For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary Contact: 202-282-8010 WASHINGTON, D.C. - Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today delivered remarks at the 42nd Annual Conference on the Americas luncheon underscoring the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) commitment to leveraging international partnerships to strengthen security and expedite legitimate trade and travel. During her remarks, Secretary Napolitano discussed the Department's efforts to implement risk-based, information-driven security measures that support trade and travel essential to our economies.
"At DHS, we believe good, thoughtful, sensible security by its very nature facilitates lawful travel and legitimate commerce," said Secretary Napolitano. "A risked-based approach is not just smart security - it is efficient security. It can decrease wait times, increase trade and travel, and, importantly, keep costs down." Secretary Napolitano highlighted critical partnerships within the Western Hemisphere, to secure our borders and improve our ability to detect and deter a range of transnational threats. Over the past several months, Secretary Napolitano has traveled to Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama, signing 14 agreements on a broad range of topics, including combating human trafficking and transnational crime and other threats through enhanced information sharing while facilitating legitimate travel and international commerce.
Secretary Napolitano also underscored the Obama administration's commitment to global supply chain security. In January, Secretary Napolitano announced the U.S. National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland to promote a layered, risk-based approach to increasing the security, efficiency and resilience of the global supply chain.
For more information, visit www.dhs.gov.
