HOMELAND SECURITY 2019 by STUDIO Gannett

SPECIAL EDITION

HOMELAND SECURITY FREE 2019 EDITION

At the Ready SOFT TARGETS Training local leaders

BORDER SECURITY Immigration top priority

SMART SCREENING Improving airport travel

DIGITAL DEFENSE Thwarting cyber attacks

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

CONTENTS

2019 S PECI A L E D ITI O N

HOMELAND SECURITY

FLEET REFRESH Coast Guard rolls out new ships, expanded patrols, updated personnel policies

A Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew conducts hurricane response operations in the Bahamas on Sept. 4. SEAMAN ERIK VILLA RODRIGUEZ/U.S. COAST GUARD

DEPARTMENTS

8 14

STATE OF AFFAIRS Former acting DHS secretary provides update on immigration, family separation, other key issues

INSIDE OUR BORDERS

AIRPORT ADVANCEMENTS

DIGITAL DEFENSE

PREPARING FOR THE WORST

TSA is testing new technology to make air travel screening easier for passengers

THE LONG HAUL In the wake of largescale natural disasters, FEMA is becoming a lasting presence in some communities

DHS AT A GLANCE The agencies in charge of protecting the homeland

20 TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

Secret Service teams up with local law enforcement, private partners to combat cybercrime

FEMAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Center for Domestic Preparedness offers real-world disaster training

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

SOFT TARGETS, TOUGH TASK

New technology helps border security agents gather data, assess threats

Newest DHS agency aims to protect religious institutions from growing violence

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TECHNOLOGY

DHS designs new tools to assist ﬁrst responders

PROBLEM SOLVERS WANTED Department seeks employees with cyber degrees

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Coast Guard adjusts policies to better attract, retain women

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60 U.S. COAST GUARD

Petty Officer 2nd Class Victoria True maneuvers the 52-foot Motor Lifeboat Invincible from the pier at Station Grays Harbor in Washington.

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DEPARTMENTS By Adam Stone

N OCT. 7, ACTING Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin

McAleenan took the podium at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., prepared to talk about the administration’s controversial immigration policies and actions. He never got to give that speech. Demonstrators shut down his planned keynote address, and four days later, President Donald Trump announced via Twitter that McAleenan was stepping down after just six months on the job. “Kevin McAleenan has done an outstanding job as acting secretary of Homeland Security,” Trump wrote. “We have worked well together with border crossings being way down. Kevin now, after many years in government, wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector.” McAleenan had served as U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner before replacing Kirstjen Nielsen as acting secretary in April. On Nov. 1, Trump announced that Chad Wolfe, acting undersecretary of the DHS Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans, would serve as the department’s interim acting secretary. The following are excerpts from the prepared remarks, posted on DHS’ website, which McAleenan was unable to deliver. They offer insights into administration policies and priorities around the influx of migrants, family detention and other key issues:

MCALEENAN: “Earlier this year, we

faced an acute and deepening crisis at our Southern border. At its peak in May, we faced an extraordinarily challenging situation, with overcrowding in border facilities and continued daily arrivals of almost 5,000 migrants, primarily families and children from Central America. This point is critical, as our immigration laws work fairly well when addressing single adults from contiguous or regional countries. But for families and children, we lacked effective tools to counter the smugglers and their messages, resulting in unprecedented flows of these most vulnerable migrants making the journey to our border, and we lacked funding from Congress to promptly alleviate the humanitarian crisis the volume of arrivals caused.”

Kevin McAleenan

RUNDOWN OF CRISIS SALVADOR MELENDEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS

State of Affairs Former head of DHS calls for a ‘higher-minded dialogue on immigration’

“To give you a sense of the enormous scale of the crisis that our department’s workforce has been confronted with this year: In May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended or encountered over 144,000 migrants at our Southwest border, 90 percent of whom crossed illegally between ports of entry. This was a modern record, and included a day of over 5,800 border crossings in a single 24-hour period. With the overwhelming number of arrivals, DHS facilities at the border were overcrowded, resulting in very difficult humanitarian conditions. In some sectors, 50 percent of our agents were redirected to processing and care for migrants, leaving key areas of the border undermanned and necessitating the closing of checkpoints. In response to these multifaceted

challenges, we developed an aggressive and holistic strategy to mitigate the crisis within existing law.”

REDUCE THE FLOW “To reduce the flow, we realized that international partnerships were going to be essential. We worked to develop operational and strategic partnerships in the region based on shared responsibility for the migrant crisis. In terms of the reduction in flow through interdiction and disruption, the single biggest factor has been the efforts of the government of Mexico. This has included the deployment of nearly 25,000 troops under the new Mexican National Guard; a focus on increased presence along the ChiapasGuatemala border; stopping the conveyor belt of large groups to the U.S. border; disruption of key transportation hubs; and, importantly, a dramatic rise in human smuggling arrests and prosecutions. The increase in human smuggling prosecutions has not been confined to just Mexico. Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have all increased human smuggling arrests and prosecutions in the last three months. Working with both Mexico and all three Central American partners, we have initiated or expanded programs that are resulting in more effective immigration results for arrivals at the U.S. border as well.”

EXPEDITIOUSLY REMOVING MIGRANTS “Perhaps the most visible program resulting from our energized international efforts has been the Migrant Protection CONTI NUED

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DEPARTMENTS

PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

McAleenan attended an Oct. 21 Cabinet meeting at the White House 10 days after President Donald Trump announced McAleenan was stepping down as acting DHS secretary.

Protocols — or MPP — established with Mexico earlier this fiscal year. Under MPP, eligible migrants crossing illegally or presenting without documents at ports of entry are processed for expedited court hearings and returned to Mexico. They are then allowed access through U.S. ports of entry on hearing dates. MPP enhances the integrity of the system by getting immigration court results at (a) much faster pace than the nondetained docket in the U.S., while keeping families together and without keeping them in custody. We have also worked with partner governments to streamline information sharing, to support repatriation and joint identification of security or criminal threats. Along with these efforts, we are also implementing new regulations designed to limit asylum abuse while preserving our critical commitments under U.S. law and international agreements, as well as promulgating stringent requirements for

care and custody conditions for minors in federal holding, but we still believe that key legislative fixes are necessary for a durable and comprehensive solution to the crisis.”

IMPROVED CARE OF MIGRANTS IN CUSTODY “I would like to highlight one more area of progress … and that has been in the area of our efforts to enhance care and conditions, alleviate overcrowding in border facilities, provide access to showers and toiletries, hot meals, medical screening and care and sufficient transportation to ensure movement to more appropriate settings on a timely basis. DHS has: uAdded over 5,000 beds in temporary facilities, providing a more appropriate setting for families and children and eliminating overcrowding of single adults uEnsured access to showers at major stations and dramatically increased

accessibility of hot meals and ageappropriate meals uIncreased the presence of certified medical professionals in border stations and points of entry from approximately 20 to 200, and provided policy direction to ensure all children are screened, while dramatically enhancing transportation capacity As a result of all of these efforts, from a high of almost 20,000 total in custody at the border, we now average 3,500 to 4,500, and the number of unaccompanied children has been reduced from more than 2,700 to fewer than 150. Going forward, we need a higherminded dialogue on immigration, in our media, in Congress and with legal experts. This year marked the third crisis surge in five years. We have taken key actions to address it, but durable solutions depend on congressional action to address the weaknesses in our laws that have incentivized these unprecedented flows.”

“In May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended or encountered over 144,000 migrants at our Southwest border, 90 percent of whom crossed illegally between ports of entry.”

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DEPARTMENTS

BETWEEN JULY 1, 2017 AND JUNE 26, 2018

1,556 CHILDREN WERE SEPARATED FROM THEIR FAMILIES

An asylum-seeking boy from Central America arrives at a San Diego immigration shelter. GREGORY BULL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

ACLU TALLIES BORDER SEPARATIONS More than 1,500 children were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border by U.S. immigration authorities early in the Trump administration, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in late October, bringing the total number of children separated since July 2017 to more than 5,400. The ACLU said the administration told its attorneys that 1,556 children were separated from July 1, 2017, to June 26, 2018, when a federal judge in San Diego attempted to end the practice by ordering that children in government custody be reunited with their parents. Children from that period can be difficult to identify because the government had inadequate tracking systems. Volunteers working with the ACLU

are searching for some of them and their parents by going door to door in Guatemala and Honduras. Of those separated during the 12-month period, 207 were younger than 5, said attorney Lee Gelernt of the ACLU, which sued to stop family separation. Five were less than a year old; 26 were a year old; 40 were 2 years old; 76 were 3; and 60 were 4. “It is shocking that 1,556 more families, including babies and toddlers, join the thousands of others already torn apart by this inhumane and illegal policy,” said Gelernt. “Families have suffered tremendously, and some may never recover.” The count is a milestone in accounting for families who have been touched by President Donald Trump’s widely maligned effort

against illegal immigration. The government identified 2,814 separated children who were in government custody on June 26, 2018, nearly all of whom have been reunited. The U.S. Health and Human Services Department’s internal watchdog said in January that potentially thousands more had been separated since July 2017, prompting U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw to give the administration six months to identify them. The ACLU said it received the last batch of 1,556 names one day ahead of the deadline. The administration has also separated 1,090 children since the judge ordered a halt to the practice in June 2018 except in limited circumstances, like threats to child safety

or doubts about whether the adult is really the parent. The government lacked tracking systems when the administration formally launched a “zero tolerance” policy in the spring of 2018 to criminally prosecute every adult who entered the country illegally from Mexico, sparking an international outcry when parents couldn’t find their children. Poor tracking before the spring of 2018 complicates the task of accounting for children who were separated early on. As of Oct. 16, the ACLU said volunteers couldn’t reach 362 families by phone because numbers didn’t work or the sponsor who took custody was unable or unwilling to provide contact information for the parent, prompting the door-to-door searches in Central America. Since retreating on family separation, the administration has tried other ways to reverse a major surge in asylum seekers, many of them Central American families. Thousands of Central Americans and Cubans have been returned to Mexico this year to wait for immigration court hearings, instead of being released in the United States with notices to appear in court. In September, the administration introduced a policy to deny asylum to anyone who passes through another country on the way to the U.S. border with Mexico without seeking protection in Mexico first. — Elliot Spagat, The Associated Press

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DEPARTMENTS

Davenport, Iowa STEVE ZUMWALT/FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

The Long Haul FEMA is becoming a year-round presence in more communities By Brian Barth

OMPARED WITH THE PREVIOUS

two years, 2019 was a bit lighter on headline-scale disasters. Not that the Federal Emergency Management Agency hasn’t

been busy. By October’s end, there had been nearly 90 disaster declarations in 2019, down from 124 in 2018 and 137 in 2017. There have only been four other years since 1996 with fewer than 100 declarations. In contrast, prior to 1996, the numbers were never close to 100 declarations in a year; most years saw fewer

than 50 declarations, and occasionally there were fewer than 10. While Hurricane Dorian pummeled the Bahamas earlier this year, the U.S. dodged the bullet for the most part, with short-term effects felt in only a few regions of the Southeast and Caribbean territories.

STAYING PUT If 2019 had a theme at FEMA, it might be: in it for the long haul. The cumulative effects of an unprecedented era of disasters is reshaping the agency, at least in some areas, from one that shows up when the sirens go off, does its job and goes home, to one that stays put — either because

the damage is so extreme that recovery is an ongoing process, or because the next disaster lurks just around the corner. A case in point is found in the floodprone regions of the Midwest. This spring, a “bomb cyclone” storm produced historic floods in more than a dozen heartland states. At least 62 levees were breached in March, and by summer hundreds of miles of levees along the Missouri River and its tributaries had overtopped. The damage affected an estimated 14 million people, closed 3,300 miles of state and federal highways, including 21 bridges, and the Mississippi River spread out 20 miles wide in some places.

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DEPARTMENTS

West Alton, Mo.

Pacific Junction, Iowa

FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center

Lincoln County, Mo. STEVE ZUMWALT/FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (3); FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

It was a soggy period across the U.S. — meteorologists say the time frame from June 2018 to May 2019 was the wettest 12 months on record — but the middle of the country bore the brunt of it. In Cairo, Ill., the Mississippi and Ohio rivers remained in flood stage for a record 156 consecutive days. Farmers, who often plant in floodprone bottom lands, were especially hard hit. In Arkansas, for example, only about half the state’s soybean crop was seeded in time for summer, when it’s normally in full-growth stage. This flooding was easily the most headline-inducing disaster on American soil in 2018. But according to Paul Taylor,

the regional administrator for FEMA’s region seven (which includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska), unfortunately, the floodwaters didn’t recede with the headlines. “The scope of the flooding was in many places unprecedented. In some areas you couldn’t tell where the river was anymore; it was just water as far as you could see. A lot of places are still underwater to this day,” he said.

‘FLOOD FIGHT’ MODE Taylor says 2019 has been another wet year, and with all the levee breaches that have yet to be repaired, even a little rain maintains the lakes that now exist

alongside the Missouri River channel. So rather than move into recovery mode, he’s remained in “flood fight” mode, especially in Nebraska, where he describes the flooding as “the most significant disaster the state has ever encountered.” Taylor said more than three-quarters of the counties in his four-state region — more than 300 total— remain under a disaster declaration, with upward of $100 million in flood insurance program payouts so far. He started out in March with more than 1,000 FEMA employees on-duty and still had 800 as of October, a CONTINUED

IN 2011 THERE WERE A RECORD

242 NATIONAL DISASTER DECLARATIONS SOURCE: Federal Emergency Management Agency

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DEPARTMENTS

IT’S GOOD TO STAY FIT In response to the increase in frequency and severity of disasters in recent years, former FEMA Administrator Brock Long launched the FEMA Integration Teams (FIT) project in 2017. The idea is for FEMA employees to embed with state, local, tribal and territorial agencies to provide ongoing technical assistance. The goal is to achieve a more seamless, effective and rapid response when disasters strike. The project started with 10 states in 2018 and currently includes partner agencies in 32 states, said Jeff Byard, FEMA’s associate administrator for the Office of Response and Recovery. The plan is to eventually have FIT teams in every region of the country. “The vision is to get FEMA more involved on a dayto-day basis with our state partners,” Byard said. “Some states only see FEMA in times

of disaster, and we want to change that.”

JOCELYN AUGUSTINO/FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

Disaster Survivor Assistance teams along with FEMA Corps members canvassed neighborhoods affected by the recent Arkansas River flooding to answer questions and register residents for federal assistance.

number he does not expect to diminish in the foreseeable future. “We think it’s probably going to be a hard winter,” said Taylor. “We’re also thinking about next spring too, because frankly, unless we’re able to get rid of some of this water, we’re still going be vulnerable. We’re going to maintain our presence in these states.”

A LONG WAY TO GO The same can be said of Puerto Rico since the territory was hit by Hurricane Maria in fall 2017. Two years later, progress on recovery is inching forward, said Jeff Byard, FEMA’s associate administrator for the Office of Response and Recovery. But it is a long way from complete. “This is one of the largest and most complex recoveries that the agency has ever faced. With most hurricanes, we’ve gotten the response phase at a stable position within 30 to 45 days and we can start to look at recovery. With Puerto Rico, we were in a

response for six to eight months. We had to get the power restored; we had to get a stable water supply. We had to get the ports back open, so that we could bring in materials to start recovery work and to build housing for FEMA contractors and employees.” In addition to the homes lost, much of the island’s infrastructure was obliterated, creating a dire humanitarian situation. The island has received more than $21 billion in federal assistance so far, including $5 billion “to get power restored in a temporary fashion,” said Byard. Another major focus has been training a local workforce because relying on workers from the mainland for years on end is unsustainable. Byard said that FEMA currently has about 2,200 employees on the island, of which 80 percent are local hires. “That’s given us a permanent workforce that will be on CO NTINUED

JOCELYN AUGUSTINO/FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

DEPARTMENTS

EDUARDO MARTINEZ/FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

Members of FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance Program met with Hurricane Maria survivors in Puerto Rico to help them identify risks associated with future natural disasters and develop strategies to reduce damage to their homes and properties.

the island for years to come. This recovery will not be done in two or three years. We’re looking at a very long-term process because we have to rebuild much of the infrastructure.” One bit of good news is the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act in 2018, which included nearly $90 billion in post-disaster recovery assistance for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Florida and Texas. Byard points to a key provision in the legislation that he said will vastly improve the recovery process. Previously, FEMA was only able to authorize funds to build infrastructure back to its previous condition; the problem is that much of Puerto Rico’s infrastructure was in such a state of disrepair that it would not be feasible to rebuild it the same way. The legislation allows FEMA to rebuild to the modern standards of the mainland U.S., making the island much more resilient in the face of future disasters. “We’re very excited, because now that a lot of the policy processes have now been completed, we think we’re really going to see some progress in the coming year,” Byard said.

SMARTER FIREFIGHTING In December 2017, FEMA requested assistance from DHS’ Science and Technology Directorate to explore emerging technologies for improving public safety during wildfires. The results of the study were released in June. Recommendations included “space-based sensing” technologies to identify ignition points and track the spread of fires in real time, and to leverage crowd-sourced data to improve the public’s “situational awareness” during fire events. Also discussed was adding fire warnings to FEMA’s Integrated Public Alerts and Warning System (IPAWS), which is itself going through a high-tech update: FEMA has an open call out to technology developers to integrate IPAWS with emerging communication technologies. The goal is to get the word out during a disaster across a broader range of electronic platforms, such as computer gaming systems, digital signs, internet search engines, social media sites and instant messaging systems. For those in high-risk fire areas, getting a warning even a few minutes earlier is enough to save lives. — Brian Barth

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DEPARTMENTS

GETTY IMAGES

The Future of Airport Security What happens in Vegas might show up at a TSA checkpoint near you By Dawn Gilbertson

HE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION’S

body scanner in the basement of Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport looks unfinished, with two large panels facing each other and no tubelike enclosure

similar to those found at other airports. Passengers going through the scanner during security screening don’t raise their arms, fingers touching above their head, as usual. Instead, they extend them by their sides, palms facing back, a sort of reverse-goal-post position. CONTINUED

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DEPARTMENTS The scanner is called an enhanced Advanced Imaging Technology body scanner, and it’s part of a first-of-itskind TSA test of new technology. Rather than deploying certified new security technology from the TSA lab to a variety of airports across the country for trials alongside standard equipment, the agency has created a stand-alone checkpoint to test its innovations in an isolated environment that doesn’t disrupt normal screening operations. The goal of the “innovation checkpoint”: to come up with a smoother, safer airport security screening process. The security piece is part of the journey that can be nerve-wracking for all of us, said Jose Bonilla, director of TSA’s Innovation Task Force. “We’re not just focusing on the next shiny hardware. We’re focusing on processes. We’re focusing on effectiveness, efficiency and utilizing those passengers that travel through those areas to give us feedback.” The TSA isn’t using travelers to test unproven security technology. The machines in use at the Las Vegas test checkpoint have already been certified by TSA, Bonilla said. “Every piece of technology that you see there at that checkpoint has completed what we call certification testing,” he said. The systems have been tested at a transportation security lab in New Jersey “to ensure that they can find the (security) threat based off of current standards.” After the system passes the test at the New Jersey lab, it must also undergo a safety assessment, followed by an operational assessment. For the initial stages of the checkpoint project, TSA is partnering with United Airlines, whose flights depart from McCarran’s Terminal 3. The checkpoint is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and United passengers traveling at those times are sent to the lower checkpoint, according to United spokesman Charles Hobart. They are notified about the new checkpoint a day before their flight but can choose to go through the main checkpoint if preferred, even after they head downstairs, he said. McCarran was selected because it attracts a mix of business travelers and vacationers, U.S. residents and international travelers from around the world and has multiple peak travel days, meaning just about every type of traveler and size of crowd passes through the airport, TSA and airport officials said. CONTINUED

NEW TECH = EASIER PROCESS There are three main differences travelers going through the checkpoint in the basement of Terminal 3 at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport may notice:

NO NEED TO SHOW YOUR BOARDING PASS. The checkpoint features credential authentication technology, which aims to speed up the ID check. Instead of showing boarding passes and IDs to the TSA officer, travelers just hand over their IDs, which are inserted into a machine. It verifies that the ID is authentic and, through a connection to the agency’s Secure Flight database, confirms you’re due to fly that day and indicates whether you have TSA Precheck or regular screening. The officer also verifies that you match the image on your ID. (Another computed tomography (CT) machine, this one with a camera, takes identify fraud detection a step further with facial recognition. Travelers’ photos are taken at the checkpoint and matched with their ID.)

TRAVELERS CAN KEEP LAPTOPS IN THEIR BAGS, EVEN WITHOUT TSA PRECHECK. There are four types of CT machines being tested, all of which produce 3D images of carry-on bags much like a CAT scan for medical screening. One machine allows TSA officers to use a mouse to virtually lift a laptop or other item out of carry-on bags for closer inspection on the screen; another uses a computer touch screen. (Passengers must still remove liquids.) The TSA has already approved the purchase of 300 CT machines for use in airports following airport tests in Phoenix, New York and other cities and is testing it alongside the others in Las Vegas to compare the technologies.

IT’S A QUICKER TRIP THROUGH THE BODY SCANNER. The new body scanner, manufactured by Rohde & Schwarz, has an open design and uses millimeter wave radio frequency technology. Travelers will hear a beep when the image is taken instead of the whirring sound of the current body scanner as it moves from one side to the other. There are traditional body scanners and metal detectors in the innovation checkpoint, too, so not all travelers will go through the Rohde & Schwarz machine. One of these new machines is also in use at Denver International Airport.

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TSA PRECHECK Process might become easier, less expensive

TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

TSA’s new body scanners have an open design and use millimeter wave radio frequency technology.

“All that plays into how they pack, how they travel through a checkpoint or the entire experience from the curb to the gate area,” said Rosemary Vassiliadis, who runs the Las Vegas airport as Clark County director of aviation. Another major factor: McCarran airport has the space. The area was initially designed to be a separate checkpoint for passengers in the D gates, but there weren’t TSA resources to routinely staff two full checkpoints, so the upstairs checkpoint handles screening for both. The innovation checkpoint is an ideal alternative for the basement space, Vassiliadis said.

“It was just a perfect place to have an operation.” How soon until this new technology shows up at other airports? It depends on the machine and the test results. One of the 3D bag scanners being used in Las Vegas, from Smith’s Detection Inc., is already on its way, following a contract award from the TSA for 300 systems earlier this year. For other equipment, it depends on the test results. Some of the screening equipment might not end up in use, while promising technology will slowly make its way to other locations after going through the TSA’s procurement procedures.

The Transportation Security Administration is weighing a variety of options, including a new fee structure and mobile enrollment, to attract more travelers to its Precheck program. “We want to get people into the program, and so we’d like to make it easier,” said Patricia Cogswell, TSA acting deputy administrator. “And that means not only make it easier for them to sign up, but also if they just want to try it out, they don’t have to feel like, ‘Oh, I spent five years’ worth of my money.’” Enrollment in the expedited screening program, which costs $85 for five years and allows vetted travelers to keep on their shoes, coats and belts and leave laptops and eligible liquids in their bags, has fallen far short of projections of 5 million new registrants a year. Enrollment began in 2013 and peaked at 2.2 million new enrollees in 2016. The total fell to 1.64 million enrollees in 2017 and last year totaled 1.8 million, according to TSA figures. TSA and travel industry officials want more people to utilize Precheck because it streamlines the screening process for lower-risk travelers. Cogswell said traditional frequent flyers have flocked to the fast-pass

through security, with more than 60 percent of the travelers at Washington’s Reagan National Airport enrolled in Precheck, for example. But other regions with high passenger volumes don’t have as many Precheck passengers as you’d expect, she said. Cogswell cited Florida and its vast number of traveling retirees as an example, calling it the “perfect population” that would benefit from the process. Cogswell said a common refrain among some travelers who haven’t signed up for Precheck is: “I have to commit to five years? What if in three years it’s a totally different ballgame, and I don’t want to be in this program?” The price is also an issue for some. The U.S. Travel Association earlier this year recommended that TSA offer volume discounts or a subscription model where the $85 fee would be paid in annual installments. Cogswell said TSA is studying a variety of fee options. “I think our perspective is very much, ‘Let’s look at a couple different options to see if they’re feasible, and if they’re not, then at least we looked at it,’” she said. — Dawn Gilbertson

TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

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DEPARTMENTS

Fleet Refresh Coast Guard steps up its game with new ships, expanded patrols, updated personnel regulations

PETTY OFFICER 2ND CLASS CORY J. MENDENHALL/U.S. COAST GUARD

Adm. Karl Schultz, Coast Guard commandant, attended the March 22 commissioning of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Terrell Horne at Coast Guard Base Los Angeles/Long Beach.

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

DEPARTMENTS By Patricia Kime

OR THE U.S. COAST Guard, 2019

began unlike any other year: the service’s uniformed members were working without pay and many civilian employees were furloughed, the result of a partial government shutdown stemming from a funding dispute over the proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Coast Guard managed to pay its 42,000 men and women on Dec. 31 — the first payday of the shutdown — but the next came and went without checks. The service members eventually received their back pay when the shutdown ended Jan. 23, but the effects lingered long after everyone returned to work. In March, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz told members of Congress the service recovered by 75 percent, but significant ground had been lost in maintenance. “Some things that we never get back — we had to defer boat maintenance periods. Those were fleets of hundreds of small boats, cutter maintenance periods. Some of that just got pushed to the right,” Schultz told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. While the shutdown was stressful,

it helped demonstrate how much the Coast Guard means to the communities it serves, said Rear Adm. Joanna Nunan, assistant commandant for human resources. The support, including potluck suppers, food drives, garage sales and charitable and business donations, meant a lot, Nunan said. “Part of our culture is that we joined the Coast Guard because we wanted to help people, but this was the first time on a large scale where we needed help ... It was really a factor of ‘Oh my gosh, we are really appreciated,’” she said. Some nonessential operations were affected during the shutdown, but the Coast Guard continued all its vital missions, including search and rescue, national security and fisheries patrols, drug and migrant interdiction and port and waterways security.

PATROLLING THE WATERS The round-the-clock pace continued throughout the year, with the Coast Guard stepping up its game, thanks to new vessels and technology. In March, the medium endurance cutter Tampa brought home 12 metric tons of cocaine CO NTINUED

PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS TAYLOR BACON/U.S. COAST GUARD

Petty Officer 1st Class Edward Sanchez returns to port in Alameda, Calif., in July after USCGC Munro’s 98-day narcotics patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

SETTING SAIL The Coast Guard is in the midst of a massive 25-year recapitalization effort, with new ships coming on line every year. Here’s a look at the vessels that were commissioned in 2019: FAST RESPONSE CUTTERS uUSCGC Robert Ward, WPC-1130; Homeport: San Pedro, Calif. uUSCGC Terrell Horne, WPC-1131: Homeport: San Pedro, Calif.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Benjamin Bottoms PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS PATRICK KELLEY/U.S. COAST GUARD

uUSCGC William Hart, WPC-1134; Homeport: Honolulu uUSCGC Angela McShan, WPC-1135; Homeport: Cape May, N.J.

uUSCGC Benjamin Bottoms, WPC-1132; Homeport: San Pedro, Calif.

NATIONAL SECURITY CUTTERS

uUSCGC Joseph Doyle, WPC-1133: Homeport: San Juan, Puerto Rico

uUSCGC Midgett, WMSL-757: Homeport: Honolulu

SOURCE: U.S. Coast Guard

uUSCGC Kimball, WMSL756; Homeport: Honolulu

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DEPARTMENTS seized in the Eastern Pacific, and in July, the crew of the new national security cutter Munro made eight interdictions, contributing to a total of 39,000 pounds of cocaine and 993 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $569 million seized in a series of spring patrols. In addition to drug interdiction operations, the service also expanded its reach in the Western Pacific, increasing patrols in Asia and “doubling down in Oceania,” Schultz told reporters in July. In March, the national security cutter Bertholf accompanied the U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer Curtis Wilbur in transiting the Taiwan Strait — a demonstration to China that the U.S. is committed to free and open seas. Later in the year, national security cutter Stratton also deployed to the Asia-Pacific region, supporting North Korea sanctions enforcement and serving alongside other navies in the South China Sea. “My goal for the Coast Guard is to be a partner of choice in the region. So, we tailor our services to the needs of the nation we are supporting,” Schultz said.

SEAMAN ERIK VILLA RODRIGUEZ/U.S. COAST GUARD

Coast Guard crew members conducted search and rescue and humanitarian missions in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian.

DISASTER RESPONSE While the hurricane season in the United States was relatively mild in 2019, the Coast Guard remained at the ready. In late August, Coast Guard cutters and helicopters descended on Andros Island in the Bahamas to prepare for Dorian, a slow-moving hurricane that struck Abaco Island, the Bahamas, as a Category 5 storm. The tempest destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 61 people, with hundreds remaining missing a month after the storm passed. The Coast Guard provided a vital link to the devastated area in the days and weeks after the storm, conducting more than 130 flights and 60 surface operations and rescuing more than 400 people. The service also provided Incident Management Assistance Teams to work with the Bahamas National Emergency Management Agency for long-term recovery operations. As crews were busy in the Caribbean, Coast Guard crews in Santa Barbara, Calif., faced the grim task of responding to the worst U.S. maritime accident since the sinking of the El Faro in the Bahamas in 2015: a fire that consumed the 75-foot dive boat Conception, killing 33 passengers and a crew member during a weekend dive expedition to the Channel Islands. In the immediate aftermath, Coast Guard crews worked nonstop, conducting search operations with boats and helicopters that covered an area of 160

miles. Crews then helped recover the bodies, working with the underwater search and recovery teams from the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, and retrieving the vessel from the sea floor. The Coast Guard has launched its highest level of inquiry, a Marine Board of Investigation, into the cause and contributing factors to the blaze that spread while passengers were sleeping, trapping them in their berths. The investigation may take a year or longer to complete, but Coast Guard officials said that any safety issues found during the process would be released on discovery. “In some instances, our marine casualty boards identify pressing safety issues related to vessel stability, the engine room or lifesaving and firefighting equipment,” Coast Guard Capt. Jason Neubauer said in a release announcing the investigation. “In those instances, we issue safety alerts or bulletins to ensure a widespread dissemination of the most recent safety guidance.”

NEW VESSELS, TECHNOLOGY The service’s expansive operations have been made possible by new vessels and adoption of advanced technology. This year, the Coast Guard commissioned six fast-response cutters, used

for waterways security, fisheries patrols, search and rescue and defense operations, and two national security cutters. It also took a major step in its polar security cutter program, awarding a $745 million contract in April to VT Halter Marine of Pascagoula, Miss., to build the first of three planned heavy icebreakers, which is expected to be delivered in 2024.

OFFSHORE FLEETS In other shipyard news, the Coast Guard announced it would reissue the contract for its offshore patrol cutter (OPC) program, which fell a year behind schedule after its contractor, Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) suffered damage from Hurricane Michael in 2018. The company will still build four OPCs, but it will have to rebid the contract, along with other competitors, to build the remaining 21. “ESG can remain viable, but it also allows us to put a re-compete on the streets ... We think there’s a national compelling urgency on fielding offshore patrol cutters — that’s 70 percent of our entire major cutter offshore fleet that does counterdrug work (and) projects presence,” Schultz said Oct. 15 during a forum hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the U.S. Naval Institute. Also this year, the Coast Guard

launched several personnel initiatives to attract and retain service members. While recruitment and retention are a concern to all military services, the Coast Guard faces difficulties, Schultz said, because its members develop highly marketable skills. “A young Coast Guard female marine science technician in Houston who is very savvy, working on the waterfront, and Shell comes along and says what is Schultz paying you, they can do the pay charts, it’s probably in the low 70s, they offer that smart Coast Guard woman 150K — that’s very challenging for us,” Schultz said at the forum. Among the changes introduced this year to support personnel were a pilot program adjusting body standards and updated tattoo regulations. The service is testing a program to measure service members’ abdominal circumference instead of using its long-standing program that included hip measurements for women and neck and abdominal measurements for both genders. The new tattoo policy allows for a larger variety of finger tattoos as well as hand and chest tattoos. It will expand the “recruiting candidate pool and provide those already serving in the Coast Guard with a few new options,” Master Chief Petty Officer Jason Vanderhaden said in a press release.

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DEPARTMENTS

HONORING A HERO SEAMAN IAN GRAY/U.S. COAST GUARD

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Robert Ward returns to its homeport Aug. 29 after a narcotics patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

On Nov. 1, the Coast Guard repatriated the remains of its final prisoner of war from World War II: Lt. James Crotty, the lone Coast Guardsman stationed in Manila, the Philippines, during the war — and the reason the service earned the Philippine Defense Battle Streamer. The Buffalo, N.Y., native was reinterred Nov. 2 in his hometown after a lengthy effort to identify his remains from a common grave at the Manila American Cemetery. Crotty, whose battle skills are legendary within the service, was captured during the May 1942 Japanese assault on the island of Corregidor, where he was leading a Marine Corps gun battery. Crotty, who had bravely defended Manila Bay while serving aboard the Navy minesweeper Quail and also was instrumental in fighting the enemy during its assault on Bataan, became the first Coast Guard POW since the War of 1812. He died July 19, 1942, was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and received a hero’s welcome home from Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz. — Patricia Kime

PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS BRANDON MURRAY/U.S. COAST GUARD

Members of the Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton crew stand next to approximately 14,000 pounds of cocaine seized in 2018 in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

MACARTHUR MEMORIAL LIBRARY

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DEPARTMENTS

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Handles applications for U.S. citizenship, green cards and work visas for foreign nationals; runs E-Verify program that allows employers to check employees’ citizenship status.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Created from the investigative and enforcement arms of the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service; enforces border control, customs, immigration and trade laws.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Provides security at borders with a priority mission of keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S.; secures and facilitates trade and travel while enforcing regulations, including immigration and drug laws.

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Defends critical government and private industry infrastructure against a variety of threats.

Management Directorate Handles budget matters, human resources, accounting, IT and procurement.

U.S. Coast Guard The only military organization within DHS; defends and protects maritime borders and saves those in peril.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Supports state and local agencies that respond to disasters; provides financial aid to residents who have lost housing or property in a federally declared disaster.

U.S. Secret Service Safeguards the nation’s financial infrastructure and payment systems; protects national and world leaders; guards national sites and provides security at national events.

Transportation Security Administration Protects the nation’s transportation systems by screening luggage, passengers and cargo, primarily at airports.

Science and Technology Directorate Researches, develops and provides products and technology solutions that help strengthen DHS security capabilities.

SOURCE: Department of Homeland Security

DHS at a Glance The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has a multifaceted responsibility of keeping the nation safe from dangers inside our borders and from abroad. Its employees respond to disasters, fight crime and fend off terrorism threats. Here’s a look at the operational and support components that power the agency’s mission:

Office of Intelligence and Analysis Part of the national intelligence community, it distributes information and intelligence to state, local and tribal officials; works with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Office of Operations Coordination Oversees the National Operations Center, which collects and distributes information from federal, state and local agencies and the private sector to thwart threats.

Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office Thwarts terrorist attempts to mount attacks on the U.S. using weapons of mass destruction.

Federal Law Enforcement Training Center The nation’s largest provider of law enforcement training, including firearms, driving, tactics, investigations and legal instruction.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

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Digital Defense Secret Service teams up with private industry, local law enforcement to combat cyberthreats

GETTY IMAGES

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By Amy Sinatra Ayres

N SEPTEMBER, RUSSIAN HACKER Andrei Tyurin pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to offenses including

computer intrusion, wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal gambling in connection with one of the largest thefts of customer data from a U.S. financial institution. The case, which included the theft of personal information from more than 100 million customers of several companies, was prosecuted thanks in part to the Secret Service’s Electronic Crimes Task Force (ECTF) program — and partnerships with the private sector, academia and state and local law enforcement. “This ECTF model is truly a force multiplier,” said Jeffrey Adams, a Secret Service spokesman. “We can’t do this by ourselves — cybercrimes are blowing up.” There are 40 ECTFs — 38 across the U.S. and two in Europe.

THE EVOLUTION OF CYBERCRIME In the 1990s, companies that experienced a cybersecurity breach would first contact law enforcement, said Christopher Leone, assistant to the special agent in charge. Leone heads up the Secret Service’s ECTFs. New York Secret Service agents started collaborating with the private sector and academic institutions to put together a working group to combat the growing threat, creating the first ECTF. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the New York task force was instrumental in leveraging its relationships and skills to investigate digital evidence left behind by some of the hijackers. The following month, when Congress passed the Patriot Act, it mandated the Secret Service expand the ECTF program “based off of the success of this (New York) model,” Leone said. At that time, the Secret Service also started training its officers on examining computer forensics to collect digital evidence. “We were one of the first agencies to really put forth a very robust electronic crime special agent training program,” Leone said. “The idea was, after they were able to get the evidence, they would go out and investigate the crime.” In the years since, cybercrime has evolved, and so have privatesector companies. Companies now often have many more layers involved with cybersecurity, such as

U.S. SECRET SERVICE

The Secret Service has trained hundreds of law enforcement officers on cybercrime tactics at its state-of-the-art facility in Hoover, Ala.

general counsels or chief technology officers, and they often retain thirdparty remediation vendors who they enlist in the event of a breach. A company’s first priority typically is getting its system back up and running — and many have become leery that the Secret Service will report information about their computer networks to regulators or leak the breach to the media, potentially damaging their reputations. “Cybercrime is very underreported,” Leone explained, adding that law enforcement is no longer the first line of defense — and that affects efforts to stop and

deter cybercriminals. So, the Secret Service is becoming more proactive about showing companies the value of partnering with their local ECTF. “Get us in early, become a trusted partner (with) your ECTF so we can plan if ... your network gets breached. Let’s rehearse what we’re going to do before it happens. Let’s appease your concerns early on. Let’s work with your general counsel ... let’s go through a rehearsal,” Leone said. “When something actually happens, we’re ready, we’re prepared. We can implement our CONTI NUED

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INSIDE OUR BORDERS ment and empower the Secret Service to be able to go fulfill our mission ... and that’s investigate these crimes and go arrest these bad actors.” “Deterrence is the key factor here,” Leone stressed. “Without deterrence and without a criminal feeling the risk that law enforcement is going to be acting in this space, what’s going to stop them from continuing this?”

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

U.S. SECRET SERVICE

Secret Service’s New York task force has more than 500 active members working together to share information on cyberthreats.

plan and get timely information back and be more effective, get your systems back up and running.” Leone said the Secret Service is there to focus on finding the “bad actors” — not to “revictimize” the company that’s been breached. Working with regulators is “just not something we do.”

SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS ECTFs boast strong alliances with 4,000 private-sector partners, 2,500 international, federal, state and local law enforcement partners and 350 academic partners. According to the Secret Service, they’ve prevented more than $13 billion in potential losses to victims and arrested about 10,000 individuals since the program started. Today, the New York ECTF has more than 500 active members who work together to share information on the cyberthreats they’re facing and how they’re combating them. “Everybody has limited resources, to include the government and even Fortune 100 or 500 companies,” said Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge

Kevin McCleary, who supervises the New our main goal is identification ... finding York field office. the person who’s behind the keyboard McCleary said the typical crimes the overseas and then bringing them to New York ECTF has seen in recent years justice.” Tyurin, the Russian hacker, was include business email arrested overseas in compromise, ransomGeorgia and extradited ware and e-commerce to the U.S. “This ECTF model skimming. ECTF “We’re the only entity is truly a force communities in other that can actually stop parts of the country these people,” McCleary multiplier. We might focus more on said. “And the only way cyberthreats to busito stop these groups is can’t do this by nesses located there, through the identificaourselves — such as the health care tion and arrest of them. sector in Philadelphia Otherwise they’re just cybercrimes are or the shipping sector in going to continue to blowing up.” San Diego, Leone said. come back and attack. Also key to the ECTFs’ ... The more successful — JEFFREY ADAMS, success is their overseas they are and the more Secret Service spokesman partnerships. There money they make, the are ECTFs based in more they put back into London and Italy, and the Secret Service research and development.” also works with Interpol and Europol “It becomes like whack-a-mole at some to obtain evidence and move forward point,” Leone explained. “Private organion prosecutions, McCleary said. “The zations can layer their security and make majority of the groups that are targeting their systems as resilient as possible, but our financial infrastructure are not here there’s going to always be vulnerabilities. in the United States,” he said. “Ultimately ... They need to empower law enforce-

The Secret Service has trained hundreds of state and local police officers in cyber incident response, investigation and forensics examination at its stateof-the-art National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI) in Hoover, Ala., making them key partners in the ECTF model. “Its only mission is to train state and local police officers, prosecutors and judges on the techniques, methods and tactics of cybercrime,” Leone said. “We’ll send these officers to the NCFI (and) provide them, upon graduation, (with) about $30,000 worth of computer equipment that the Secret Service owns, but it’s given to that police officer to take back to his or her department to work local crimes, make a community impact. Because ... cyber touches all crime.” The officers can use their new knowledge to help not only with cyber breach cases but also the other crimes their departments investigate that might involve getting information from electronics such as cellphones or computers. “The digital footprint is endless,” Leone said. Becoming a partner with their local ECTF gives law enforcement access to the resources at that lab for their investigations. With about 4,000 Secret Service agents split between the agency’s dual mission of protection and investigation, these partnerships are a huge asset and harken back to the fundamentals of community policing, Leone said. “Back in the day, community policing is ... you have a police officer walking the beat, understanding what’s going on in his or her beat, talking to the local merchants and being that partner, that trusted person that local merchants can ... divulge their deep secrets to, and (then they can) go get the criminal,” Leone said. “That’s what we’re trying to really relay here as part of the ECTF model that goes back to community policing. We want to be a proactive partner in this asymmetric battle on cybercrime. The only way to do that is to really foster that trusted relationship and that timely communication, and that preplanning. And that’s what the ECTFs are all about.”

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Where the Best Prepare for the Worst FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness is a world-class disaster academy

An exercise depicts students decontaminating a ‘patient’ at the Center for Domestic Preparedness. PHOTOS PROVIDED BY FEMA’S CENTER FOR DOMESTIC PREPAREDNESS

By Brian Barth

T AROUND 9:45 A.M. on Oct.

2, a World War II-era B-17 bomber, a vintage plane operated by an aircraft restoration organization, took off from Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn. Moments later, the pilots radioed air traffic control to report an engine failure. The aircraft turned around

and attempted to land on the runway from which it had just departed — but instead, it crashed into a building that stored de-icing chemicals and burst into flames. Within minutes, the emergency department at Hartford Hospital, run by Hartford HealthCare, a major health care provider in the region, received the call that there had been a plane crash and that ambulances were en route.

From there, a complex choreography unfolded. A group of pre-identified staff members moved briskly to the hospital’s emergency management center, a special room with backup communications equipment and walls covered in whiteboards. They huddled over a bank of phones and computers and began notifying on-call personnel and key departments at the hospital, seeking information on the number of beds and

operating rooms available, preparing materials for blood transfusions and requesting space in the emergency room. All of this must happen as quickly and as smoothly as possible, said Patrick Turek, system director of emergency management at Hartford HealthCare — so the choreography is developed in advance and practiced regularly. “We CONTI NUED

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FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness runs training exercises for chemical, biological and radiological emergencies.

A nurse checks a patient’s vital signs during an exercise at the Center for Domestic Preparedness’ hospital training facility.

didn’t know if it was a small aircraft with two or three occupants or a large airliner with hundreds of people on board. The emergency management team is responsible for making sure we can scale up operations on a moment’s notice to the level necessary, while continuing everyday hospital operations that our patients rely on. It’s an all-hands-ondeck situation.” Seven people died in the crash and six others were treated at Hartford HealthCare facilities, said Turek, some of them with major injuries. It could have been worse, but this was still one of the worst plane crashes in state history. Several months earlier, Turek had accompanied about 30 Hartford HealthCare employees to Anniston, Ala., to visit FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP). Located on a former military base, the sprawling complex includes a decommissioned hospital, mock subway station, industrial park and fast-food restaurant, where a wide variety of disaster scenarios can be modeled. With an emphasis on mass casualty disasters and hazardous materials incidents — the

CDP’s Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological (COBRA) facility has the only emergency response program in the nation focused on toxic environments — the site offers 51 different courses and has provided trainings to more than 1 million individuals since opening in 1998, or about 50,000 each year. “Our motto is, ‘training the best for the worst,’” said Kent Latimer, chief of the CDP’s training management branch. “The idea is to have a nonthreatening environment where trainees go through the worst possible scenarios, so that the real thing seems more manageable to them.” They try to make the scenarios as realistic as possible. Speaker systems create a sense of aural chaos with the sound of gunshots and people screaming. Trainers have the ability to flood an area with fake smoke to obscure visibility. Theatrical makeup to simulate injuries is used on staff who role-play as victims. Technicians are hidden in control rooms where they manipulate the scenes of mock disasters for maximum spontaneity and surprise. Latimer said the elaborate trainings are essential for helping first responders deal with large-scale disasters such as 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina. He explained the approach also helps to stretch federal dollars. “When we train first responders to do their jobs well, it takes fewer responders to respond to an event. So the better we do our jobs here at the CDP, the better stewards we then become of the limited resources that are available for emergency management and response.” In addition to the programs in Alabama, the center offers off-site training throughout the country, as well as an array of online courses. Many of the trainees are first responders and emergency management professionals, though classes are open to a range of occupations. Turek brought nurses, physicians, HR staff, security personnel and facilities managers. Hartford HealthCare sends two cohorts each year to the CDP, he said, and upon their return, his team continues to work with those groups to practice what they learned — so when the B-17 bomber crashed, they were as prepared as they could be. “While it was a tragic circumstance, it was so rewarding for the team to be able to take that experience from the CDP and put it into practice to actually make a difference,” Turek said. “The more that you train, drill and practice, you’re going to be that much more successful during an emergency.”

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Border Security New technology helps agents gather data, assess threats

By Adam Stone

HEN RON BELLAVIA LOOKS out across the

U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, he sees more than just hundreds of miles of desert basin interrupted by rugged mountain peaks. As division chief of law enforcement operations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Bellavia focuses on the people crossing that perilous landscape. In the past, CBP typically intercepted adult males at the border. Today, many of the people out walking in the heat are women and children, he said. That changes the stakes. In recent years, CBP has leveraged a range of emerging technologies to help meet that challenge. “If our agents can know it is a family group out there, they’re going to respond in a specific measured way, which is completely different than if it is drug smugglers with weapons,” he said. “The technology gives us that advantage.” Sophisticated cameras, sensors and other apparatus serve a twofold purpose on the Arizona border. These tools extend the strength of the force, acting as additional eyes on the ground in support of live agents. They also help to give agents the advance notice that Bellavia describes, so that CBP knows when to show up with medical supplies, and when to expect a more hostile encounter. “They need to know who is out there in order to respond in the proper way,” said John Hernandez, a senior industry analyst covering aerospace and defense at consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. “That may be with a border patrol team or it may be another law enforcement agency who is better equipped to respond in a particular incident, whether that is local law enforcement or the FBI.”

NEW TOOLS To that end, CBP has deployed a diverse array of sensing technologies and imaging tools along the border in recent years. Around urban areas such as Tucson and Yuma in Arizona, the agency uses remote video surveillance systems (RVSS) to scan for suspicious activity. “It’s fixed towers with a day and nighttime camera suite. It has range finders and illuminators,” said Kelly Good, deputy executive director of the U.S. Border Patrol. RVSS transmissions go to a central control room, where trained agents can monitor the images and dispatch U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION

U.S. Customs and Border Protection uses sophisticated cameras, sensors and other technology to monitor the U.S.-Mexico border.

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U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION

While CBP agents still patrol on foot and in vehicles, new technology, including high-powered mobile cameras and stationary towers with remote video surveillance, helps them monitor and identify border activity.

BUSINESS WIRE

Unmanned aerial drones provide CBP agents with additional information before they physically approach a situation.

response teams as needed, Good said. In more remote areas, border officials have deployed integrated fixed towers, or IFTs, which combine cameras with 360-degree radar tracking. The radar sweeps the landscape looking for motion, and the cameras send imagery back to controllers to help them identify the specific nature of the activity. While agents still patrol on foot and in vehicles, the IFTs help to fill in the gaps. “An agent can basically see only so far, but when you put a camera up on an 80-foot tower, you are talking about (viewing) a 3- to 5-mile range,” Good said. In addition, the mere presence of the towers acts as a deterrent to illegal border crossings. “Now they know that we are watching them,” Good said. CBP uses cameras on trucks to much the same effect: Raised on an extendable mast, these cameras elevate the viewpoint, giving agents on the ground a greatly extended line of sight. While border officials have used ground sensors for decades as a means to detect motion, recent improvements in sensor technology have made these tools far more effective. In the past, “you didn’t know if it was a bunch of horses, cows or people. You just knew that there was

IN MAY 2019, CBP RECORDED MORE THAN

84,000 PEOPLE CROSSING THE SOUTHWEST BORDER IN FAMILY UNITS seismic activity,” Good said. The latest sensors can tell the difference. Finally, CBP has leveraged unmanned aerial technology — fixed-wing and rotary drones — to put additional eyes on the scene. “When we know or believe that there’s a target in a specific area, we send that (drone) forward in order to monitor, track and classify that target before agents go in and put hands on it,” Bellavia said.

THE CHANGING PROFILE Immigration experts say that kind of advance knowledge is crucial, given the changing demographics of those crossing the border illegally. Throughout 2019, CBP apprehended

roughly 20,000 to 30,000 single adults each month at the southwest border. That’s the typical profile of the illegal crosser — or at least it had been until recently. In the same period, CBP also took in vast numbers of families: from 24,000 people crossing in family units in January to a high of more than 84,000 in May. That shifting demographic puts pressure on border patrol agents to respond in new ways, said David North, a fellow of the Center for Immigration Studies. “It’s a whole lot easier to process single males, if there is no asylum procedure and no one needs to hold them someplace while you wait for them to have an asylum hearing,” he said. “With families coming

across, you have a more time-consuming undocumented population and that is a real strain. If you have a large chunk of your manpower devoted to just processing those coming in, you are less likely to catch those coming through. It makes the technology that much more valuable.” Bellavia described how the technology works in real life. “Let’s say that one of our underground sensors detects seismic activity, which is basically a group walking on a known trail,” he said. “It’s just a detection to say that there’s traffic on it. Well, that trail could be 1 mile down the road (from) an integrated fixed tower. The tower camera operator will turn the camera to the detection and now we understand what it is that we’re tracking, what it is that we’re looking at.” Equipped with this enhanced view, CBP becomes a more effective force both for migrant interdiction and humanitarian relief. Looking ahead, CBP is experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) as a means to better understand what’s happening out in the desert while making efficient use of limited human resources. “Right now, a person has to look at each one of those hits ... to open up that camera picture to make sure there’s people in it,” Good said. “How do we automate that? How do we put computer vision or machine learning on that to automatically detect those folks? We’re working in that arena right now.” Ideally, the AI tools would eventually be able to interpret not just still images, but also video streams. “We have not done this yet in a production environment. We are testing those capabilities out and we’re looking at how to do that,” Good said. “It’s a way to more effectively utilize the human resources that we have.”

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JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

A June 2015 mass shooting at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., left nine people dead.

By Gina Harkins

Soft Targets, Tough Task DHS’ newest agency aims to protect religious institutions

UST MONTHS AFTER A gunman

killed nearly a dozen people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in a targeted attack, members of the Department of Homeland Security’s newest agency brought together Jewish leaders from across the country for an exercise in emergency response. DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) was created in November 2018. Protecting religious infrastructure is one of several missions the agency leads. Mosques, churches and synagogues have been the scenes of several highprofile attacks, making CISA’s efforts to train religious and community leaders

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JEFF SWENSEN/GETTY IMAGES

A gunman killed 11 people and wounded six others at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018.

on how best to respond to crises a vital mission, said Michael Masters, the national director of the Secure Community Network, a nonprofit that addresses Jewish American community safety. “The threat picture that we’re looking at … with our federal partners is the most complex and dynamic environment facing our community at any point in this country’s history,” said Masters, who works with CISA on security training for Jewish leaders.

PROTECTING SOFT TARGETS There was the 2015 Charleston church shooting where a white supremacist murdered nine people, the 2018 Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh that killed 11, a California mosque set ablaze in March

and Nazi symbols painted on synagogues and Jewish community centers in several states. These are just some of the cases that has CISA focused on better protecting what Brian Harrell, the agency’s assistant director for infrastructure security, calls soft targets. Other soft targets include sporting events, shopping venues, schools and transportation systems. “We’re seeing some very devastating attacks because there isn’t that traditional security apparatus in place,” Harrell said. “So, when you couple that with the fact that society is becoming more and more violent every day, we at the Department of Homeland Security have really started to marshal resources and focus on domestic terrorism.”

Mass shootings and other violent attacks have led religious leaders to become proactive, Harrell said. They’re forming relationships with state and local partners and are connecting with CISA and law enforcement agencies. The training CISA hosted with Jewish leaders earlier this year empowers the community, Masters said. With threats out there, everyone has a responsibility to take steps to make religious facilities as safe as possible. “No one in this country, of whatever faith they may be, should ever secondguess walking into a house of worship, a faith-based organization or a communal space because of a fear of violence,” Masters said. “That is unacceptable in America.”

‘IT CAN CERTAINLY HAPPEN HERE’ When Jewish leaders gathered in April for the scenario-based exercise, they were forced into some uncomfortable conversations — including how they would respond to the type of shooting that happened less than six months earlier in Pittsburgh. “It’s about being prepared,” Harrell said. “We can’t any longer assume that it’s never going to happen. I think instead of thinking to themselves, ‘Wow, I hope it really doesn’t happen,’ they have to think, ‘If it can happen there, it can certainly happen here.’” Masters, who helps coordinate those tabletop training exercises, said the CONTI NUED

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TRAGIC TIMELINE Active shooters often attack what DHS officials describe as soft targets, including places of worship. CISA offers training materials and seminars to help better secure those facilities. Some recent attacks have included:

APRIL 27, 2019 Poway, Calif. A gunman fired shots in a synagogue on the last day of the Jewish Passover holiday. One woman was killed and three others injured. JULY 28, 2019 Gilroy, Calif. Three people, including two children, were killed when a gunman cut through a fence and opened fire at a garlic festival.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Brian Harrell, assistant director for CISA’s infrastructure security division, addressed Jewish leaders during an April training exercise.

sessions challenge participants to think about how they’d react to some of the real-world threats and attacks their community has seen. They’ve been conducting the exercises with DHS for several years, and they invite different religious leaders every time. They’re asked to think about how their synagogue would respond to multiple offenders on the loose versus a single assailant, for example. And if an attack takes place on Shabbat — a day of rest when many leave cellphones and other electronics at home — how would they get in touch with authorities in the event of a crisis? Federal and state law enforcement personnel also participate in the exercises, which Masters said is vital to building relationships. “The last time you

want to be exchanging business cards with someone is when you’re walking up on the scene of an incident,” he said. Harrell agreed, and noted that preparation is necessary. “We do not magically get better during a time of crisis,” he said. “We always default to what it is that we know.”

AVAILABLE RESOURCES The unfortunate truth, Harrell added, is that there are racially motivated hate groups and extremist groups with radical and violent views inside the U.S. Masters said having a federal agency acknowledge that and develop a strategy to combat it empowers faith-based organizations, some of which have been targets for decades, to act. CISA has resources available to places

of worship, community centers, schools and other soft targets. Online guides about active-shooter preparedness and other topics can be accessed at dhs.gov/ hometownsecurity. DHS reported the site has gotten more than 40,000 page views since CISA was launched last fall. Harrell said that traffic tends to increase after a mass shooting event. CISA will continue providing resources to fortify what extremist and other groups might view as soft targets. “Americans expect that they’re going to be safe and secure when they cheer on their favorite sports team, when they practice their religious beliefs or they dine out or they go to a concert,” Harrell said. “This administration has heard the call to action on this.”

AUG. 3, 2019 El Paso, Texas A gunman shot and killed 22 people and injured two dozen more when he allegedly targeted Latinos at a Walmart near the U.S.-Mexico border. AUG. 4, 2019 Dayton, Ohio A gunman shot and killed nine and injured more than two dozen others when he opened fire in a popular nightclub area. AUG. 31, 2019 Odessa and Midland, Texas Seven people died and dozens of others were injured when a gunman fired at random after fleeing a traffic stop.

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TECHNOLOGY

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Protecting the Protectors DHS designs new tools to assist ﬁrst responders By Gina Harkins

IRST RESPONDERS PROTECT AMERICANS on the front lines,

often during disasters and other dangerous situations. That has led the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology (S&T) division to develop innovative new tools to get them to the scene, keep them safe while they’re there and help them make better decisions in the midst of chaos. To find the safety gaps first responders face on the job, S&T requests feedback from a resource group it sponsors that’s comprised of police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other emergency personnel from across the country. Here’s a look at some of the tools S&T is developing for first responders:

QUICKROUTE APP First responders are expected to head straight into disaster zones when most

people are fleeing them, and they must get there quickly. Officials at S&T were hearing that timely arrival was often difficult. It turns out popular smartphone mapping apps aren’t developed with emergency vehicles in mind. “For instance, a traffic jam at an intersection may trigger a civilian routing system to take a longer route to save time, but emergency responders can often move through or around the traffic using lights and sirens to bypass the delays,” explained Kimberli JonesHolt, a program manager for the app. “Alternatively, some roads and tight turns that are no issue for a civilian car would be difficult for a large ladder truck or a command bus to navigate.” These challenges led to the creation of QuickRoute, an app that responds in nearly real time, Jones-Holt said. It’s interactive, so first responders can alert colleagues en route behind them about debris, accidents or other problems.

QuickRoute can then offer those still on their way an alternate path. The app was developed by Azimuth1, a Virginia-based company that makes products for government agencies, emergency personnel and others. QuickRoute went through operational field assessments last spring. Six first-responder departments, along with observers from federal agencies, tested the app’s performance, Jones-Holt said. Their feedback helped Azimuth1 improve QuickRoute before its final approval. Now in its second phase of development, the app is expected to be available to first responders in 2020. “The app will have several options to serve everyone from a single user to large agencies,” Jones-Holt said. “The cost of the app will be affordable for the first-responder community and provide purchasing scalability for use by large organizations.” There are already planned updates to include alerts on road conditions and

whether other emergency vehicles are in the area, she added. Anyone hoping to skirt rush-hour traffic by downloading the app next year will be out of luck, though. Jones-Holt said it’s only going to be available to firefighters, police officers, paramedics and other emergency responders.

BURN SAVER Firefighters’ personal protective equipment is sometimes so good, they might not realize when they’re in danger. But that equipment has its limits. “About 30,000 to 100,000 firefighters are injured annually,” Jones-Holt said, “of which 6 to 10 percent are burns.” That’s what drove S&T to develop a tool that can alert firefighters if conditions are approaching dangerous levels. Burn Saver, a roughly 3½-inch square wearable device that weighs less than half a pound, uses five thermal sensors to CONTI NUED

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TECHNOLOGY

Burn Saver device

Paramedics test AUDREY

Firefighters test Burn Saver

QuickRoute app U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (3); U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY S&T/DRDC CSS

determine air temperature and incident infrared radiation, Jones-Holt said. Software inside the device can measure those conditions against thermal limits on face masks or other equipment firefighters wear. If it’s getting too hot, the device will flash, send a warning to a radio channel or appear in a heads-up display on their breathing apparatus. The Burn Saver project is now in its second phase, said Jones-Holt. TDA Research Inc., a company in Colorado, built and demonstrated the device. They’re now looking for a partner to produce and sell Burn Savers, she added. After firefighters tested the device, the radio and heads-up display warnings were added, because they couldn’t always see their wearable device flashing. To be used in the real world, Burn

Saver will need to be certified for live-fire testing by the National Fire Protection Association, Jones-Holt said. It’s expected to sell for around $275.

AUDREY When S&T wanted to help emergency responders make the smartest decisions possible during chaotic situations, it turned to NASA for help. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, which helped send a rover to Mars, created AUDREY: the Assistant for Understanding Data through Reasoning, Extraction and Synthesis. The state-of-the-art humanlike reasoning system can process information it collects through a wearable hands-free speaker, sensor and video camera. It can then analyze the data and

identify hazards or trends. AUDREY “extracts key information to provide back to the responder,” said John Merrill, acting director of the DHS S&T First Responders and Detection division. The information AUDREY collects can also be accessed by dispatchers back at the station, who could pick up on new information those on the ground don’t immediately notice. During a recent presentation on the project, Merrill described how a dispatcher heard, through a police officer’s AUDREY system, a shotgun being loaded as the officer approached a house during a domestic dispute call. The officer was ordered back to his car, potentially saving his life. AUDREY’s sensors could detect haz-

ardous chemicals, alerting responders that protective equipment is needed. It could also be used to track a responder’s location, so if someone is hurt on the job, their department would know where to send help. The system has undergone some developmental tests that have led to improved video analytics and speechto-text functions. But since it’s still in development, Merrill said it hasn’t undergone rigorous operational testing. The California Institute of Technology, which operates the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, will be responsible for field testing AUDREY. In the meantime, Merrill said S&T is evaluating how artificial intelligence and other advanced-decision support tools could someday be used by first responders.

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TECHNOLOGY

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Bionic Biometrics Artiﬁcial intelligence helps DHS keep borders, travel, citizens safer By Adam Stone

SING A FINGERPRINT AS a

means of identification is literally ancient history: The Babylonians were using them on business documents more than 2,000 years ago. At DHS’ Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM), they’re looking for a more modern approach. “If you were a brick layer for all your adult life, just working with the alkaline, the chances of a good fingerprint coming out are greatly reduced. There’s some very small percentage of the world’s population that just doesn’t print very

well,” said Ryan Koder, OBIM Systems Business Operations branch chief. Fingertip skin ridges are still reliable, but digital facial recognition, iris scans and a layer of artificial intelligence promise to take security to a new level. “Biometric data” — identity based on measurable physical traits — is already a part of everyday activity across DHS. OBIM works to advance those technologies, while coordinating the sharing of biometric information across defense, law enforcement and other government agencies. As caretaker for the government’s biometric operation, OBIM oversees a database of some 800 million facial images,

according to Patrick Nemeth, Identity Operations Division director with OBIM. “We get all of the border crossing records, we get the State Department visa applications, we get Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol arrests,” he said. This facial database serves primarily to identify potential bad actors such as terrorists and wanted criminals. But OBIM officials and others in DHS also tout the emerging role of biometrics in support of ordinary citizens, whether that’s to facilitate natural-disaster response or simply to speed international travel. In the case of natural disaster, OBIM works with the Federal Emergency

Management Agency to security-vet potential contractors. “They have to bring contractors and volunteers on quickly, so they run background checks through us,” Nemeth said. In the past, a fingerprint check could take weeks. With facial recognition, “we can provide them the equipment out in the field that can get them an answer within two hours.” At the airport, OBIM supports the work of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, which lately has been using facial recognition to confirm departing passengers by matching passport pictures to other photos taken at the gate. CBP officials CONTI NUED

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TECHNOLOGY

A Scandinavian Airlines employee assists passengers boarding an international flight using facial recognition systems at Dulles International Airport in Virginia. GLENN FAWCETT

say facial technology offers a seamless way to verify identity. “Having a photograph taken at the boarding gate is intuitive for people to interact with,” said John Wagner, CBP deputy executive assistant commissioner for the Office of Field Operations. “It’s relatively quick, intuitive and easy for people to do.” Experts say these tools can help DHS agencies manage the sheer volume of individuals they screen every day. “Is the face the same as the picture when it was taken three months ago? Has the haircut changed? And will the security person who is working an eight-hour shift be able to see that change?” said Daniel Linskey, a fellow at The Duff & Phelps Institute, a New York-based think tank. A former superintendent-in-chief of the Boston Police Department, he served as incident commander in the case of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. When facial recognition augments human inspection, “you don’t have the

In addition to identifying bad actors, Office of Biometric Identity Management officials and other homeland security experts tout the emerging role of biometrics in support of ordinary citizens, whether that’s to facilitate natural-disaster response or simply to speed international travel. human fatigue factor, you don’t have the unconscious bias,” he said. “You don’t take the human element away, but the technology can be a valuable supplement.” Still, the notion of widespread biomet-

ric scanning for homeland security has set off some alarm bells. The American Civil Liberties Union stated that this may be “the end of anonymity as we know it” and warns that with the spread of such technology within law enforcement bodies, “it will become increasingly difficult to evade their watchful eye and, soon enough, their automated biometric identification.” OBIM officials say they are taking steps to mitigate that risk. “We have a rather lengthy privacy and legal process we go through and it’s well developed,” Nemeth said. “Each data owner gets consulted and then the lawyers and the privacy and the civil rights and civil liberties people all get a say on that.” With those safeguards in place, OBIM continues to seek new ways to expand biometric operations, “whether it’s DNA to reunify children with their biological parents (or) to simplify getting on cruise ships or planes, or crossing the border by

vehicle,” Nemeth said. In the near term, OBIM is working to overhaul the back-end technology used to store and share biometric data, presently known as IDENT, the Automated Biometric Identification System. Set to roll out in about a year, the new system will be called HART, the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology. Rather than run on local servers, HART will be cloud-based, meaning it will have more computer power and storage available, as well as added flexibility to scale up or down to meet peak demand. “It will have double the throughput capacity of IDENT,” Nemeth said. At the same time, a cloud-based environment will make it easier to test-drive new offerings from academia and industry. In the past, it might have taken two years to vet a new technology, Nemeth said. With HART’s speed and scale, “our goal now is to get anything other than major development down to about a three-week cycle.”

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EDUCATION

Wanted: Problem Solvers Department seeks employees with cyber degrees By Cari Shane

HE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND

Security has more than 230,000 employees, and many of the positions in law enforcement and emergency management are focused on cybersecurity. If you “have the kind of brain that enjoys being tickled by puzzles,” then cyber could be for you, said Mandy Galante, program director of CyberStart, a suite of tools and games designed to entice both novices and the experienced to the field of cybersecurity. These critical thinkers are at an advantage: By 2021, it’s estimated that there will be a global cyber jobs deficit of 3.5 million. The demand for such experts has led to an increase in the number of highereducation degrees in cybersecurity. There are public colleges and universities that offer exceptional concentrations and degree programs.

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EDUCATION University of Arizona

University of Connecticut

The Bachelor of Applied Science in Cyber Operations, which has earned a designation by the National Security Agency (NSA) as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations (CAE-CO), has an engineering track with a security focus as well as a defense and forensics track. A cyber law and policy track, combining a technical cyber curriculum with a strong foundation in national and international law, strategy and policy relevant to cyber professionals, launched this fall.

UCONN is the only school in the state to be recognized by the Department of Homeland Security and the NSA as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD). “Security needs to be an integral part of computer science culture,” said Laurent Michel, associate department head of computer science who, in 2006, helped to create the cybersecurity programs at UCONN. This year, the school plans to debut its first-ever cybersecurity lab and curriculum.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign This public research university offers bachelor of science degrees in both computer science and electrical and computer engineering that require a cybersecurity research project and a summer internship within a government organization. In addition, through its Information Trust Institute, the school offers the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service, a merit scholarship funded by the National Science Foundation.

THE SEARCH FOR EXCELLENCE In a concerted effort to defend U.S. government agencies and private enterprise against growing cyberthreats, DHS and the National Security Agency initiated the National Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) program. More than 270 colleges and universities across 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are designated as CAEs in cyber defense. All regionally accredited two-year, four-year and graduate-level institutions are eligible to apply to become a CAE, and are designated based on their degree programs and cybersecurity-related subject matter validated by top experts in the field.

uVisit dhs.usajobs.gov to search for open DHS positions. GETTY IMAGES

University of Nebraska Omaha

University of Connecticut

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA OMAHA

Towson University The first university in Maryland to offer a cyber degree program, TU’s Jess & Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics started one of the first bachelor of science degrees in computer science with a track in computer security. This landed the school a CAE-CO designation. The school has also been listed as a CAE-CD since 2002. And, Towson is one of the first schools in the country to earn a cybersecurity accreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, effective through 2024.

UCONN SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

University of Nebraska Omaha

Oklahoma State University

With a bachelor of science in cybersecurity that offers a special track in cyber operations, UNO is one of only 20 schools listed by the NSA as CAE-CO status. The NSA has also recognized the school for its cyber defense programs, launched in 2009. The interdisciplinary undergraduate major is designed to prepare students for positions in government, industry and research.

Recognized as a CAE-CD by the NSA and DHS, OSU’s cyber degree, earned through the Department of Management Science and Information Systems in the Spears School of Business, is a STEMfocused technical major teaching the real-world business applications of information technology and data analytics.

uFor scholarships and government employment opportunities, check out the CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service program at sfs.opm.gov. CYBER CORPS

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CAREERS

PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS MATTHEW THIEME/U.S. COAST GUARD

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz heads to the podium at the 2019 U.S. Coast Guard Academy commencement in New London, Conn.

Changing the Culture Coast Guard steps up efforts to attract, retain women By Patricia Kime

HROUGHOUT REAR ADM. JOANNA Nunan’s 32-year

career in the Coast Guard, she has served on five cutters. On four, she was the only woman aboard. As a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, she thought that over time, more women would join the service, a natural progression resulting from the

opportunities available to women in the Coast Guard. But while the Corps of Cadets at the Academy is now 39 percent female — the highest proportion of women at any of the military academies — the service continues to struggle to recruit enlisted women and keep them for the duration of their careers. “We have to look at policies, and we have to still work on changing our culture,” said Nunan, who serves as

the assistant commandant for human resources. “We still (hear) from women that there are plenty of units that don’t have any women.” To attract and retain the best talent, the Coast Guard has instituted several policies to improve quality of life for its members. The new initiatives followed the publication of a Rand Corporation study released in March that indicated CONTI NUED

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CAREERS

U.S. COAST GUARD CAREER GENDER GAP ACTIVE-DUTY COMMISSIONED OFFICERS

ACTIVE-DUTY ENLISTED PERSONNEL AND WARRANT OFFICERS

100% % of male officers

% of female officers

5.6%

Coast Guard inspectors receive hands-on barge training in Channelview, Texas, in September.

83.9%

GAP

78.3% 69.7%

71.1%

12.6%

8.7% GAP

GAP

62.4% 57.1%

PETTY OFFICER 2ND CLASS JOHANNA STRICKLAND/U.S. COAST GUARD

43.8%

12.3%

women, who make up 15 percent of the active-duty Coast Guard, leave the service at higher rates than men. According to another Rand study published this year, Improving Gender Diversity in the U.S. Coast Guard, 83.9 percent of male officers in the Coast Guard stay in the service at the five-year mark, compared with 78.3 percent of female officers, a 5.6 percent gap. At 10 years, the difference is 12.6 percent. For enlisted personnel, 71.1 percent of male service members remain after four years of service, while 62.4 percent of women re-enlist. That 8.7 percent gap increases to 12.3 percent at 10 years. Nunan said the Coast Guard is better at retaining women than the other services, but it is not “resting on its laurels because that’s not where we want it to be. Not everyone understands diversity. Maybe they understand diversity but don’t understand what it really means — that every member of the team feels a sense of belonging, feels that they really contribute. Those are some of the deeper things we are going after,” Nunan said. In his State of the Coast Guard address on March 21, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz announced the first of several new initiatives designed to support women, including a program that allows reserve members to backfill jobs when active-duty personnel take maternity, convalescent or caregiver leave. Because the service is so small and its members often are assigned in remote locations, there has been no ability to provide temporary replacements for members who must take leave for family matters. The new program was designed

to ensure that service members are able to use the leave they have earned and reduce guilt and anxiety. According to Nunan, 93 women and two men have used the program so far. “We’ve had a lot of good feedback from folks in the field. This affects men and women. Many Coast Guard women are married to Coast Guard men, so this gives the family some help in how to make these choices,” Nunan said. The Coast Guard also is trying to address family separation related to assignments for dual-service couples, instituting a new initiative to ensure that these service members will transfer duty stations at the same time. “We will look at the couples and coordinate alignment” for officers who are commanders and below and enlisted personnel who are petty officers first class and below, Nunan said. “That takes a lot of stress off families and women in particular.” This year, the service also announced a partnership with Coast Guard Mutual Assistance to pay costs for nursing moms who are underway or on business travel to ship breast milk to their babies. The program will pay up to $750 a year per household for shipping. To ensure that all service members get a fair shot at promotions, the Coast Guard also has eliminated gender-specific pronouns from promotion packages and professional evaluations. Speaking at a June meeting of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service, Cmdr. Andrea Smith, personnel readiness task force deputy chairwoman, said the policy is designed to mitigate bias that could affect promo-

GAP 31.5%

YEARS OF SERVICE

SOURCE: Rand Corporation

tions or job placement. But the biggest policy change after publication of the Rand report is a pilot program for physical standards. Finding that women were being discharged for weight issues at three times the rate of men, the service sought to develop a program that would better assess health and fitness for the job, rather than rely on body mass index. The Coast Guard’s current policy requires members to be weighed twice a year, and if they are not in compliance with height and weight measurements, they would then have measurements taken to calculate body fat percentages. For men, their necks and abdomens are measured, and for women, their neck, waist and hip measurements are taken. The new temporary policy still requires height and weight standards, but if members are not in compliance, then they would have only their abdominal circumference measured. Service officials said they have reviewed studies that indicate abdominal circumference is a reliable measure for assessing overall health.

GRAHIC: HAYLEIGH CORKEY

“Women were having a higher percentage for getting on the weight program and a higher percentage of being discharged for weight,” Nunan said. “We haven’t changed our standards, but we’ve added the abdominal circumference, and we have also added the opportunity for those who don’t pass the abdominal circumference to take a physical fitness test that our boat crew members take.” These initiatives and more, including an increased focus on child care, are vital to recruit and keep the best service members for the job, Schultz said. “Some of these things we are really proud of. (They have) resonated well with our workforce, with female colleagues.” After hearing Schultz speak in San Pedro, Calif., in March, Ensign Abby Mann, a 2018 Coast Guard Academy graduate assigned to the cutter Benjamin Bottoms, said the reserve replacement proposal is a great idea. “I really like what he said to retain women ... right now, when you leave, it can be a real burden on a unit. If you knew someone was stepping in, it would give you more flexibility and definitely relieve anxiety,” she said.

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CAREERS

PETTY OFFICER 2ND CLASS DUSTIN R. WILLIAMS/U.S. COAST GUARD

The U.S. Coast Guard Honor Guard represented the service in the annual Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C., in 2018.

Women Rising Dedicated DHS employees work to secure nation By Matt Alderton

F YOU THINK GENDER equality in the

year 2019 is a foregone conclusion, consider this: Although women constitute more than half of the U.S. population and 55.6 percent of

the workforce, they comprise just 12.6 percent of police officers nationwide. At least one law enforcement agency is trying to buck the trend: the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Women CONTINUED

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

CAREERS currently constitute 35 percent of the DHS workforce, according to Sharon Wong, executive director of strategic recruitment, diversity and inclusion at DHS. Although it might appear low, the number is remarkably strong when one considers the extent to which women are underrepresented in law enforcement more broadly. Wong said that 70 percent of DHS positions are in or related to law enforcement. Given that more than one-third of its workforce is female suggests the department is working hard to increase gender diversity across its ranks. “While there is still work to be done to bring more women into male-dominated fields, tremendous progress has been made and continues to be made,” said Wong, who notes that women make up a significant portion of two of DHS’ non-law enforcement component agencies: the Federal Emergency ManageWOMEN MAKE UP ment Agency and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration OF THE DHS Services, WORKFORCE where 50 percent SOURCE: U.S. Department of and 54 Homeland Security percent of the workforce, respectively, is female. Two other component agencies are more than 40 percent women: the Transportation Security Administration and DHS headquarters, where 41 percent and 44 percent of the workforce, respectively, is female. As for law enforcement positions, “there is room for improvement,” acknowledged Wong, who cites numerous department initiatives to improve gender parity. This year, for example, DHS piloted a Women in Law Enforcement Mentoring Program and conducted 109 outreach and recruitment events targeting women. “Over the past several decades, women have proven themselves in a wide variety of positions that once were reserved for men, and more departments across the nation — including DHS — are seeing the value in hiring women as law enforcement officers,” Wong said. In both law enforcement and non-law enforcement occupations, the women of DHS are protectors whose talent and dedication are assets to American safety and security. Meet four of them:

35%

PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS MATTHEW S. MASASCHI/U.S. COAST GUARD

CHELSEA HUFF Petty Officer 1st Class, U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Enforcement Specialist The typical police officer spends his or her day patrolling communities in squad cars, responding to 911 calls, mediating domestic disturbances and making traffic stops. But Petty Officer 1st Class Chelsea Huff is not a typical police officer. A machinery technician in the U.S. Coast Guard, where she’s on special assignment with the Tactical Law Enforcement Team Pacific in Alameda, Calif., she patrols ports and oceans in boats, defending America’s maritime borders from drug traffickers, alien migrants, terrorists and other seaborne criminals. “There’s never a dull moment,” said Huff, who also is an emergency medical technician and a firearms instructor. “Because the Coast Guard has so many missions, you’re

always learning something new, and you’re always able to contribute to the community and to the nation.” As part of U.S. Coast Guard interdictions at sea, Huff’s duties on any given day might include boarding suspicious vessels, searching for and seizing contraband, arresting suspected criminals, conducting search-and-rescue operations and operating seized watercraft. Sometimes she also deploys overseas to teach maritime law enforcement skills to foreign partners. Huff acknowledged that her work can be demanding. “The most difficult part of the job is the challenging environment, which can be hazardous and fatiguing. You’re often on a small boat, you’re typically operating at night and the

seas are not always favorable ... so you have to have a lot of stamina and mental strength,” she said. But, she also enjoys witnessing how her hard work pays off. “The most rewarding part of the job for me is going out there and seeing direct results from my efforts, such as getting contraband or assisting with a rescue,” said Huff, who recently received the Outstanding Federal Law Enforcement Employee Award from Women in Federal Law Enforcement, which recognized her for her role in detecting and seizing more than 7,000 kilograms of cocaine valued at more than $211 million, and for delivering life-saving care to a fellow officer who suffered a brain hemorrhage at sea.

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CAREERS

LINDA MASTANDREA Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency Office of Disability Integration and Coordination There are 61 million American adults who live with a disability, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although some were born with a disability, many became disabled following an accident or illness, at which point they had to relearn how to do even the simplest tasks — using the bathroom, bathing, taking out the garbage, going to the grocery store — either by themselves or with help from caretakers. What most of them didn’t learn, unfortunately, was how to take care of themselves and others before, during or after a natural disaster. The mission of teaching them these skills belongs to Linda Mastandrea, director of FEMA’s Office of Disability Integration and Coordination (ODIC). “With storms becoming more frequent, more severe and more impactful, people really need to take (emergency planning) seriously and do what they can to be best prepared,” urged Mastandrea, who said people with disabilities have unique needs and challenges of which communities must be made aware. “For people with disabilities, you’ve got to think beyond food and water. You’ve got to think about medication, special diets, power supplies, wheelchairs, oxygen and other things like

that. What happens if your personal assistance provider can’t get to you, or if your drugstore is closed? Advanced planning obviously is critical for everyone, but for people with disabilities, it’s vital.” Mastandrea was born with cerebral palsy. As a child, she played wheelchair sports, which ignited in her a lifelong passion for disability advocacy. She joined ODIC in 2017 after a lengthy career as a disability and civil rights attorney. During her two-year tenure, she has led numerous efforts to educate individuals with disabilities — as well as the organizations and local, state and tribal governments that serve them — about disaster planning, response and recovery. She’s also been instrumental in channeling public funds toward rebuilding disaster-affected communities in ways that are accessible for people with disabilities, as well as in efforts to improve the identification and measurement of the disabled population by emergency managers. “We need to work together to ensure that people with disabilities are safe and secure and can survive and thrive through a disaster. That’s what keeps me getting out of bed and coming into work every day — knowing that we are making a huge difference in people’s lives,” she said.

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

CAREERS

JOHN SOKOLOWSKI

CYBERSECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY

LINA ALATHARI

KELLY THIELE

Chief, U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center

Cybersecurity Analyst, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

In the first 10 months of 2019 there were nearly 350 mass shootings in the U.S., according to Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks domestic gun violence and shooting deaths. After each one, the inevitable and incredulous question surfaces: Who would do such a thing? Although for most Americans it’s a rhetorical question, it’s Lina Alathari’s job as a cognitive neuropsychologist to actually answer it. She leads behavioral research projects at the National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the U.S. Secret Service. Since 1902, when it began providing full-time protection for presidents, the agency has been analyzing criminal threats with the goal of understanding and preventing them. Its analytical efforts culminated in the 1990s with a research project aimed at discovering what makes people want to assassinate presidents and other public figures. Congress subsequently established NTAC in 2000 so the Secret Service could continue its work and share it with law enforcement agencies across the country. Alathari says NTAC’s mission can be summed up in two words:

threat assessment. “Threat assessment is a proactive, investigative process in which you identify individuals who might be exhibiting threatening or concerning behavior,” she said. “You gather information from multiple sources to assess whether that person poses a risk of harm and — if they do pose a risk of harm, whether it’s to themselves or others — you identify an intervention strategy to manage that risk.” Alathari and her staff divide their time between performing threat assessments and teaching others to do so. The former involves painstaking analysis of criminal cases in order to isolate the behaviors and backgrounds that are predictive of future violence. The latter involves traveling around the country to share their knowledge with schools, police departments and other interested stakeholders. “The demand for our work is through the roof,” said Alathari, adding that the best part of her job is assisting police officers and educators who have identified threats in their communities. “That’s where the mind-numbing research we do pays off, because you get to see its direct impact, which is saving lives.”

According to DHS, there are 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets are considered so important that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on national security. Encompassing electric grids, nuclear reactors and communications networks, these sectors are extremely vital — and unfortunately, incredibly vulnerable. The biggest threats against them aren’t bombs or missiles, however. They’re emails. So said Kelly Thiele, a cybersecurity analyst at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a new federal agency whose mission is identifying and mitigating cybsersecurity risks across the United States. As a member of its National Cybersecurity Assessments and Technical Services (NCATS) team, Thiele leads CISA’s Phishing Campaign Assessment program, which works with federal agencies; local, state and tribal governments; and private operators of critical infrastructure to assess and ameliorate their susceptibility to cyberattacks via phishing — a type of electronic attack wherein malicious actors send emails in which they masquerade as legitimate entities in an attempt

to extract sensitive information such as usernames and passwords that they can subsequently use to breach otherwise secure systems. “Phishing is the No. 1 way into a network. It’s a big problem,” said Thiele, who described herself as a social engineer. “We have other teams that approach phishing from the technical side; it’s my job to approach it from the behavioral side. We are always going to have humans working in organizations, so I focus on how we can better train those humans to reduce their susceptibility to clicking on phishing emails.” Thiele spends her days learning about the latest phishing trends, trying to trick public- and privatesector employees into clicking on suspicious emails and educating those employees about why they shouldn’t do so. “I get immediate gratification from the work I do,” Thiele said. “A lot of stakeholders feel overwhelmed by cybersecurity. They don’t know where to start. Because we help them, I get to hear on a daily basis how grateful they are that we’re able to help them find their way in what can be a very confusing and frightening path toward making their organizations more secure.”

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