DHS

August 10, 2007 -- "Eric Leckey has announced his resignation as Advisor to the Secretary and White House Liaison at the Department of Homeland Security, effective Friday, August 24. I have continually relied on Eric for trusted advice and sound analysis. Eric has ably served as a member of my team since May of 2005 leading the process to recruit the Department's senior leadership and capably managing our most sensitive non-career personnel matters.    » read more »

August 9, 2007 -- Secretary Chertoff: Good morning, everybody. I'm joined by Kip Hawley, who is the Administrator of TSA, and by Commissioner Ralph Basham of Customs and Border Protection, and Kathy Kraninger, who is the head of our Screening Coordination Office. I want to thank you all for joining us today.    » read more »

August 9, 2007 -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today steps that will strengthen aviation security through uniform and consistent passenger prescreening against government watch lists.    » read more »

August 3, 2007 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Chairman of the Senator Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement this morning after President Bush signed the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 into law.    » read more »

August 3, 2007 -- The Department of Homeland Security has posted on its web site, and will publish on Aug. 6, 2007, in the Federal Register, four Privacy Act records involving the Automated Targeting System (ATS). The records are an updated System of Records Notice (SORN), the Discussion of Public Comments Received on the SORN, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Privacy Act Exemptions, and a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA). In doing so, the department has strengthened privacy protections for all individuals traveling in to and out of the United States.    » read more »

Washington, DC (7/26/2007) - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today applauded the failure of an amendment offered to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill that would have authorized $300 million of federal funding for states to implement the Real ID driver’s license program, which has been estimated by DHS to cost $23.1 billion. The ACLU deemed the proposal "sucker money" because it aimed to entice states to accept a paltry amount of funding for a flawed program that would ultimately cost millions more in state taxes and licensing fees.    » read more »

July 12, 2007 -- On June 11, 2007, Mr. Prakash Khatri, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CISOMB) delivered the 2007 Annual Report to Congress. The Ombudsman’s annual reports focus on identifying systemic issues that cause delay in granting immigration benefits as well as pervasive and serious problems faced by individuals and employers in their interactions with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).    » read more »

July 17, 2007 -- MS. TOWNSEND: Good morning, everybody. Earlier today, the Director of National Intelligence briefed the President and senior staff on the new National Intelligence Estimate on the terrorist threat to the homeland. The DNI has delivered the NIE to Congress and has released the unclassified key judgments, which you should now have. The Office of the DNI has already briefed the media this morning on the report and the key judgments and so I will not go into much of that detail.    » read more »

07/17/2007 -- California Governor Schwarzenegger issued the following statement today regarding the announcement of homeland security grants from the federal government:

“While I am encouraged with the increased funding overall for California including San Diego, Orange County and the Bay Area, I am concerned and disappointed with the reduction in funding for Los Angeles and Sacramento.    » read more »

July 11, 2007 -- Washington, DC - “Our nation, and New York in particular, faces serious threats.

We need serious analysis, serious homeland security strategies, and serious leadership more concerned with keeping people safe than keeping people afraid.

More than five years after 9/11, we still must secure America’s borders, railways, mass transit systems, ports, chemical plants, nuclear facilities, and more. State and local agencies still need real interoperable communications. Our nation still requires risk-based – and not politically-based – security funding.    » read more »

July 11, 2007 -- The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology (S&T) directorate announced today that five sites have advanced to the next phase in the competitive process to select the location of the proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF). The following sites, in alphabetical order, have advanced to the next phase:

* Flora Industrial Park, Madison County, Miss.
* Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kan.
* Texas Research Park, San Antonio, Texas
* Umstead Research Farm, Granville County, N.C.    » read more »

July 11, 2007 -- (JACKSON, Mississippi) – Flora Industrial Park in Madison County, Mississippi, has been listed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as one of five potential locations to build a National Bio and Agro-Defense Project facility (NBAF), Governor Haley Barbour and the Mississippi Congressional delegation announced today.    » read more »

Senator will Raise Concerns about Homeland Security Funding at a Neeting with Chertoff this Week; Recent Figures Show Department of Homeland Security Still Does Not Take Threats Against New York Seriously

July 10, 2007 -- Washington, DC – In anticipation of a meeting with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff this Thursday, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today called on the Secretary to explain the Department’s reasoning behind the continual short-changing of the New York metropolitan area when it comes to national homeland security funding.    » read more »

Before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight

July 10, 2007 -- (Remarks as Prepared) - Introduction:    » read more »

Jul 9, 2007 -- Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Senator John Edwards released the following statement about today's Congressional report that the Bush Administration has not filled about 25 percent of the top positions in the Department of Homeland Security.

"Today's Congressional report that the Bush Administration has failed to fill about 25 percent of the top posts at the Department of Homeland Security is very troubling.

This report is a stark reminder that we must hold the president accountable for homeland security at every turn.    » read more »