The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) held an awards ceremony on October 22 at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., recognizing 325 employees with a Secretary’s Award for their exceptional contributions to the department's mission.
"Every single day, with great determination, integrity, and skill, the 268,000 men and women of the Department of Homeland Security ensure the safety and security of the American people,” stated Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. He added that these individuals are instrumental in protecting the nation’s borders and cyberspace, combating drug trafficking, aiding disaster recovery efforts, and addressing human trafficking and online exploitation.
The DHS Secretary’s Awards are presented annually to honor individual and collective achievements within the department. This year’s awardees include personnel from various DHS components such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), DHS Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans, DHS Privacy Office, and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).
“In recognizing these outstanding DHS personnel with a Secretary’s Award, we recognize all our talented personnel; the achievements of one are not possible without the contributions of others,” Mayorkas noted. He also acknowledged the support provided by the families of DHS employees.
This year’s honorees were involved in significant initiatives including transitioning to a new pay system for TSA employees, conducting operations against Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) in the Darien Gap region, arresting over 8,000 human smugglers, generating more than 5,000 intelligence reports, seizing property valued over $38 million USD, and issuing over 2,300 alerts to protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.
DHS is hosting nine Secretary’s Awards ceremonies nationwide this year to honor more than 1,700 employees—the largest number ever recognized annually by the department.
Secretary Mayorkas has previously outlined 12 priorities for DHS which include enhancing workforce experiences. The department ranks third largest among federal departments after Defense and Veterans Affairs and employs over 92,000 sworn law enforcement officers—the highest number within any federal department.
DHS interacts frequently with the public through various operations including managing ports of entry for travelers and goods and processing immigration services. To learn more about DHS's daily impact visit: DHS.gov/TodayDHSWill.
In recent accomplishments last year, DHS improved processing efficiency at the Southwest Border, responded to natural disasters across the country, investigated cybercrimes extensively, facilitated asylum applications efficiently resettled nearly 90 thousand evacuated Afghans safely secured elections demonstrated heroism during emergencies among other tasks.
For more information on award recipients visit: 2024 Secretary's Awards | Homeland Security (dhs.gov).
