Fact Sheet: A Day in the Life of Homeland Security
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 19, 2003
The Department of Homeland Security has one mission but uses many tools and areas of expertise to accomplish our goal of securing the homeland. On any given day, we perform a variety of different tasks and functions to make America safer and our citizens more secure. Although our responsibilities are varied, we are united in a common purpose - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Below is a sampling of what the men and women of DHS do in a day.
Today, Customs and Border Protection agents will:
Process over 1.1 million passengers arriving into our nation's airports and seaports
Inspect over 57,006 trucks and containers, 580 vessels, 2,459 aircraft, and 323,622 vehicles coming into this country
Execute over 64 arrests
Seize 4,639 pounds of narcotics in 118 narcotics seizures
Seize an average of $715,652 in currency in 11 seizures
Seize an average of $23,083 in arms and ammunition and $467,118 in merchandise
Deploy 1200 dog teams to aid inspections
Make 5,479 pre-departure seizures of prohibited agricultural items
Apprehend 2,617 people crossing illegally into the United States
Rescue 3 people illegally crossing the border in dangerous conditions
Deploy 350,000 vehicles, 108 aircraft, 118 horses on equestrian patrol, and 480 all-terrain vehicles
Utilize 238 Remote Video Surveillance Systems, each system using 1-4 cameras to transmit images to a central location
Maintain the integrity of 5,525 miles of border with Canada and 1,989 miles of border with Mexico
Today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will:
Make 217 arrests on immigration-related violations
Make 41 arrests on customs violations
Remove 407 criminal aliens and other illegal aliens
Participate in 24 drug seizures resulting in the seizure of 5,511 pounds of marijuana, 774 pounds of cocaine, and 16 pounds of heroin
Make seven currency seizures, totaling $478,927
Make grand jury appearances resulting in the indictment of a combination of 32 people and companies
Launch 20 vessels in support of marine operations protecting the territorial seas of Puerto Rico, South Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and Southern California
Fly 25 surveillance flights supporting criminal investigations in Puerto Rico and the Continental United States
Disseminate 80 criminal investigative leads to field offices
Review 1,200 classified intelligence cables
Protect over 8,000 federal facilities
Screen over 1 million Federal employees and visitors entering Federal facilities
Make 6 arrests for criminal offenses on Federal property
Intercept 18 weapons from entering Federal facilities to include firearms, knives, and box cutters
Today, TSA employees will:
Screen approximately 1.5 million passengers before they board commercial aircraft
Intercept 2 firearms. In the month of May, TSA intercepted nearly 516,000 prohibited items, including 50 firearms.
Deploy thousands of federal air marshals to protect the skies
Today, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center will:
Provide law enforcement training for more than 3,500 federal officers and agents from 75 different federal agencies
Today, the Office for Domestic Preparedness will:
Disburse millions of dollars to states and cities across the country
Today, U.S. Coast Guard units will:
Save 10 lives
Assist 192 people in distress
Protect $2.8 million in property
Interdict 14 illegal migrants at sea
Conduct 109 search and rescue cases
Seize $9.6 million of illegal drugs
Respond to 20 oil and hazardous chemical spills
Conduct 50 Port Security Patrols
Conduct 20 Homeland Security Air Patrols
Board 2 high interest vessels
Escort 8 vessels, such as cruise ships or high interest ships, in and out of port
Embark Sea Marshals on 2 vessels
Maintain over 90 security zones around key infrastructure in major ports or coastal areas
Educate 502 people in Boating Safety Courses
Today the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services will:
Provide information and services to approximately 225,000 customers in one of its 250 field locations every day
Respond to 75,000 daily calls to its 1-800 customer service number
Naturalize approximately 1,900 new citizens every day
Process approximately 19,000 applications for a variety of immigration related benefits
Today, FEMA employees will:
Provide an average of $917,808 in grants to America's fire departments through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program
Provide 11,305 fire education publications through FEMA's U.S. Fire Administration to help Americans better prevent and respond to fires
Improve the effectiveness of 220 fire service personnel through courses offered by FEMA's National Fire Academy
Help protect 1,000 students at risk for tornadoes by providing their school administrators with information about how to properly construct tornado shelters
Provide critical preparedness, prevention, response and recovery information through the FEMA website, www.FEMA.gov , to Americans who view the site 2.5 million times each day
Provide 4,000 people per day volunteer opportunities to help better prepare their communities through Citizen Corps at its website, www.citizencorps.gov. The site receives 36,000 hits per day
Help save $2.7 million in damages from flooding across the country through DHS flood plain management
Spend $10.6 million to help communities respond and recover from disasters
Help protect an additional 104 homes from the devastating effects of flooding through flood insurance policies issued by the National Flood Insurance Program
Help 224 Americans recover from disasters by providing direct federal disaster relief assistance in the forms of low-interest loans, unemployment insurance, crisis counseling and temporary housing
Partner with the Small Business Administration to provide almost 60 low-interest loans worth approximately $3.6 million to help America's businesses recover from disasters
Distribute $45,243 to state and local governments through FEMA's Emergency Management Performance Grants to help develop, maintain and improve their emergency management capabilities
Distribute $51,506 through FEMA's Community Emergency Response Team grants to help state emergency managers initiative, organize, train and maintain teams of citizens who are qualified to assist in responding to disasters
Distribute $221,917 through FEMA's Emergency Operations Center grants to state governments to help them develop and improve emergency management facilities
Distribute $218,493 through FEMA's Interoperable Communications Equipment grants to help develop and support communications interoperability among first responders and public safety emergency officials
Today, DHS Science and Technology employees will:
Receive approximately 27 new homeland security technology proposals from large and small businesses
Receive an average of 6 homeland security technology proposals submitted via the science.technology@dhs.gov email address
Meet with an average of 4 industry leaders to discuss new technologies to protect the homeland
Today, DHS Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection employees will:
Receive and review 500 cyber security reports from Internet security firms, government organizations, private companies and foreign governments
Review more than a 1,000 pieces of intelligence from the intelligence community and law enforcement agencies
Distribute 4 information bulletins or warning products to critical infrastructure about vulnerability assessments, risk reduction and protective measures
Today, the United States Secret Service will:
Protect dozens of high profile government officials including the President, the Vice President, visiting heads of state, and former Presidents
