Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano delivered remarks to 2,500 first responders and emergency managers at the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) 2009 Fire-Rescue International Conference in Dallas, Texas, stressing preparedness as a shared responsibility between all levels of government, the private sector, communities and individuals.

Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano announced new directives to enhance and clarify oversight for searches of computers and other electronic media at U.S. ports of entry—a critical step designed to bolster the Department’s efforts to combat transnational crime and terrorism while protecting privacy and civil liberties.

Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano delivered remarks at the 2009 American Legion National Conference in Louisville, Ky., highlighting the Department’s ongoing outreach to American veterans and announcing her commitment to employ 50,000 veterans at DHS by 2012.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will travel to New York City to kick off National Preparedness Month and unveil a new series of public service advertisements for the Ready Campaign—the Department’s national campaign to educate and empower families, communities and businesses to prepare for emergencies and disasters of all kinds.

Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano announced more than $240 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding for new in-line baggage handling systems at 10 additional airports across the country.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Information Technology Sector Coordinating Council (IT SCC) released the IT Sector Baseline Risk Assessment (ITSRA) to identify and prioritize national-level risks to critical sector-wide IT functions while outlining strategies to mitigate those risks and enhance national and economic security.

The Department of Homeland Security, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mexican Ministry of the Interior announced that the Mexican Interior Repatriation Program (MIRP)—a bilaterally beneficial voluntary program that ensures the safe and swift return of Mexican nationals found to be in the Sonora Arizona desert region of the United States unlawfully to their places of origin in the Mexican interior—has resumed for the sixth consecutive summer.

Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano and more than 25 senior Department officials received training in medical emergency preparedness and response by instructors from the American Red Cross.