Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf joined an Auburn University live stream on Thursday to discuss his agency’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Wolf’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the cabinet-level agency that oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
As such, his department has faced unique challenges in recent weeks during the unprecedented situation of facing more than 50 active disaster declarations across all of America’s states, territories and Native American tribes.
Wolf said that FEMA had so far committed $5.8 billion in COVID-19 relief efforts, and is partnering with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on at least $50 billion more.
According to Wolf, the amount of attention demanded by each state ranged from a Category 3 hurricane to a Category 5 hurricane.
Near the beginning of his remarks, Wolf said that he has been keeping his department focused on three priorities: “to respond, to recover and to restore.”
Wolf elaborated that he felt it was critical for his department to aid the restoration of “trade, travel, and commerce” within the United States.
DHS also oversees the Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP). Wolf detailed how every person coming into the United States today is receiving a “medical check,” and discussed the complexities required by providing those checks while allowing “legitimate trade, travel and cargo” to continue.
Frank Cilluffo, head of Auburn’s McCrary Institute, questioned Wolf on topics related to McCrary’s focus on cybersecurity and infrastructure protection.
Cilluffo asked how FEMA was dealing with situations where a more common natural disaster occurs during the ongoing pandemic.
“Instead of putting them in shelters we’re putting them in hotels,” Wolf said, citing a measure taken in the aftermath of tornadoes that struck Mississippi two weeks ago.
Cilluffo asked Wolf how DHS was dealing with the increased threat of bad actors in the cyber sector while an increased amount of the United States’ daily affairs are being conducted online.
Wolf said his department was “identifying new industries” that are under an increased threat of cyberattack due to behavioral changes required by COVID-19 precautions.
The acting secretary said near the end of his remarks, “I really appreciate that both Auburn and the institute … have done. The partnership with DHS has been great and I look forward to continuing the dialogue.”
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Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
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