Secretary Chertoff and FEMA Administrator Paulison announce the release of guidance for 14 different grant programs for the fiscal year 2008.

Secretary Chertoff appoints Scott Charbo as the Deputy Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate on February 1, 2008.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that it has begun collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Collecting 10 fingerprints improves fingerprint matching accuracy and the department’s ability to compare a visitor's fingerprints against latent fingerprints collected by Department of Defense (DOD) and the FBI.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at Houston Intercontinental Airport. “Biometrics have revolutionized our ability to prevent dangerous people from entering the United States since 2004. Our upgrade to 10?fingerprint collection builds on our success, enabling us to focus more attention on stopping potential security risks,” US?VISIT Director Robert Mocny said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. The change is part of the department’s upgrade from two- to 10-fingerprint collection to enhance security and facilitate legitimate travel by more accurately and efficiently establishing and verifying visitors' identities.

In Fiscal Year 2008, the Department of Homeland Security will award more than $3 billion in grants to states, urban areas, and transportation authorities under 14 programs to bolster national preparedness capabilities and protect critical infrastructure.

The Department of Homeland Security announced the release of Fiscal Year 2008 application guidance for 14 federal grant programs whose collective purpose is to strengthen prevention, protection, response and recovery capabilities at all levels of government on February 1, 2008.

One of my main priorities for TSA in 2008 is to get passengers and TSA on the same side, working together toward a better security process for everyone. That’s why TSA has launched a blog called “Evolution of Security” to get a two-way conversation going between our workforce and the public. While I’ll still be posting here on TSA’s many transportation security initiatives, I invite you to check out www.tsa.gov/blog to interact with some TSA employees, learn about the innovations we have in the works for checkpoints, and give us your feedback. I wanted to share with Leadership Journal readers an excerpt of my initial Evolution of Security blog post:

Our ambition is to provide here a forum for a lively, open discussion of TSA issues. While I and senior leadership of TSA will participate in the discussion, we are turning the keyboard over to several hosts who represent what’s best about TSA (its people). Our hosts aren’t responsible for TSA’s policies, nor will they have to defend them -- their job is to engage with you straight-up and take it from there. Our hosts will have access to senior leadership but will have very few editorial constraints. Our postings from the public will be reviewed to remove the destructive but not touch the critical or cranky.

Please be patient and good-humored as we get underway. The opportunity is that we will incorporate what we learn in this forum in our checkpoint process evolution. We will not only give you straight answers to your questions but we will challenge you with new ideas and involve you in upcoming changes.

I encourage the readers of the Leadership Journal to visit our new blog and contribute to the conversation with TSA front line employees. This is your chance to let us know what you think, ask questions, and help us improve the screening process so it is more effective for everyone. Please stay tuned to this Journal as I will continue to be a major contributor.

Kip Hawley

TSA Administrator

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 funding request of $12.14 Billion for border security and immigration enforcement is a 19 percent increase over FY 2008 funding levels and will be used to secure the border infrastructure, fencing and personnel by the end of the calendar year.

Effective January 31, 2008, oral declaration of citizenship by U.S. and Canadian citizens will no longer be considered sufficient to prove identity and citizenship when entering the United States at land or sea ports of entry. U.S. and Canadian travelers are asked to provide documents from an approved list to prove both identity and citizenship.