HOMELAND SECURITY 2020 by STUDIO Gannett

SPECIAL EDITION

HOMELAND SECURITY FREE

2020 EDITION

FEMA

Coast Guard

On Guard

Cyber ICE

PLUS AGENCIES ATTACK WORLD PANDEMIC CYBERSECURITY DEFENDS DEMOCRACY CUTTING-EDGE TECH FIGHTS SCAMS COLLEGES TARGET TOMORROWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LEADERS

TSA

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

CONTENTS

3 2020 S PECI A L E D ITI O N

HOMELAND SECURITY

HISTORIC CHALLENGE FEMA assumes a key role in pandemic response

ALEXIS HALL/FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

A plane chartered by FEMA as part of Project Airbridge arrives at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport with medical supplies in April.

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CONTENTS FEATURES

50 57

BALLOT BOX CISA collaborates with states to keep the election secure

This is a product of

CYBER THREATS Remote work and online education give CISA a new security role

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Jeanette Barrett-Stokes jbstokes@usatoday.com

CAREERS

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jerald Council jcouncil@usatoday.com

MANAGING EDITOR Michelle Washington mjwashington@usatoday.com

ISSUE EDITOR Deirdre van Dyk ISSUE DESIGNER Lisa M. Zilka

LM OTERO/ASSOCIATED PRESS

LEADERSHIP

EDITORS Amy Sinatra Ayres Tracy Scott Forson Harry Lister Debbie Williams

NEWS

UNEXPECTED MISSION Acting Secretary Chad Wolf outlines department priorities

64 PROVIDED BY KEITH GRAY

MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS

10 12 ON THE COVER Clockwise from top left: A Coast Guard crew displays conﬁscated drugs at Florida’s Port Everglades. (Brandon Murray/U.S. Coast Guard) FEMA ofﬁcials watch as the USS Comfort departs New York City, where it had been deployed to help with COVID-19 response. (Anthony Behar/Sipa via Associated Press) An ICE agent conducts an interview at the U.S-Mexico border. (Gregory Bull/ Associated Press) A TSA team cleans surfaces at DallasFort Worth International Airport. (Yffy Yossifor/Star-Telegram via Associated Press) Illustrations: Getty Images

ON THE SCENE Federal troops and protesters clash in Portland, Ore.

Proﬁles of DHS employees, including a TSA canine handler, a Secret Service agent and other

EDUCATION

FRONT LINE

ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Vanessa Salvo | (703) 854-6499 vsalvo@usatoday.com

FINANCE BILLING COORDINATOR Julie Marco

CBP adopts new technology to help secure trade

TSA institutes new protocols to keep agents and passengers safe

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73 WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY

BLUE SKY THINKING

SCHOOL OF THOUGHT Degrees that can lead to DHS careers

Coast Guard looks to innovation to stay agile

MEMORIAL

FIRST DAY COVID-19 causes changes in training for incoming cadets

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ICE leads Operation Stolen Promise to combat COVID-19 scams

REAL GOODS

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Matt Alderton, Mary Helen Berg, Craig Guillot, Gina Harkins, Adam Kemp, Jeff Plungis, Robin Roenker, Adam Stone

VP, ADVERTISING Patrick Burke | (703) 854-5914

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ESSENTIAL JOBS

DESIGNERS Hayleigh Corkey David Hyde Debra Moore Gina Toole Saunders

25TH ANNIVERSARY Remembering the Oklahoma City bombing

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LEADERSHIP

Acting Secretary on the Record Wolf reﬂects on a trying year, outlines priorities going forward

N LESS THAN A year on the job, Acting Secretary Chad Wolf

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acting Secretary Chad Wolf has overseen the department’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, social justice demonstrations in Portland, Ore., and the ongoing construction of the wall along the United States-Mexico border. He shared his views regarding the work the agency is conducting as well as future plans with USA TODAY: You became acting secretary last November. Can you talk about your background? WOLF: I was working on Capitol Hill on 9/11 and recall being evacuated from the building as jets roared overhead. It was a defining moment in my life and career. I joined the newly formed Transportation Security Administration shortly thereafter and played a significant role in establishing a federalized aviation security apparatus across the country. During that time, I came to appreciate the need for strong partnerships with the private sector to secure the homeland — as the department cannot do it alone. In January 2017, I returned to DHS, and over the past several years I have held a number of positions including chief of staff, assistant secretary for strategy and plans and undersecretary for the office of strategy, policy and plans. In November 2019, President Donald Trump designated me as acting secretary, and it continues to be an honor of a lifetime to lead the 240,000 men and women of the department.

In early 2020, the agency seemed laser-focused on addressing border initiatives. Can you talk about the importance of border security, and what DHS is currently doing? Simply put — border security is

JACK GRUBER/USA TODAY

homeland security. The first priority of any nation is to ensure its sovereignty by protecting the integrity of its national borders. The department continues to address numerous loopholes that incentivize migrants — many of them women and children — to take the dangerous journey north and enter our country illegally. Until we close all the loopholes and Congress amends our immigration laws to adequately reflect our changing world, our broken system will continue to fuel the criminal organizations that peddle in human smuggling, human trafficking and drug smuggling. To address these threats, the department has entered into game-changing agreements with our Northern Triangle partners to stem the flow of illegal migration and demanded that Mexico step up their efforts. DHS has also addressed the pervasive fraud in our generous immigration system by issuing regulations and

changing the system to ensure those truly needing protection can have their day in court quickly and efficiently. And perhaps most importantly, at the direction of President Trump, the department took action to restrict travel into the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect and save American lives. As the pandemic began spreading around the world, when did DHS recognize that COVID-19 was a threat? And how did you shift the department’s response to combatting it? At the beginning of the pandemic, President Trump took aggressive and proactive measures, driven by the guidance of medical professionals, allowing the U.S. to stay ahead of the outbreak. In January, the White House Coronavirus Task Force took unprecedented steps to ensure that travelers from China did not spread the virus in the United States

by implementing travel restrictions, reducing passenger volume substantially. Similar success followed with the president’s travel restrictions on Iran, Europe, the U.K., Canada and Mexico, leading to a further reduction of travel into our country. The department’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been coordinating the administration’s whole of government response to COVID-19 through a variety of initiatives. FEMA and our interagency partners have been constantly tailoring staffing and resources across agencies, always ensuring we can provide support when and where throughout the country it’s needed most. In addition, DHS has been working nonstop to protect Americans from criminals who want to exploit the ongoing crisis. The U.S. Secret Service is combatting cyber-enabled fraud like ransomware and email compromise attacks that are targeting our health care industry as well as local and state governments. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Homeland Security Investigations has launched Operation Stolen Promise to combat COVID-19-related fraud and criminal activity. CBP (Customs and Border Protection) has blocked dangerous products from entering our supply chain. Our Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has been providing cybersecurity services ranging from surging pandemic-related cyber defense to countering threats to our election infrastructure. DHS has faced some criticism in how it handled COVID-19. What is your assessment of the DHS response so far? DHS has been leading an unprecedented national response to a global pandemic for more than seven months. Under the president’s and the White CONTINUED

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LEADERSHIP ture, the department works every day to ensure our supply chain remains secure and our economy continues to grow. The president has also been very clear, protecting the American people is his No. 1 job, and that includes protecting American jobs. The president is taking decisive action to accelerate our national economic recovery. DHS is proudly partnering with him to put American workers first. Using presidential authority under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the U.S. government will temporarily pause targeted foreign worker visas until Dec. 31, 2020, and can extend as necessary. These temporary measures are intended to give American workers — and the American economy — a chance to get back on their feet.

ROSS D. FRANKLIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Vice President Mike Pence, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Homeland Security acting Secretary Chad Wolf and White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx head to a Phoenix news conference after meeting about Arizona’s rise in COVID-19 cases.

House Coronavirus Task Force leadership, DHS has coordinated efforts that have saved millions of lives. This includes historic efforts delivering PPE (personal protective equipment) across the country as well as supporting the distribution of COVID-19 testing kits that have made America the world leader in tests. Ever since the president’s early actions to restrict travel from COVID-19 hot spots like China, we have been working to ensure the safe passage of goods into our country, while restricting nonessential travel into the country. DHS has taken on the challenges presented by COVID-19 and continues to remain focused on the security and safety of the American people. DHS scientists have been studying COVID-19. Can you talk about their work specific to the coronavirus? DHS has leveraged the unique capabilities of our Science & Technology (Directorate’s) National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasure Center, a high-biocontainment laboratory, to study the biology of the COVID-19 virus. Their most striking observation to date is the powerful effect that solar light appears to

have on killing the virus both on surfaces and in the air. S&T has also determined a similar effect with both temperature and humidity, where increasing temperature, humidity or both is generally less favorable to the virus. Their findings have been critical in identifying and delivering information about the virus. S&T will continue to identify, develop, fund and deploy tools and information to the overall COVID-19 response. During the pandemic, protests about the death of George Floyd in police custody broke out around the world. And protests have been ongoing in Portland, Ore., for more than two months as of press time. Why did the administration decide to respond by sending federal agents to the city? And can you talk about why the department is considering going to other cities? DHS has a statutory duty to protect federal facilities and the people who conduct business within those facilities. For over 60 nights, violent criminals, opportunists and anarchists tried to burn down a federal courthouse in Portland — while state and local officials took

little to no action. Due to local inaction, the department surged law enforcement assets into the city to protect federal property and officers. While we will always protect peaceful protesters in service to the Constitution and the American people, the department will not stand by while federal property and officers are assaulted. Fortunately, the governor of Oregon recognized the out-of-control violence and after 60 days deployed Oregon state police to partner with DHS law enforcement to curtail the violence. DHS will continue to surge resources into cities when we have credible intelligence and threats that federal facilities or officers will be targeted. One DHS mission is to protect the economy. Which agencies are focused on this, and what are they doing? This is a whole of DHS approach. As we have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, economic security is homeland security. Whether it’s keeping the commercial aviation system running, ensuring that our ports and waterways are secure or working with the private sector to safeguard our critical infrastruc-

What will your priorities be for the second half of 2020? DHS priority continues to be the security and health of the American people. As the nation reopens the economy, the department and its components continue to ensure a safe and prosperous homeland for the American people. In a dynamic COVID-19 environment, the department will continue its efforts to secure trade and the free flow of commerce through our borders. Border security is homeland security. We will continue our rapid efforts building the border wall system, and we expect to have well over 400 miles completed by the end of the year. That is in conjunction with the great work our men and women of ICE are doing arresting and deporting wanted criminals and gang members. Likewise, our U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Coast Guard will continue interdicting drugs by land and sea to protect our communities. American voters should decide American elections. CISA is working every day partnering with state and local officials to secure the voting process and defend America’s elections systems from malign foreign attacks. The president has requested that the U.S. Secret Service be moved back under the Department of the Treasury. If approved, will that move impact the DHS mission? It will not. As I testified before Congress earlier this year, DHS supports the president’s FY 2021 budget request to transfer the U.S. Secret Service to the Department of the Treasury. The Secret Service was once part of the Department of the Treasury, and we will be able to collaborate with the service as necessary moving forward.

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One Weekend in Portland Anger, fear and a fence that divides By The Associated Press

T THE SALMON STREET Springs fountain in the heart of Portland, Ore., dozens of drummers beat out rhythms, and a crowd of hundreds danced as the sun set. Poster boards bearing the names of Black men and women killed by police stirred in a breeze as people poured into the square. Suddenly, 10-year-old Xavier Minor jumped into the circle and started dancing with abandon. The emcee took note. “Yo, Black kids are the future!” he shouted, until a beaming Xavier stepped out and into his father’s embrace. A few minutes later, the music stopped, and the march to the federal courthouse began. In early July, over the objections of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, President Donald Trump sent federal agents to guard the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse. Anti-racism protesters had been gathering each night near the courthouse, and Trump insisted he wanted to restore order. He also mentioned sending federal troops to other cities where protesters gathered. On this late July weekend, when Xavier entertained the crowd, The Associated Press embedded reporters with the protesters and with the several dozen federal agents inside the courthouse. The courthouse is boarded up with thick plywood; narrow slits at the top give the agents inside a view of the crowd — estimated to be as large as 4,000 people — and an opening through which to fire pepper balls. Outside stood the fence: a thick, black iron installation, erected six days before. To the protesters, the men inside are at best thoughtless political minions, at worst evil henchmen. To the agents inside, the demonstrators are violent anarchists bent on hurting — or even killing — federal agents doing their jobs. At 10:15 p.m., a man tried to climb the fence and

was quickly arrested. Half an hour later, the crowd began to push against the barrier, some taking a running start. Behind the front lines, drummers led the crowd in dancing and chanting. Monica Arce, a professional midwife, had left her 14-year-old son at home and joined her sister-in-law, a teacher, to protest the presence of the federal agents and to support the Black Lives Matter movement. “We are not here being violent or being destructive. We have a positive message — there is nothing to quell here,” she said, referencing Trump’s statement that the agents were there to quell unrest. “The people of Portland are saying, ‘We don’t want this presence here, and we don’t think we need them at all.’” As she spoke, small pods of three to four protesters dressed in black circulated in the crowd, stopping to point green laser beams in the eyes of agents on the courthouse’s upper stories. Thirty minutes later, someone tossed fireworks inside the fence. A barrage of items came whizzing into the courthouse: rocks, cans of beans, water bottles, potatoes and rubber bouncy balls. Within minutes, the federal agents fired the first round of tear gas of the night. Inside the courthouse, agents on scaffolding fired pepper balls at the crowd while others sat quietly on marble benches in the lobby, alone or in small groups, and waited for their turn at the fence. No one talked much over the whir of the industrial fans set up to blow the tear gas back outside. The Federal Protective Service, U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents were tired and frustrated. They didn’t want to confront the crowd; they just wanted to go home. Many were from out of town and came to assist the local agents; some are members of an elite border patrol tactical team sent in as reinforcements. “You see a lot of commentary on social media about, ‘Well, they’re wearing protective gear, so that it’s not going to hurt them.’ OK, I’ll put the

same protective gear on you, and I’ll throw a brick at your head, and you tell me if you feel comfortable with that,” said a senior U.S. Marshals Service official. Outside, a young woman with long blond hair wearing a halter top and jeans who had been gassed threw up in the gutter. “I think that using chemical warfare on civilians is anything but protecting and serving, which is what they’re supposed to be doing,” said Eli Deschera, 21, of Portland. A firework came whizzing over the fence and exploded with a boom, leaving one agent’s hearing deadened and bloody gashes on both his forearms. By the end of the night, five other federal agents would be injured. One was hospitalized. Outside, hundreds of protesters, with each new round of tear gas, dumped saline solution and water into their stinging eyes, vomited or doubled over to catch their breath, then marched back to the fence. Kennedy Verrett, a composer and music teacher, had been tear gassed twice. “When you are sent to protect property ....” he said of the agents, trailing off. “My ancestors were once property. No one protected them. Tear gas is nothing when you have lived in America as a Black man for 40 years.” By 2:30 a.m. a few hundred protesters were left in a standoff with federal agents at the fence. When the agents finally took action, they came with force. A line of them marched in lock step down Third Street, scattering the crowd in front of them with tear gas and pepper balls. In less than two hours, it would be daylight. That night, much of the scene would be repeated. On July 29, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said the federal government had agreed to a phased withdrawal of troops from the city. Mike Balsamo, Gillian Flaccus and Sara Cline contributed to this story.

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NOAH BERGER/ASSOCIATED PRESS; MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS (3)

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NEWS

Catching COVID-19 Criminals Operation nabs scammers during pandemic

GETTY IMAGES

By Gina Harkins

S THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC spread earlier this year, it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

take long for criminals to find ways to prey on peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fears or take advantage of financial assistance programs the government offered. In late March, the president signed a $2 trillion stimulus bill known as the CARES Act, which offered billions in loans and grants to small businesses affected by COVID-19. Scammers then raced to set up fake companies to take advantage of the massive congressional relief package, says Matthew Albence, CONTINUED

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NEWS

A Homeland Security Investigations team in Atlanta U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE)

the recently retired acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Websites touting fake cure-alls and counterfeit personal protective equipment (PPE) also flooded the internet. “Anytime there’s a situation where criminal organizations think they can make some money, they will rapidly direct their resources and pivot to that void,” says Albence. “As we’ve seen here with COVID-19, they’re leveraging people’s fears for themselves and their families, which is why they’re selling these fake cures (and) fraudulent PPE.”

AGENCY RESPONSE Early on, lawmakers from both parties called for action to protect Americans from fraudulent schemes. In March, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey told federal agencies they must crack down on companies preying on the vulnerable. The next month, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley called on the Trump administration to address the problem so health care workers didn’t end up with faulty equipment. ICE announced Operation Stolen Promise in April, a mission targeting coronavirus-related

fraud and other crimes, saying they had launched more than 130 investigations and seized more than $3 million in illicit proceeds from sales of products such as bug spray that claims to protect someone from COVID-19. Agents also seized counterfeit PPE that would have put health care workers at risk. ICE, says Albence, is well-positioned to lead Operation Stolen Promise because the agency has authority to enforce federal laws on the importation of goods, money and people. ICE is the federal government’s second-largest criminal investigative agency, says Albence, and has dozens of field offices across the country that can tackle leads.

THE INTERNET’S UNDERBELLY One reason criminals have been so prolific during the pandemic is because they already have scam websites set up to sell unauthorized drugs, Albence says. Some sites might already have been selling pills that they claim are Viagra, for example, and now those sites claim the same fake pills cure COVID-19. “I’m never shocked by ICE

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Lanyards claiming to ward off COVID-19 were seized in one operation.

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NEWS

ICE

Agents load a vehicle with confiscated goods in an Operation Stolen Promise raid this spring in New York City.

the ingenuity of the criminal element that exists, but sometimes it is amazing when you look at how they can take advantage of situations like this to line their pockets,” says Albence. ICE’s Cyber Crimes Center scours the internet and the dark web, where criminals use encryption to make illicit activity more difficult to track, to find places selling fraudulent goods, says Albence. Agents have analyzed more than 556,000 internet domains claiming to sell COVID-19 test kits, cure-all medications and protective gear that likely doesn’t meet safety standards. Some sites don’t have products at all. They will, says Albence, put photos of real products they claim they can ship, only to take payment and never ship the item. Consumers aren’t the only ones at risk. In one case, Christopher Parris, a 39-yearold man from Georgia, was arrested

and charged in April for allegedly trying to dupe the Department of Veterans Affairs into buying $750 million worth of nonexistent face masks and other PPE.

FAST RESULTS By mid-August, Operation Stolen Promise had seized more than $2.4 million in fraudulently claimed CARES Act funds, according to operation statistics. ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division had initiated more than 599 criminal investigations, made 64 arrests and seized more than $7.9 million in illicit proceeds. ICE says those investigations will continue. “Anytime there’s a government program which offers financial assistance to people that need it,” says Albence, “there are going to be those criminal organizations that are going to look to take advantage of that.”

ICE

Product seized by agents as part of the operation.

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NEWS

Counter Fight Cutting-edge technology will help ensure imports are safe By Adam Stone

.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER Protection (CBP)

doesn’t just keep track of people entering this country. It also tracks stuff — lots of stuff. CBP’s Office of Trade (OT) protects the American economy as well as consumer health and safety, making sure that food, electronics, clothing and other imports are what they claim to be. It’s an increasingly complex task, especially given the rapid rise of e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re seeing goods coming from all over the world, touching a number of countries,” says Brenda Smith, OT’s executive assistant commissioner. “Keeping up with that change, while maintaining a relatively level amount of resources, has really caused us to look for new solutions.” Those new solutions include a range of technology innovations. The office has been experimenting with the emerging ledger technology known as blockchain and with augmented reality, and has been beefing up its data analytics capabilities, all in the name of safeguarding American consumers in their interactions with the vast global supply chain.

NOT JUST FOR GAMES Recently, the office conducted successful proof-of-concept demonstrations using augmented reality — inspectors used a headset to view a digital image of an object, overlaid directly on top of the actual physical object. In this case, inspectors used a designer handbag and a counterfeit copy as their test subjects. “The technology allows the CBP inspectors to quickly identify discrepancies between the 3D rendering ... and the potential counterfeit version of the product that we’ve got sitting on a desk or out on a dock somewhere,” says Jim Byram, executive director of JAMIE RUIZ/U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION (CBP)

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Augmented reality can overlay images of genuine goods on top of objects as agents inspect them, making it easier to spot fakes.

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XXXXX NEWS OT’s trade transformation office. The technology could not only help inspectors to spot fakes, it could also offer a way to deliver more consistent training for inspectors. Byram says future tests will apply the same technique to more complex items, such as consumer electronics.

RECORDING IT ALL CBP also is investigating whether blockchain technology can be used to deliver more in-depth information on goods crossing the border. Blockchain’s immutable ledger technology makes it difficult to tamper with transactions. Once a transaction is recorded in the ledger, an unchangeable shared digital record is created. Through several proof-of-concept efforts, “we have demonstrated blockchain’s ability to expedite cargo processing, enhanced verification, increased communications between different trade entities and support of enhanced enforcement activity,” says Byram. Better ledger technology could help inspectors ensure the origins of certain goods. “A lot of the laws that we enforce are around making sure we don’t face unfair competition through the use of things like forced labor or goods being sold at below market value,” says Smith. Blockchain could add greater visibility in those areas, and CBP is bolstering its readiness as more manufacturers and importers implement the technology. By using blockchain, inspectors would have a more reliable record of where a product originated and where it has changed hands on its way to American shores, says Smith.

OZZY TREVINO/CBP

Officers, like this one in Jacksonville, Fla., examine goods coming into the U.S. from all over the world.

THROUGH DATA As data becomes ever more critical across a range of homeland security operations, the OT is building up its data analytics capabilities, leveraging cutting-edge techniques such as machine learning and natural language processing to get better information, faster. “CBP takes in a tremendous amount of data on a daily basis,” says Byram. “The amount of data we’ve accumulated over the years is astronomical.” But that data is fragmented: Import information is in one database, data on seizures somewhere else, revenuecollection records in another silo. “The idea is that we will have the ability to

“We want to be sure what you’re receiving is not illegal or harmful.” — BRENDA SMITH, executive assistant commissioner, Office of Trade

OZZY TREVINO/CBP

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An inspector examines counterfeit products found during an inspection in Jacksonville, Fla.

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CBP

Officers inspect products suspected of being made with forced labor. Blockchain technology would add greater visibility to the origins of imports.

look across all systems, all databases,” says Byram. “You’ll get that kind of full 360-degree view of companies that are out there, instead of little snapshots of them depending on which system you’re looking into.”

SAFE SHOPPING All these efforts have a direct impact on American consumers. Take, for example, online shopping. “We’ve all really shifted, particularly during the pandemic, to ordering things online and hoping that they show up on our doorstep ... and fairly quickly,” says Smith. CBP is working to ensure that an item purchased

online “is not only what you expect to receive, but that it is safe.” If you’ve ordered a food product, for example, “we want to be sure that what you’re receiving is not illegal or harmful, so that we can ensure that what you’re putting on the table for your family is good for them,” she says. The same goes for consumer electronics, clothes, jewelry, shoes and a host of other items. “Our goal in using these technologies,” says Smith, “is to identify those high-risk shipments and stop them before they ever come into the United States.”

CBP

A container with suspicious goods is opened in Newark, N.J.

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

NEWS potential threats, found combating a virus was new territory. There were early missteps. The agency failed to provide staff with adequate personal protective equipment, leaving employees vulnerable and making them potential vectors in spreading the virus, according to a whistleblower complaint from Jay Brainard, the agency’s federal security director for the state of Kansas. At some airports, local supervisors weren’t allowed to mandate masks for employees, says Brainard. As of early August, more than 1,500 TSA employees have tested positive for the coronavirus, and six have died.

NEW CHECKPOINT RULES To grapple with the problem, TSA began holding weekly virtual town hall meetings informing employees about new procedures, and since May all screeners have been required to wear masks and gloves. If a passenger needing a pat-down doesn’t have a mask, one is provided. Gloves are discarded after any physical contact or upon a passenger’s request. Travelers scan their own documents, and plexiglass barriers have been installed. Some agents also use face shields and protective eyewear. To avoid close contact and the handling of passengers’ personal items, TSA is asking travelers to remove food — which can trigger alarms in the agency’s new 3D computed tomography screening machines — from carry-on bags for separate inspection. These 3D screeners, now in 44 of the 440 federalized airports the TSA handles, are another method of distancing — officers don’t have to touch bags to search them. TSA is also working on improvements in detection algorithms to reduce the need for pat-downs and bag checks. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport ELAINE THOMPSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Jeff Plungis

Pandemic Protocols TSA faces tough challenges

VEN IN THE BEST of times,

the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) may have one of the trickiest jobs in the federal government. Screeners must interact with stressedout passengers trying to catch planes — every day, hundreds of thousands of times. The agency enforces screenings and must pat down passengers when necessary. Just the sort of activities one wants to avoid in the middle of a pandemic. TSA, used to hunting for

PASSENGERS PLAY A PART To prevent the spread of COVID-19, TSA is encouraging passengers to wear masks and follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines as part of their “Stay Healthy. Stay Secure.” campaign. “We are committed to ensuring that our TSA officers and other personnel on the front line are equipped, protected and maintain good social distancing practices, both on and off duty,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske says. “It’s up to each of us to stay healthy and stay secure from check-in to final departure.” LOOKING AHEAD At the moment, lower passenger volume has helped ensure measures such as social distancing can be enforced. On March 1, right before the nationwide shutdown, TSA screened nearly 2.3 million passengers. At the CONTINUED

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NEWS

JOHN RAOUX/ASSOCIATED PRESS

TSA agents screen passengers at Florida’s Orlando International Airport on June 17.

recommendations. Key touch points such as height of the shutdown in mid-April, passenger tray tables, armrests and door handles are deep traffic dropped 93 percent. On July 26, there cleaned after every flight, the group says. were 751,205 screenings — down 73 percent Airports are experimenting with new types from the same day in 2019. of heating and air-conditioning When airport traffic surpasses with improved ventila50 percent of pre-pandemic “It’s up to each of systems tion to increase air circulation, levels, enforcing social distancing protocols may be more of a us to stay healthy according to the American Association of Airport Executives challenge. The agency is working and stay secure (AAAE). with airlines and airports to TSA gets high marks for project when that day will from check-in to communicating with the aviation arrive so that they can remain industry and putting public prepared. final departure.” health first, says Joel Bacon, — DAVID PEKOSKE, WORKING TOGETHER executive vice president for TSA administrator government and public affairs at In welcoming passengers AAAE. back, airports and airlines have “There’s a comfort that the government and stepped up their safety efforts as well. Airlines industry are working together to enhance public for America, a Washington, D.C.-based industry health, that we’re addressing the issues proactrade group, says personnel are cleaning tively,” says Bacon. “We’re all in this together.” planes more thoroughly than required by CDC

Dallas Love Field Airport TONY GUTIERREZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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U.S. COAST GUARD (USCG)

From left, Chief Warrant Officer Mike Mauro, Lt. Cmdr. Scott Stechschulte and Cmdr. Christian Polyak won a Capt. Niels P. Thomsen Innovation Award for creating a flight instrument that helps pilots land helicopters on Coast Guard cutter flight decks during rough seas.

Blue-Sky Thinking Emphasis on innovation brings eﬃciency to Coast Guard operations

By Adam Stone

ITH JUST 41,000 MEMBERS,

the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is tasked with patrolling thousands of miles of coastline — ensuring safe navigation, intercepting illegal migrants, conducting drug interdictions and performing search and rescue operations. To meet this sprawling and complex mission, the service has made innovation a priority. Its long-running innovation program “is designed to capture and share gaps and

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NEWS

USCG

Lt. Joshua Wofford, left, of Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans, won an award for developing a Skype program that allows flight crews to share their experiences with students. USCG hopes to inspire youths, particularly young women and students of color, to pursue careers in aviation.

challenges across the service and help facilitate those solutions,” says Wendy Chaves, chief of the USCG Office of Research, Development, Test & Evaluation and Innovation. “The goal is to tap into our workforce’s creativity and problem-solving ideas.” Early this year, the service expanded its efforts to incorporate new ideas with the launch of its Blue Technology Center of Expertise (COE) at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. “Blue” here

refers to anything happening above, on or below the surface of the water. “The Blue Tech COE really acts as a conduit between the Coast Guard and the technology sector,” says program manager Jennifer Ibaven. “Our goal is to better connect the Coast Guard with the private sector, academia, nonprofits and other federal agencies that make up this rich blue technology ecosystem.” The Coast Guard’s partners include private-sector innovators as well as USCG’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.

USCG is teaming with DHS innovators at the Coast Guard’s research and development center in New London, Conn., and a partnership with the DHS Silicon Valley Innovation Program has generated a couple of important breakthroughs. “One is maritime object tracking technology, and the other is a universal handheld language translator,” Chaves says. Knowing the location of ships at sea, and being able to communicate with their crews, are key pieces of the Coast Guard mission.

FRONT-LINE IDEAS Much of the Coast Guard’s innovation agenda percolates up from rank-and-file members — those on the front lines who are best positioned to spot opportunities for improvement. Members submit suggestions via crowdsourcing platform CG_Ideas@ Work and at Idea Frenzy brainstorming events. In one recent “frenzy,” Coast Guard members offered a way to use handheld tablets to digitize and simplify maintenance tasks on patrol CONTINUED

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“Given our size ... We need innovation to keep pace with any challenges that could arise.” — JENNIFER IBAVEN, Blue Technology Center of Expertise USCG

A team at the Coast Guard Surface Forces Logistics Center suggested a way to transition maintenance records from paper to digital at a USCG brainstorming.

boats, making these operations safer and more accurate. USCG’s annual Capt. Niels P. Thomsen Innovation Awards highlight the impact of those grassroots ideas.

HAUL ABOARD One of this year’s winning ideas makes it easier and safer to haul heavy buoys out of the water for servicing. “It’s something that puts a big physical strain on Coast Guard members,” says Chaves. “On the Coast Guard cutter Wedge in Alabama, they’ve created a device that uses mechanical advantage to haul the buoys up out of the water. It saves labor hours and a lot of sore backs.”

Another recent effort makes it easier for the Coast Guard to deploy its newly upgraded helicopter cockpits. The enhanced cockpits require an alignment process that was intended to be performed with the helicopter on solid ground, but many Coast Guard aircraft are stationed on cutters at sea. “A team of Coast Guard aviation engineers teamed up with industry partners to create a system to calibrate the helicopter flight instruments on a pitching flight deck,” says Chaves. “They were able to enhance asset readiness and dramatically improve the crew safety with this.” Yet another initiative leverages

Skype, a telecommunications app, to support education. “Air Station New Orleans had an interactive outreach program that allowed educators to connect their classrooms with live chats with Coast Guard aviators,” says Chaves. “There were 31 classrooms in nine states and over 1,600 students involved.”

INNOVATION INFLATION All these incremental improvements make it easier for the Coast Guard to get the most out of its relatively limited resources. “Given our size and all the responsibilities in trying to accomplish our statutory missions, we have to evolve

and adapt with emerging technology,” says Ibaven. “We need innovation to keep pace with any challenges that could arise.” Looking ahead, Chaves says the service plans to stand up a detachment this summer within the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Defense Innovation Unit. “We’ll be putting an active duty member out there and then a contingent of reservists as well,” says Chaves. “They definitely have a lot of resources in DOD that they put towards these efforts. We would like to partner with them and learn from some of the things that they’re already looking into.”

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SEAN D. ELLIOT/THE DAY VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Company members read their guidebooks as they wait for their uniforms as prospective members of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Class of 2024.

Admission N Requirements

By Pat Eaton-Robb

Coast Guard alters training for incoming class due to COVID-19

O ONE WAS SCREAMING in the face of 18-year-old Ellie Hiigel when she arrived this July for training in advance of her first year at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and that had her mother, Joanna Hiigel, a bit disappointed. The school in New London, Conn., like other service academies and military training centers, has made major procedural changes because of the coronavirus pandemic. That means the eight weeks of boot camp for new cadets, known as “Swab Summer” will be much different from CONTINUED

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PETTY OFFICER 2ND CLASS LAUREN LAUGHLIN/USCG

Second-class cadets help first-year students move in. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, families aren’t allowed in the dorms.

“We are blessed with a group ... who already understand what it means to follow safety protocols, understand what it means to follow orders and understand they have an important mission to accomplish.” — REAR ADM. WILLIAM G. KELLY, Coast Guard Academy superintendent

when Joanna went through it herself in 1991 as a fourth-class swab, or even when Ellie’s sister, Tana, went through it two years ago. Ellie and the 266 other swabs arrived not as one large group, but in eight separate platoons spaced out throughout the day. There were no haircuts, nor was there drilling, no running as a group from place to place, no lining up against the wall in the hall of the barracks for pushups. They weren’t even issued their uniforms. The big ceremony at the end of that first day on the parade field in front of their families was also canceled. Their contact with the third-year cadets training them, known as the cadre, will be from a social distance.

The cadets were required to quarantine for the first 14 days of training, and Coast Guard officials say those two weeks were spent in the barracks on what is known as ROM — restriction of movement — status. The group underwent coronavirus testing, and computers were the only items they were issued on the first day. They spent the first part of Swab Summer online in their rooms, learning about their responsibilities and duties along with the history and traditions of the Coast Guard and the academy. The physical training began once the quarantine ended, with the screaming CONTINUED

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NEWS

SEAN D. ELLIOT/THE DAY VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

After arriving at the academy, the swabs took the oath of office.

SEAN D. ELLIOT/THE DAY VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Swabs got haircuts after completing the mandated 14-day quarantine.

coming from a little farther away than in past years. It will conclude with what, previously, has been a three-day sail aboard the Coast Guard’s tall ship, Eagle. But for members of this class, that will be divided into several single-day trips to allow for more social distancing on board. Senior Dan Taglianetti, the Swab Summer company commander, says the training isn’t less rigorous. He says the cadre has been taught how to keep everyone safe, while making sure the swabs learn what they need to know. “People will be organized in a certain way so they don’t come into contact with each other,” he says. “But for the most part, the intensity will still be there. It just won’t be as traditional with the proximity and masks and things.” Rear Adm. William G. Kelly, the Coast Guard Academy’s superintendent, sees a silver lining. He says the pandemic has forced him and his staff to think about

why they normally throw swabs into the fire of training so quickly and whether they have given past classes too much to absorb at once. “We’re hoping that as we come out of this process this year — and we hope and pray we won’t be in the same situation next year — that we are going to learn a thing or two,” he says. “We are going to do it better this year, and we’re going to do it better in the future.” At the Coast Guard Academy, the summer has already been different for the approximately 1,000 second-, thirdand fourth-year cadets, most of whom returned for primarily online training assignments in June. Battalion Commander Noelle Greenwood says she was supposed to spend half the summer before her senior year interning in Puerto Rico, learning CONTINUED

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NEWS

SEAN D. ELLIOT/THE DAY VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Second-class cadets measure the height of a swab.

SEAN D. ELLIOT/THE DAY VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

A swab is questioned after his guidebook is found on the floor.

what life would be like after graduation. Instead, she has been in New London, overseeing summer programs, including Swab Summer. She acknowledges being a bit worried about missing out. “I have expressed that to some of the officers and a few of my mentors here,” she says. “They have all told me that this experience this summer — managing a staff and then having to be adaptable and keep changing things and being responsible for such a large number of cadre and trainees — it will actually prepare me for the fleet.”

Kelly says he expects the pandemic experiences of all his cadets, including the swabs, will also make them better prepared to serve in the Coast Guard. “We are blessed with a group of young women and men who already understand what it means to follow safety protocols, understand what it means to follow orders and understand that they have an important mission to accomplish,” he says. Pat Eaton-Robb writes for The Associated Press

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POWER TOOL FOR THE FIGHT AGAINST

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ON THE

FRONT LINES When the coronavirus hit, FEMA responded nationwide

By Gina Harkins

IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE coronavirus pandemic, doctors were raising troubling concerns: Hospitals were nearing capacity and health care workers didn’t have enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to treat infected patients. Americans are used to seeing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) respond to hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and other natural disasters, but this year the agency was handed a new mission — a key role in the government’s coronavirus response. As of July, more than 12% of FEMA’s 20,000-person workforce was dedicated to supporting the COVID-19 pandemic response, says FEMA Press Secretary Lizzie Litzow. Thousands more were at the ready to respond to other crises. The pandemic has left the government facing an unprecedented challenge, FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor says. Responding to a crisis on that scale, he says, requires a “whole-of-America” effort. “Typically during disasters, FEMA manages abundant resources to support a specific state, territory or region,” says Gaynor. “In responding to COVID-19, FEMA has met the more difficult task of managing shortages of critical medical supplies and equipment such as PPE, ventilators, swabs and the chemical reagents required for testing. This effort alone has presented a historic challenge for FEMA and its federal partners.” CONTINUED

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INITIAL ACTION In March, as President Donald Trump declared a national emergency, and governors in the hardest hit states began sounding alarms about hospital capacity, FEMA partnered with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE), Health and Human Services and the Veterans Administration (VA) to support overwhelmed hospitals. FEMA provided $1.8 billion to USACE to build 38 alternative care centers and asked VA hospitals to make beds available to nonveterans. “At the height of the operation, FEMA was tracking a total of 188 facilities,” says Litzow. Currently, it is ready to add 1,000 more beds at VA hospitals by September if needed.

SUPPLYING A NATION While working to add beds, the CONTINUED

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FEMA officials visit a Veterans Health Administration mobile ICU in Hines, Ill., set up as part of the COVID-19 response.

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agency looked for PPE, spending more than $140 million on an effort called Project Airbridge, which involved linking overseas vendors to American distribution companies. The program was touted by Trump as a “historic partnership” between the government and private freight and distribution companies. Project Airbridge, partnering with four transportation companies and six supply distributors, completed 249 flights, bringing in more than 5 million N95 respirators, 937 million gloves, 122 million surgical masks and 63 million gowns, among other items from suppliers overseas, says Litzow. Gaynor describes the project, which was launched in less than 10 days, as “a key example of public-private partnership in action.” The special flights delivered some international shipments — which Gaynor says typically take more than a month by ship — to the U.S. in a day. “Project Airbridge was integral to the federal strategy to manage critical shortages of PPE and other medical supplies by accelerating international deliveries until domestic and foreign manufacturers could increase production to well above pre-COVID-19 levels and standard supply chains could begin to stabilize,” he says.

ASSESSING THE RESPONSE But in June, three Democratic senators — Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal and Chuck Schumer — called for an investigation into the program, claiming Project Airbridge was marked by delays, confusion and secrecy. “It is not clear if the project was effective or cost-efficient, or if other alternatives — such as the early invocation and use of the Defense Production Act to produce medical supplies — would have better alleviated the PPE shortage, saved money and saved lives,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Michael Horowitz, acting chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. Throughout the crisis, Gaynor says the U.S. was competing with countries all over the world for some of the products needed most during the pandemic. Much of that equipment is manufactured in Asia, he says, where production slowed significantly during local outbreaks. In the early stages of the pandemic,

“For the first time in ... U.S. history, there are

114

concurrent major disaster declarations — at least one in every single state, five territories, tribal nations and the District of Columbia.”

ALEXIS HALL/FEMA

Medical supplies arrive at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport as part of Project Airbridge.

— PETER GAYNOR, FEMA administrator KATHY WILLENS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

the country’s medical professionals sped through what’s usually a year’s worth of supplies in a matter of weeks, Gaynor explains. Once the country’s immediate PPE shortage was addressed, according to FEMA, Project Airbridge was ended. FEMA declined to provide details publicly on where the products shipped by Project Airbridge ended up, but reported that the program fed critical supplies to hot spots identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency kept tabs on where the flights were headed, and distributors shared info with federal and state leaders on where the inventory went, down to the ZIP codes, says Litzow. CONTINUED

A hospital official records the delivery of medical supplies by FEMA to Southern Connecticut State University in late March. The building was adapted to handle COVID-19 patients.

KC WILSEY/FEMA

A FEMA logistics team in New Jersey opens a box of face shields.

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“PPE and lifesaving equipment (are) just as important as building an aircraft carrier. We need to have that capacity here in the United States.” — PETER GAYNOR, FEMA administrator

“Governors regularly receive countylevel data of PPE distribution,” says Litzow, noting that Project Airbridge could be reinstated should a new need emerge.

means the federal government isn’t the white knight that comes riding out on horseback to save everything. They can only do so much.”

CONGRESSIONAL QUERY

FEMA and the entire federal government must learn from the challenges encountered during the pandemic, Clark-Ginsberg says, so the U.S. is more prepared for future emergencies. He, like federal lawmakers, expresses concern over coronavirus cases spiking at the same time FEMA may be tasked with responding to hurricanes and wildfires this fall. Litzow notes that FEMA already responded to severe weather events during the pandemic after more than 100 tornadoes tore through several states in April. Clark-Ginsberg says there’s a real threat of disaster-response staff being overworked if crises pile up. Gaynor told lawmakers this summer that FEMA has “never been more ready as an agency,” and he was confident that his personnel were equipped to continue responding to the pandemic and any other crises that emerge. He stressed, however, that the U.S. must decrease its dependence on foreign countries for disaster gear, specifically PPE. Gaynor emphasized the need to manufacture more of those products in the U.S., rather than relying on countries such as China. “PPE and lifesaving equipment (are) just as important as building an aircraft carrier,” Gaynor told lawmakers. “We need to have that capacity here in the United States. We cannot rely on peer competitors to manage our destiny.” Gaynor puts FEMA’s challenge in context: “For the first time in ... U.S. history,” Gaynor says “there are 114 concurrent major disaster declarations — at least one in every single state, five territories, tribal nations and the District of Columbia.” The agency, he points out, has also adapted its response practices and workforce posture to address the coronavirus while hurricanes, floods, wildfires and other disasters threaten the U.S. “At such a pivotal time for this country, the FEMA workforce has risen to these unprecedented circumstances and met our mission each and every day,” says Gaynor. “We are adaptable, resilient and will continue to support each other through the end of the fight against COVID-19.”

The Trump administration’s pandemic response faced increased scrutiny as virus rates rose in the summer. Health experts warned the rush to restart the economy put Americans at risk, and political leaders said the lack of a national strategy left states competing with each other for desperately needed resources. Gaynor told lawmakers in July that the U.S. had more masks and other PPE than it did at the start of the pandemic, but some areas hit with coronavirus surges could still face shortages. “We are not out of the woods completely with PPE,” Gaynor said while testifying before the House Committee on Homeland Security. During his July testimony to Congress, Gaynor stressed the need for hospitals and health care workers to report any PPE needs to their state and local health officials, so FEMA knows what’s needed and where. FEMA is working toward manufacturing PPE, but “it’s not as simple as turning a light switch,” Gaynor explained to the committee. “We have some distance to travel.”

‘THEY CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH’

JIM MAYER/UPS

At the UPS air hub in Louisville, Ky., FEMA administrator Peter Gaynor observes the shipping of medical supplies.

LIZZIE LITZOW/FEMA

Gaynor visits the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. The building was turned into an alternate care unit.

The coronavirus crisis is the biggest disaster FEMA has faced since it was created in 1979, says Aaron ClarkGinsberg, who studies disaster risk management as an associate social scientist at the nonpartisan RAND Corporation. While FEMA is well-positioned to lead a pandemic response, says ClarkGinsberg, there are inherent challenges to dealing with a disaster of this scope. FEMA typically responds to more limited crises that tend to hit during specific seasons, such as wildfires or hurricanes. Not only is this nationwide, but since COVID-19 is so new, it’s not yet fully understood. FEMA is dealing with a lot of unknowns, says Clark-Ginsberg. “FEMA isn’t the be-all and end-all when it comes to disaster management,” he adds. “We have — for better or worse — a federal system and a decentralized system, so FEMA plays a supporting role to states and local territories. That

GOING FORWARD

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

By Matt Alderton

DEFENDING DEMOCRACY Agencies beef up cybersecurity efforts to protect elections

S THE NATION HEADS to

the polls this November, concerns are mounting about the security of the election in light of Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential contest. In fact, media reports already have surfaced detailing election-meddling attempts by Russia, China and Iran. But there’s at least one comforting difference between 2020 and 2016, cybersecurity experts insist: This time, America is ready. “Election oﬃcials have always taken security seriously, but it’s a whole other ballgame to know that a nation-state actually targeted your systems,” says Matt Masterson, senior adviser on election security at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). “What we’ve seen since 2016 is tremendous growth in the capacity and capability of state and local oﬃcials — and in the private sector that supports them — to both detect and respond to malicious activity.”

TEAM EFFORT In the United States, elections are decentralized and administered at the local level — usually by county ofﬁcials, although sometimes by cities and townships. Local authorities operate under the supervision of state officials, whose duties include enforcing election laws, training local staff and managing statewide infrastructure for elections. That includes voting machines and voter registra-

tion databases. Often, a state’s chief election oﬃcial is its elected secretary of state, although it might also be an individual or board appointed by the governor and/or state legislature. “It’s very similar to how department of motor vehicles (offices) work in a lot of states,” explains Ben Spear, director of the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) at the nonprofit Center for Internet Security. “The statewide DMV controls the main database, but it’s actually the county clerk staff at the local DMV that handles the information that goes into it.” With elections, as with transportation, the federal government plays an important — but mostly hands-off — role by supplying strategic knowledge, funding and direction. “Our mission is to make sure state and local oﬃcials and others involved in the election ecosystem have the information, support and services they need to manage risk,” explains Masterson, who says CISA helps state and local election authorities by assessing their physical and cybersecurity posture, testing their networks for vulnerabilities, conducting tabletop exercises for the purpose of contingency planning and funding EIISAC, which launched in 2018 as a national clearinghouse for election cybersecurity. Under Spear’s direction, EI-ISAC provides free, 24/7 cybersecurity intelligence, monitoring, education and response support to more CONTINUED

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DEFENDING DEMOCRACY than 2,500 election oﬃces in all 50 states. One of its signature services, called “Albert,” continuously watches election entities’ networks for malicious activity and quickly alerts them to potential threats. “The EI-ISAC created a central point of contact,” Spear says. “Now there’s a national focus and a national community working together to address these issues in real time.”

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE What allowed a national community to sprout from America’s localized election system was the January 2017 decision by then DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson designating election infrastructure as critical infrastructure. “That put elections in the same category as the electrical grid,” explains Masterson, who says the designation gave state and local election officials the ability to seek federal assistance and resources in ways they previously couldn’t — including $400 million from this year’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Two CARES Act beneficiaries are Iowa and New Mexico, where the states’ investments since 2016 are representative of the nation’s progress overall. “Every state now considers itself a target,” says Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, past president of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS). “In Iowa alone, we have more than 400,000 cyber incidents a day that involve bots and other types of activity that we deal with aggressively.” To secure elections in the 99 Iowa counties that run them, Pate’s office partnered with the state chief information officer and the National Guard to provide cybersecurity training and develop incident response plans. It also provided funding and support to help counties upgrade their election websites to .gov domains, which are inherently more secure than the .com, .net and .org domains on which many local election websites currently reside. “After 2016 we did a quick survey of all our jurisdictions in Iowa to find out what they had for cyber protection. It was a little alarming because they didn’t have much, if anything,” says Pate, whose office also is an active customer of both CISA and EI-ISAC. “Now, every county in our state has taken advantage of just about everything we have available to them.”

Voting during the June 23 primary in Louisville, Ky. TIMOTHY D. EASLEY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

BACKUP PLAN New Mexico has taken similar steps, according to Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, current NASS president. In 2018, for example, her office appointed a dedicated cybersecurity officer to help state and local election officials identify and address cybersecurity vulnerabilities. She says the state’s most important action, however, predates 2016 by 10 years: In 2006, the New Mexico Legislature passed a law requiring paper ballots; ballots from the state’s 33 counties are counted with electronic scanners and stored for nearly two years, creating a verifiable paper trail. New Mexico law also mandates automatic postelection audits to ensure voter integrity. “If you’re a state that has all-paper ballots and mandatory postelection audits, then you’re really hitting the duofecta, if you will, of resilience so that no matter what happens you’re able to re-create and accurately

recount the election,” Toulouse Oliver says. Instead of voting machines, which lack an internet connection through which to attack them, the most likely targets are election staff workstations, which can be infected with malware and ransomware for the purpose of stealing intelligence, interrupting workflows or altering records in ways that sow chaos and create public distrust of election results. That’s why paper trails are so important. And yet, a 2019 report by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice found that at least eight states — Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kansas, Indiana, Kentucky and New Jersey — were primed to use paperless voting equipment in 2020. That translates to 16 million votes for which there will be no paper record in this year’s election. Even in states with paperless voting, however, progress is evident. “The reality CONTINUED

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DEMOCRACY

“I canʼt think of a single state that hasnʼt ... (tried) to beef up their cybersecurity programs.” — MAGGIE TOULOUSE OLIVER, NEW MEXICO SECRETARY OF STATE BRIAN WITTE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Most Maryland voters mailed in their primary ballots. However, in Baltimore, there were six in-person voting centers open on June 2.

is, with 50 different election systems in 50 different states, you are going to see different levels of sophistication with regard to this work,” Toulouse Oliver says. “But I can’t think of a single state that hasn’t taken really critical and necessary actions to try to beef up their cybersecurity programs.”

INFORMATION ASSAULTS If you ask officials, one of the biggest threats to election integrity might be false information that’s deliberately spread. “No Russian changed a single vote in 2016, but they did accomplish some serious damage from the standpoint of creating doubt with voters,” Pate says. “For that reason, battling misleading and false information is one of our highest priorities going into the 2020 election.” To combat disinformation, states like Iowa now have social media monitors tasked with flagging erroneous election facts, including incorrect election dates and polling places. When false information is discovered, election officials notify their peers via EI-ISAC and work with social media companies directly to stop the spread.

Meanwhile, secretaries of state have worked together to launch #TrustedInfo2020, a CISA-supported education campaign that’s designed to promote election oﬃcials — not social media — as trusted sources of election information. “Don’t trust a meme,” Toulouse Oliver advises. “Come directly to us.”

COVID-19 IMPACT Thanks to COVID-19, the 2020 election is even more prone to information attacks than was the 2016 election. “Combining a national election with a global pandemic means people are going to be looking for information more intensely than before,” explains McAfee Chief Technology Oﬃcer Steve Grobman, who reiterates the need for secure .gov election websites to which voters can turn. “A voter who has voted at the same local elementary school for the last 20 years might have to visit their local election website for the ﬁrst time to learn about changes in poll locations (due to COVID-19) or get information about early voting. Given how easy it is to set up a fake website, that really concerns me,” says Grobman.

But the coronavirus has born solutions alongside challenges: In light of the pandemic, some states are expanding access to mail-in voting. “Mail-in voting is much, much harder to hack because once somebody mails in their ballot, the processing that happens on the back end is completely disconnected from the majority of IT systems,” says Ron Bushar, chief technology officer of government solutions at cybersecurity company FireEye. “It takes away the cyber piece almost entirely.” Although not all states have embraced mail-in voting, working with state and local election officials to address their cybersecurity concerns has made Bushar optimistic about November. “Awareness is night and day compared to 2016,” he says. “That’s not to say that there won’t still be attacks — and that there might not be some successful ones — but the focus is such now that if something were to occur ... a combination of state, federal and commercial support functions would respond to put a stop to it very, very quickly,” says Bushar. “I’m a hundred times more confident in the resiliency of the overall election infrastructure in 2020 than I was in 2016.”

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By Craig Guillot

REACHING OUT TO ADDRESS GROWING CYBERTHREATS_ AS FEDERAL AND STATE governments address the growing health and economic impacts of the pandemic, COVID19-themed cyberattacks are infiltrating every area of society. Between January and April, as workers and students began to work from home, cloud-based cyberattacks increased by an alarming 630%, according to a report from security software company McAfee. “We’re seeing cybersecurity

issues in this COVID period of time that have both health consequences and economic implications,” says Bryan Ware, assistant director for cybersecurity at Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). “As soon as you move your business activities, government activities — whatever they may be — into home networks, it creates attractive targets for adversaries.” CONTINUED

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EXPANDING ROLE AS WATCHDOG CISA was founded in 2018 under the authority of DHS. Its role is to understand and manage the cyber and physical risks to our critical infrastructure by providing the federal government cybersecurity tools, incident response services and assessment capabilities. While CISAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original mission was to protect critical infrastructure like telecommunications, energy and financial services, its role has expanded since the start of the pandemic. Due to the growing risks, CISA is now also working to protect food supply chains, pharmaceuticals, remote work and online education, says Ware. In mid-April, the agency noted that advanced persistent threat groups were increasingly using COVID-related themes in phishing emails, malware distribution and domainspoofing attacks. The agency has unveiled new toolkits, initiatives and awareness campaigns to address cybersecurity threats across the economy. Nearly every industry has experienced a wave of COVID-themed cyberattacks. According to a survey by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, nearly 60 percent of technology professionals say threat actors are taking advantage of the pandemic to disrupt organizations. The World Health Organization reported in April a fivefold increase in cyberattacks compared to the same period last year, and the IRS also issued a warning that scammers were using emails, text messages and phony websites to target stimulus payments. CONTINUED

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CISAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bryan Ware was appointed as assistant director for cybersecurity two months before the COVID-19 crisis.

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HOME BASE Because of state shutdowns and stay-at-home orders, more Americans are working and schooling from home. According to a May Gallup survey, seven out of 10 workers were working remotely all or part of the time. The transition to remote work and online education over a period of just hours or days meant millions of homes were vulnerable. Unprotected routers and Wi-Fi connections, outdated devices and a general lack of updated cybersecurity practices can be appealing targets, says Ware. The FBI has issued several notifications about the growing risks related to remote working and online education. The rush for many schools to rapidly deploy remote learning technologies that they previously had no experience with left vulnerabilities with configuration errors, says Ware. CISA has responded by creating guidelines for safe teleworking practices, and it is working with software vendors to help improve their cybersecurity. In July, the agency announced a strategy to help strengthen and unify industrial control systems for cybersecurity to better protect the essential services Americans use every day. CONTINUED

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CLASSROOM DISRUPTION Some of the greatest threats to schools include ransomware attacks, where individuals or groups steal data and threaten to publish it if schools don’t pay a ransom. Another common attack strategy is “Zoom-bombing” or online classroom hijacking in which malicious actors gain access to online sessions and cause disruption. It has especially been problematic for universities which have seen an increase in phishing domains, scams and online classroom disruptions, says Andrew Korty, chief information security officer at Indiana University. While the university has been able to mitigate the threats with passwords and better practices, the growth in remote learning has led to calls for more stringent cybersecurity practices by faculty and students. “It doesn’t require any advanced techniques on (the attacker’s) part. If it’s publicly available, they discover the address, get in and cause disruption. They issue racist threats and remarks or share illicit content,” says Korty.

GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE Over the past several months, CISA has expanded its role in public cybersecurity education. Nearly 80 percent of cyberattacks are relatively simple and can be prevented with better cybersecu-

rity fundamentals and public awareness, Ware says. Paying better attention to emails, identifying what’s suspicious and keeping devices updated can help organizations and citizens eliminate many threats. “We believe we have a mission to inform the American people of good cyber practices, to keep them secure as well as (warn them about) some of the threats that are real out there,” says Ware. To address the growing risks, in late May CISA released the first of a series of six cyber essentials toolkits. The agency will release a new toolkit each month to help small businesses, government agencies and other users address cybersecurity risks. The agency also launched a dedicated telework product line to help companies enhance cybersecurity when adopting or expanding telework policies. “We recognize that’s where the action is, so we’re trying to provide good guidelines and recommendations,” says Ware. As the pandemic has driven much of the world to rely even more on IT, Ware expects threats to continue and increase. “They’re going to target all of us where we live now, rather than where we work, because where we live, work and go to school is all the same,” says Ware. “It will be more important than ever for us to secure the technology that’s going to get us through the crisis.”

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USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

CAREERS

Pivotal Positions Finding purpose and opportunity at Homeland Security

TRACY RENAUD ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, SERVICE CENTER OPERATIONS DIRECTORATE U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Washington, D.C. Tracy Renaud was 15 when she created green cards (permanent resident cards), using card stock and a manual typewriter, as part of her very first job — working part time for a Vermont office of Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1982. “We’d apply the person’s photo with rubber cement and laminate it,” recalls Renaud, who has worked with U.S. immigration services ever since and is now with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Service Center Operations Directorate, the office that provides benefits — such as naturalization, permanent residency or U.S. work eligibility — to immigrant applicants. Renaud never attended college and says

the opportunities she’s had with USCIS still “flabbergast” her. She previously traveled the globe as deputy associate director for refugee asylum and international operations, and twice served as the agency’s acting deputy director, among other positions. Currently, she’s focused on finding ways to modernize USCIS, like digitizing the immigration application process and promoting remote work opportunities for employees. After nearly four decades with immigration services, she still feels inspired by the naturalization ceremony to welcome new citizens. “It’s moving, and it makes you appreciate all they’ve been through to get to that point,” she says.

U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES

Tracy Renaud, associate director of the Service Center Operations Directorate, speaks at a naturalization ceremony at Boston’s Fenway Park on Sept. 17, 2008.

By Mary Helen Berg

HE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND Security’s more than 240,000 employees share a weighty responsibility — protecting the nation’s leadership, citizens and infrastructure from threats including terrorism, cybercrime and natural disasters. According to the four staffers profiled here, DHS careers afford opportunities for professional growth as well as the honor of contributing to the critical mission of safeguarding the country:

U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

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USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

CAREERS

BRIAN HERNANDEZ BORDER PATROL AGENT (INTELLIGENCE) U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Corpus Christi, Texas

“Wanting to be a public servant, wanting to serve the community — that’s kind of what led me to become a border patrol agent,” says Brian Hernandez, a lifelong Texan who followed in an uncle’s footsteps when he joined U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2007. Hernandez began his career as a checkpoint officer, but additional training in data analysis and other techniques helped him excel in intelligence work. In 2019, Hernandez and his regional coordinating mechanism team received the Department of Homeland Security Secretary’s Unity of Effort award for contributing to a 2,600 percent increase in detection of illegal fishing and maritime smuggling. He also attained paramedic certification through the agency,

gaining invaluable skills he uses to aid migrants who are lost or in distress, such as when he recently helped apprehend a smuggler carrying 25 migrants in the back of an airless cargo truck at a checkpoint in Sarita, Texas. The adults in the truck appeared stable, but he was concerned about a young girl who was soaked in sweat. Agents often evaluate migrants’ condition, take vital signs and will administer IVs to anyone who is severely dehydrated. In this case, Hernandez says, he determined that the best medicine for the child was a bottle of Gatorade and a snack he bought from a nearby vending machine. “We have multiple incidents where we find people in distress, and it’s rewarding to know that we’re helping them,” Hernandez says.

U.S. SECRET SERVICE

DAVID SMITH DEPUTY SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION U.S. Secret Service, Washington, D.C. Growing up in Waynesboro, Ga., David Smith read encyclopedias for entertainment. He never dreamed he’d one day join an elite law enforcement team, protect the president of the United States and fight financial cybercrime. As deputy special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Criminal Investigative Division, Smith and his team helped prevent $3.6 billion in losses to the country’s financial system in 2017 and contributed to 2,193 arrests worldwide, according to the agency’s strategic plan. Smith has also served on protective details for former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as well as countless visiting dignitaries, during his 18-year career. Each high-profile visitor and venue presented challenges — like the time he had to secure the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson so that Obama, celebrities and thousands of sailors could safely attend a Veterans Day basketball game between the University of North Carolina and Michigan State University. “We try to think like a person with bad intentions would think,” says Smith, who has a criminal justice undergraduate degree and a master’s degree in public administration. “We try to think through every possible scenario and create a safe environment.”

TOSH T. CUELLAR/U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION

On a Texas ranch, Brian Hernandez follows tracks that could belong to a group that crossed the border from Mexico.

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

CAREERS

PROVIDED BY KEITH GRAY (2)

Keith Gray and Ari visit the Military Working Dog Teams National Monument on Joint Base San Antonio—Lackland, Texas.

KEITH GRAY EXPLOSIVE DETECTION CANINE HANDLER Transportation Security Administration, Indianapolis

Keith Gray and Ari

Some co-workers buy colleagues a cold beer after a long day at work. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer Keith Gray rewards his partner with kisses and a favorite toy. Gray, an explosive detection canine handler, works with Ari, a 3 1/2-year-old German shorthaired pointer trained to sniff out bomb threats in the terminals at Indianapolis International Airport. Gray left a food industry information technology position in 2005 to join TSA, and in 2011 trained for four months to acquire specialized canine handling skills, such as how to read a dog’s body language and what

motivates them to perform, he says. “I was so grateful, thankful and happy to be selected to do this because it’s a fun job,” says Gray, who has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. TSA dogs are trained to screen passengers, vehicles, airplanes, cargo and buildings for explosives and their components. For these highly skilled pups, positive reinforcement and playtime with a coveted toy are the ultimate “paycheck,” Gray says. The bond between handler and dog is strong, says Gray. Ari is his second canine partner; his first, a black Lab named Tirado, is enjoying retirement while living with Gray.

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

EDUCATION

WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY

Students in Western Carolina University’s emergency and disaster management program watch a demonstration on the use of canines in emergency work.

Building Tomorrow’s Leaders Recruiting graduates who have the expertise to serve and protect

By Robin Roenker

OOKING FOR A CAREER with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)? The broadreaching agency — which encompasses 14 operational and support components, including the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Secret Service — recruits employees with an array of interests and skill sets. “The foremost trait in an ideal DHS employee is a motivation for public service and an understanding of the department’s mission to safeguard the American people, our homeland and our values,” says Sharon Wong, DHS executive director for strategic recruitment, diversity and inclusion. “DHS employees are resilient and possess the ability to solve problems, strategize and innovate

to achieve results,” she adds.

CYBER DEFENSE Degree programs in cybersecurity can lead to a career with DHS, which actively recruits employees with expertise in cyber risk and vulnerability detection, digital forensics and networks and systems engineering. Students in Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s cyber intelligence and security degree program in Prescott, Ariz., learn fundamentals like network security, ethical hacking and malware analysis — as well as how to identify potential attackers’ typical techniques and procedures and get ahead of them. “The degree program was started in 2013 with a goal of providing students with not only the capability to understand about the attacker — what CONTINUED

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

EDUCATION

CYBERSECURITY The following cybersecurity programs have been designated as National Centers of Academic Excellence by DHS and the National Security Agency: ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY Center for Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in applied computing (cybersecurity concentration) or computer science (cybersecurity concentration) and Bachelor of Science in engineering in computer systems engineering (cybersecurity concentration) uglobalsecurity.asu.edu EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY College of Security and Intelligence degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in cyber intelligence and security; Bachelor of Science in global security and intelligence studies; Master of Science in security and intelligence studies; Master of Science in cyber intelligence and security uprescott.erau.edu

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s cyber lab EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY

“Every day, something is different in (cyber) security — every problem is a new problem, and that energizes our students.” — MICHAEL WHITMAN, Institute for Cybersecurity Workforce Development, Kennesaw State University

they’re doing right now — but what they might be doing in the future, hence the intelligence part,” says Jon Haass, interim dean of the university’s College of Security and Intelligence. At Arizona State University’s Center for Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics, students are trained to approach cybersecurity not just from a highly technical computer science angle, but from a “broad, cross-disciplinary view” that includes a nod to the legal, economic and psychological aspects of cyber defense, says Adam Doupé, the center’s associate director. “The problems that we have to tackle in cybersecurity are not just technical problems,” Doupé explains. Similarly, at Marquette University in Milwaukee, the Center for Cyber Security

Awareness and Cyber Defense works to dispel the myth that cybersecurity specialists end up “hidden in a back room doing code,” says Thomas Kaczmarek, the center’s director. “There are lots of roles (in cybersecurity) that are important and involve a lot of interaction with business.” Fully embracing the cybersecuritybusiness crossover, Idaho State University offers an MBA program with a specialization in cybersecurity topics — and students can receive tuition support through Scholarship for Service (sfs.opm. gov) in return for a commitment to work at least two years in a federal agency. “My students eat, sleep and breathe cybersecurity for two years, nonstop,” CONTINUED

IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY Information Assurance Program degree offered: Master of Business Administration with a concentration in cybersecurity topics usecurity.iri.isu.edu KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY Institute for Cybersecurity Workforce Development degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity; Master of Science in cybersecurity; Bachelor of Business Administration in information security and assurance ucyberinstitute.kennesaw.edu MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY Center for Cyber Security Awareness and Cyber Defense degree offered: Master of Science in computing with a specialization in information assurance and cyber defense umarquette.edu/cyber-security

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

EDUCATION

“We’re seeing more ... students wanting to serve on that front line of defense. They want excitement and adventure — while knowing they’re making a difference.” — LISA BRIGGS, Emergency and Disaster Management program, Western Carolina University

IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY

Corey Schou, left, professor of informatics at Idaho State University, speaks to MBA students.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT For students interested in careers at FEMA, these programs offer agency-specific training: ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Regional Center for Disaster Preparedness education degrees offered: Associate of Applied Science, Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in disaster preparedness and emergency management uastate.edu/dpem WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY Emergency and disaster management program degree offered: Bachelor of Science in emergency and disaster management uwcu.edu/learn/programs/ emergency-disastermanagement

says Corey Schou, professor of informatics and director of Idaho State University’s Informatics Research Institute and National Information Assurance Training and Education Center, whose graduates have gone on to placements at DHS, the National Security Agency and other government agencies.

ONLINE OPTIONS In part to help address the looming shortage of cybersecurity specialists — some estimates predict there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity positions globally by next year — Georgia’s Kennesaw State University plans to launch an online master’s degree program in cybersecurity this fall to accompany its longstanding online bachelor’s degree option. “Over half — 55 percent — of our applicants to the master’s degree program are career changers with non-IT undergraduate degrees, 14 percent alone from criminal justice-related fields,” says Michael Whitman, executive director of Kennesaw State’s Institute for Cybersecurity Workforce Development. The growth of online cybersecurity courses is making it easier for students from a wide array of educational backgrounds and life and work stages to pivot

to an exciting new career. “Cybersecurity is a vast field within itself. It doesn’t pigeonhole the student into one set of activities,” Whitman says. “Every day, something is different in security — every problem is a new problem, and that energizes our students.”

REAL-WORLD TRAINING For students interested in a career at FEMA, degree programs in emergency management and disaster preparedness often offer opportunities to learn directly from experts in the field. At Western Carolina University’s (WCU) emergency and disaster management program, classes are frequently led by FEMA staffers operating as adjuncts. “We try to hire instructors that are out there on the front lines of defense,” says program director Lisa Briggs, who serves as a consultant to a DHS postdisaster reunification team, that helps to reconnect children with their families following tragedies. WCU’s on-campus bachelor’s degree program in emergency and disaster management launched in 2019, bolstering its already popular online degree option. Briggs and her colleagues have recently added 14 new courses to their interdisciplinary curriculum, including

topics such as drone use, geographic information system mapping and missing persons recovery. At Arkansas State University, students can pursue degrees in disaster preparedness and emergency management either on campus or online, with coursework addressing issues such as disaster recovery, public health, public policy and the economic aspects of disaster. “We have placed students with various federal agencies, including FEMA, as well as state and local emergency management agencies, the military and the private sector,” says Joseph Richmond, chair of the university’s Department of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management. In the face of high-profile national disasters — including hurricanes, wildfires and floods — emergency management careers have become an appealing option for students seeking a way to serve their communities. “We’re in a period of growth,” Briggs says of the WCU program. “We’re seeing more and more students wanting to serve on that front line of defense. They want excitement and adventure — while knowing they’re making a difference. It’s just an awesome career.”

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION

MEMORIAL

NATE BILLINGS/THE OKLAHOMAN

A field of 168 empty chairs, each representing one of the lives lost, is part of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.

Somber Anniversary Marking 25 years since the Oklahoma City bombing By Adam Kemp

PRIL 19, 2020, MARKED

25 years since ex-Army soldier and security guard Timothy McVeigh parked a rented Ryder truck in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City and set off a bomb at 9:02 a.m. One-hundred-sixty-eight lives were lost, including 19 children, with several hundred more injured. Although the Department of Homeland Security wasn’t created until after the attacks of September 11, 2001, this 1995 act stands as one of the worst incidents of homegrown terrorism in the U.S.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced Oklahoma City to cancel a planned memorial service. Instead, barriers were set up to bar the path to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum with signs apologizing for limiting access. In place of a live ceremony, the Oklahoma City Memorial Foundation produced a video tribute, as well as the reading of the names of all of the victims and a moment of silence. Still, dozens visited the closed memorial, leaving items of remembrance at the fence and standing in silence as the bells tolled from a nearby church, marking the moment of the attack. Aren Almon, the mother of Baylee

Almon, who was killed in the building’s daycare center, was joined by her family to place flowers and stuffed animals at the fence outside the memorial. The day before the bombing, the family had celebrated Baylee’s first birthday. The next day, the image of Oklahoma City firefighter Chris Fields holding Baylee’s lifeless body became an enduring image of the tragedy. “It’s still important for us to be able to be there and have the kids there and have them all be able to put something that is important to them on the fence for Baylee this year,” says Almon. Mike Hoskins, a retired detective from the Oklahoma City Police Department, was at police headquarters just

a few blocks away when the explosion rattled the building. He and his fellow officers ran to the site to help pull people from the wreckage. “It was just unbelievable to see it. Black smoke spewing so high into the air. It was something you wanted to run away from, but we knew we had to go help,” says Hoskins. “I think it’s amazing to see people here even though it’s closed,” he says. “It almost makes it more memorable. All these people knew they wouldn’t be allowed in, but they just wanted to come and pay their respects anyway.” Adam Kemp is a reporter at The Oklahoman.

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION