 90 federally-declared disasters and provided assistance to 36 states. That included the back-to-back hurricanes of Gustav and Ike, deadly tornadoes, Midwest floods, and wildfires.

Thanks to the good work of our DHS employees and everything we're doing now, we'll be ready to respond quickly and support the men, women and families in communities across the country.

Janet Napolitano