Today, in remarks delivered to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf delivered the following statement in response to the tragedy at Saugus High School:
Before I begin, I want to address the tragedy at Saugus High School in California. As a parent, I know that this is a worst nightmare situation. But as a government official leading some of the finest federal law enforcement officials in the country, I commit to doing everything we can to support the families and community.
The Department takes the matter of violence in schools and other ‘soft targets’ very seriously. Just last week, the U.S. Secret Service released a new report on targeted school violence in the U.S., and in the coming weeks DHS, along with the Departments of Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services will roll out a federal clearing house full of resources for schools and communities to prepare for, respond to, and hopefully prevent these types of threats in the future.
As we noted in our recent Strategic Framework for Countering Terrorism and Targeted Violence, combating targeted violence, including protecting our schools, requires a whole-of-society approach. DHS continues to support our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to develop trainings and resources to improve response capabilities and better protect soft targets and crowded places.
My heart is with the community at this time and DHS will be monitoring the situation closely and are standing by, able to support local law enforcement and the FBI in any way we can.