Every day, law enforcement officers across our great country leave home, not knowing what the day will bring. Yours is one of the most demanding and dangerous jobs in public service. Without you, we’d never be able to adequately protect the homeland.

I’m often asked what keeps me up at night. The answer is emerging threats that are now outpacing our defenses. Whether it is sophisticated malware, weaponized drones, or do-it-yourself chemical and biological weapons, the dangers of tomorrow are coming right at us today.

DHS cannot stop every homeland security threat or every plot—not in an age when these threats move at fiber-optic speeds. We need to adapt to this tectonic shift in the threat land-scape before it’s too late, and the way we do that is through partnerships. Partnerships used to be “nice to have,” but now they are a critical lifeline for our nation’s security and prosperity.

DHS is the biggest law enforcement department in the United States, with more than 60,000 sworn officers. And chief among our partnerships are those we have with state and local police —we hold America’s police forces in the highest esteem.

The events of the past several weeks are a sobering reminder of the importance of our collaboration.

Authorities recently arrested a man suspected of mailing pipe bombs, including to current and former U.S. officials, and disrupted a plot that put the nation on edge. It could not have happened without law enforcement cooperation. The sweeping investigation involved authorities—at all levels—working around the clock from New York City to Florida to California and in between.

It’s a testament to U.S. law enforcement’s professionalism, tenacity, and bravery that no one was injured.

We’ve witnessed heart-wrenching tragedy, too. From the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the attack in a bar not far from Los Angeles, in Thousand Oaks, California. Nearly two dozen people were killed in these incidents and more were injured. Law enforcement officers were among those killed and injured in these attacks.

I want to offer up my praise for the first responders who rushed to these scenes and saved lives. They represent the opposite of the cowardly shooters. They represent the best among us.

Our rapid collaboration continues after such incidents to help communities recover and ensure we are able to quickly bring perpetrators to justice.

As you know, our missions at DHS are expansive—counterterrorism, border security and immigration, cybersecurity, trade enforcement, combating transnational criminal organizations, aviation security, protecting soft targets and crowded places, and much more.

In every single one of these domains, we depend on law enforcement partnerships to get the job done.

When a drug smuggler tries to run fentanyl across the border and into our communities, we rely on you to help us catch them.

When a terrorist uses the web to share bomb-making instructions with a lost soul in the heartland, we rely on you to help us detect and disrupt a violent attack before it happens.

When a hacker uses ransomware to lock down computers at a local hospital, we rely on you to help us with the digital forensics to identify the culprit.

When a human trafficker kidnaps a young woman into sexual slavery, we rely on you to help us find her and bring her captors to justice.

I could try to measure our partnerships in pounds of drugs seized, victims rescued, crime rings broken up, cyber intrusions blocked, and so many other successes. But we will never be able to quantify the full impact of your efforts in protecting our homeland, our people, and our values. It is immeasurable. For that, our gratitude cannot be overstated.

Still, too often our frontline defenders are under-appreciated and endure unfair criticism in the media. Many times, elected leaders have failed to come to your defense, have failed to resource you, and have failed to empower you to simply do your jobs.

So, let me say this: not under this Administration, and not on my watch. At the Department of Homeland Security, we will never turn our backs on law enforcement. We will have your backs, whenever and wherever you need us.

I have one request, though. Help me tighten the bonds between our organizations.

At the heart of any good partnership is clear, consistent communication.

I want to hear from you. We need your ideas, we need your feedback, and we need your honest appraisals of how we are doing and what we could do better to keep up with evolving threats.

You are the stakeholders we trust and upon whom we depend. You are our eyes and our ears and America’s sentries. That is why I’ve directed my department to engage more closely with the law enforcement community than ever before.

We are working to hold more law enforcement roundtables, to kickstart new forums for frank discussions, to solicit actionable ideas to address the problems we all face, to find innovative ways to support you, and to explore new joint ventures with you.

The bottom line is this—our homeland isn’t secure unless our hometowns are secure. So, in the coming months, we need to reassess our partnerships to make sure—collectively—we are doing everything we can to protect our communities, safeguard our people, and defend our way of life.

On behalf of the men and women of DHS, thank you for your unwavering commitment to the rule of law and to protecting our communities. I am grateful for your service and sacrifice and that of your families.

Our nation is forever thankful. 🛡

Please cite as

Kirstjen Nielsen, “Leading the Fight to Protect the American Homeland through Partnerships,” From the Secretary, Police Chief 86, no. 1 (2019): 8–10.