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Posted by Public Affairs

Secretary Napolitano just concluded a trip to Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia.

On Monday she visited Anniston, Ala. where she joined Congressman Mike Rogers at the FEMA Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) to tour operations and watch a Vapor Wake demonstration at Auburn University’s Canine Detection Training Center.



CDP provides advanced training for emergency responders and other state, local and tribal government officials. It is the only facility where civilian responders can train using actual nerve agents and the nation’s only hospital training facility dedicated solely to preparing the healthcare, public health, and environmental health communities for mass casualty events related to terrorism or natural disasters.

Auburn University’s Canine Detection Training Center is a training facility for bomb detection canines used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and has trained a select number of canine teams in the Vapor Wake technique. The TSA National Explosive Detection Canine Team Program has grown from 200 teams in 2001 to over 800 teams in 2011.


The Secretary then traveled to Little Rock, Ark. to deliver remarks at the Clinton Center, home to the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, as part of the Frank and Kula Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture Series—highlighting the importance of public service as we approach the tenth anniversary of 9/11. You can watch video of her remarks on the Clinton School website.

On Tuesday, the Secretary traveled to Glynco, Ga. and joined TSA Administrator John Pistole, and Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) Director Connie Patrick for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new FLETC Intermodal Training Facility.


The first of its kind in the nation FLETC Intermodal Training Facility proactively addresses threats to homeland security by providing training in a hands-on, state-of-the-art environment to federal, state and local law enforcement. The facility includes an airport terminal and gate area, security checkpoints, a baggage claim, rental car area, a jet bridge to a life-size 727 aircraft, as well as a bus terminal, railway station, and subway station.


The FLETC Intermodal Training Facility will provide frontline law enforcement personnel at the Department of Homeland Security—as well as the 90 federal agencies that FLETC serves—with a realistic set of scenarios to help combat threats to various transportation modes.

According to United States Geological Survey, the mid-Atlantic Region of the United States experienced a 5.9 magnitude earthquake this afternoon. Along with the entire federal family, we are closely monitoring the situation and are in close contact and coordination with our federal and state partners in Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland and the surrounding areas.

There are no initial reports of significant damages, but we will continue to coordinate closely with our state and local partners to assess their needs.

Today’s earthquake in the mid-Atlantic region is a great reminder that emergencies can strike anywhere and often happen without warning. Be sure your family has an emergency plan and a kit of emergency supplies to sustain yourselves for at least 72 hours.

And as a reminder, here are a few tips on what to do during/after an earthquake:

• If indoors, DROP to the ground; take COVER by getting under a sturdy table or other piece of furniture; and HOLD ON until the shaking stops. If there isn’t a table or desk near you, cover your face and head with your arms and crouch in an inside corner of the building.
• If outdoors, move away from buildings, streetlights, and utility wires.
• Voice data networks may be congested after a disaster, so send a text message or e-mail to loved ones to let them know you’re OK.
• Follow the direction of local officials when making the decision to return home. Return home only when local authorities have said it’s safe.

Well, here are just a few of the many steps we’ve taken, including those we have taken to address specific 9/11 Commission recommendations over the past ten years: 
 

• In-Flight Security – Hardened cockpit doors, Federal Flight Deck Officers, the Crew Member Self Defense Training Program and an expanded Federal Air Marshal Service, better protect the flight deck against an act of criminal violence or air piracy. 
• 100% Screening – Through Secure Flight, 100% of passengers flying to, from, and within the U.S. are prescreened against government watchlists. TSA screens 100 percent of checked baggage for dangerous items including explosives, and 100% of all air cargo transported on passenger aircraft that depart U.S. airports is screened.
• Professionalized Workforce – The Transportation Security Officers (TSO) working at 450 airports today are hired through a rigorous vetting process and extensive training that did not exist for the contract personnel who worked the security checkpoints on 9/11. TSOs have an average of 3.5 years of experience on the job, compared with the average of 3 months of experience for screeners prior to 9/11. Prior to 9/11, turnover in the industry was over 125 percent – today, TSA’s turnover rate is 6.4 percent. 
• New Technology – Today through Advanced Imaging Technology and Automated Target Recognition, we can detect metallic and nonmetallic threats including weapons and explosives concealed under layers of clothing on passengers without physical contact. And, using Advanced Technology X-ray, Bottled Liquid Scanners and Explosives Trace Detection (ETD) Technology, we can more efficiently and effectively screen luggage and belongings for potential threats. 
• Information Sharing and Detection – Through Secure Flight, Travel Document Checking and collaboration with our international partners, we can identify passengers who pose a risk to security, verify someone is who they say there are, and better protect the entire global aviation system.

Posted by Alejandro Mayorkas, Director, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services

This is part of a series of blog posts exploring the progress we have made in implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations.

Respecting and celebrating our tradition as a nation of immigrants strengthens our communities and helps ensure that people of diverse backgrounds share in the rights and freedoms guaranteed under our Constitution.

Every day, the dedicated men and women of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) ensure that deserving immigrants receive the benefits for which they are eligible under our nation’s laws. This same dedicated workforce protects the integrity of our nation’s immigration system and helps ensure the system is not abused by those who wish to do our nation harm.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, USCIS was created as part of a new national homeland security enterprise to confront and defend against the evolving threats we face and to make America more resilient when a crisis occurs. Its creation was premised upon the basic tenet that for our immigration system to work, we must be able to protect our national security.

Through USCIS’s enhanced efforts to protect national security, USCIS can more effectively screen for security threats while efficiently processing legitimate benefits for people rightfully coming to the United States. To that end, USCIS has taken and continues to take steps responsive to the 9/11 Commission Report’s recommendations. In our efforts, for example, to combat immigration fraud:
 

• We redesigned the Permanent Resident Card, commonly known as the Green Card, to include a radio frequency identification tag that allows Customs and Border Protection to quickly access the electronic records of travelers seeking to enter the United States and includes new security features that reduce the risks of counterfeiting, tampering, and fraud.
• We redesigned the Certificate of Naturalization, utilizing a tamper-proof printing process and embedding digitized photos and signatures.
• We added a machine-readable zone to the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) to make it easier for border control officers to more efficiently identify people who have already been approved for immigration benefits and who have been reviewed previously by USCIS officers.
• We have enhanced our partnership with the Forensic Document Laboratory which is dedicated exclusively to detecting fraudulent documents. As a result, we can better identify fake documents used to seek immigration benefits.

We also have enhanced our sharing of information with key federal partners:
 

• Dozens of our Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) officers are aligned with local FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTFFs) to coordinate resources and provide immigration expertise to federal government agencies in support of terrorism investigations.
• Our FDNS officers furnish support to the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), the FBI’s National Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Terrorist Screening Center, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s National Security Unit.
• We regularly exchange information with US-VISIT related to refugee claimants under existing data-sharing agreements with foreign-government partners.

Our efforts reflect our commitment to oversee lawful immigration to the United States by strengthening the security and integrity of our nation’s immigration system while providing effective customer-oriented immigration benefit and information services.

You can read more about the Department’s efforts to implement the 9/11 Commission report’s recommendations here.