For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Orlando, Fla.—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today traveled to Orlando, Fla. to attend the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS) International 57th annual Seminar and Exhibits, and deliver remarks at the annual Law Enforcement Military Appreciation Day luncheon, where she announced a new partnership between the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) "If You See Something, Say Something™" public awareness campaign and ASIS International.
“Homeland security begins with hometown security – it begins with law enforcement, security professionals, first responders, businesses and individuals,” said Secretary Napolitano. “We continue to work together with our many partners to build a strong foundation for a more secure and resilient homeland.”
During her remarks, Secretary Napolitano underscored the important partnership between DHS and ASIS International in keeping our communities safe and secure. Since 2003, DHS has provided $35 billion in risk-based preparedness grant funding to build and sustain state and local capabilities in preparation, prevention, and response to terrorist attacks and other disasters.
At the ASIS annual Law Enforcement Military Appreciation Day luncheon, Secretary Napolitano announced a new partnership between DHS’ “If You See Something, Say Something™” campaign and ASIS International. ASIS International will share the campaign public awareness video and supporting materials with its members, which include security professionals from around the world.
Over the past year, DHS has collaborated with federal, state, local and private sector partners, as well as the Department of Justice to expand the "If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign and the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative. The SAR Initiative is an Administration effort to train state and local law enforcement to recognize behaviors and indicators related to terrorism, crime and other threats; standardize how those observations are documented and analyzed; and ensure the sharing of those reports with the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces for further investigation. To date, approximately 100,000 law enforcement officials have received training through the SAR initiative.
Yesterday, Secretary Napolitano traveled to Houston and College Station, Texas to announce a new "If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign partnership with the city of Houston. She also observed fire rescue training and toured the Emergency Operations Training Center in College Station to survey ongoing efforts to combat wildfires in Texas. Secretary Napolitano later delivered remarks to students and faculty at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.
Secretary Napolitano will travel to New York City on Wednesday afternoon to honor Richard Rescorla posthumously with the Distinguished Public Service Medal for his heroic actions on September 11, 2001. The Distinguished Public Service Medal is the Department of Homeland Security’s highest honor.
For more information, please visit www.dhs.gov.
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