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The Office of Public Affairs coordinates the public affairs activities of all of the Department’s components and offices, and serves as the federal government’s lead public information office during a national emergency or disaster.
To do this, the Office of Public Affairs...
- Communicates the Department’s operational and policy successes to the American people;
- Provides strategic counsel to senior leadership using best practices for communicating public information;
- Educates and empowers Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies, including natural disasters and terrorist or domestic violence attacks;
- Strengthens incident communications for the Federal Government to ensure that information related to domestic incidents is gathered and provided to the public;
- Fosters employee communications and build commitment to the Department’s mission among all employees;
- Provides governance, policy direction and management oversight of the agency’s enterprise public websites, digital services, and social media accounts;
- Manages the daily operations of DHS.gov to provide a consolidated resource for priority topics in a unified voice;
- Regularly provides current/updated subject matter expertise and communication materials to key stakeholders and non-government partners necessary in supporting DHS’ mission objectives;
- Creates, produces and disseminates high quality video productions to clearly communicate messages to an intended audience; and
- Provides access to DHS and its Component agencies to studios/networks/productions.
Quick Links
Press Room Media Library Social Media Accounts Websites
Contacts
Press (Email - Preferred) Press (Phone) Entertainment Industry
Organization
Led by Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS Office of Public Affairs is comprised of the following:
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The Press Office...
- Coordinates all media relations for the Department, identifies and executes proactive media opportunities, defends the agency in the news media leading all rapid response, and serves as liaisons to component press offices to ensure message coordination and effective communication;
- Provides support to the Secretary and other senior leadership on travel, and coordinates with counterparts at the White House, in other offices, and liaisons with external entity staff on public engagements; and
- Manages a fluid series of daily media cycles with national media outlets, cable television news, local press, international media, online outlets, specialized media across sectors and industries, and community media.
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Strategic Communications...
- Works closely with all DHS component agencies and headquarters offices to conduct mid to long range strategic communications planning and strengthen coordination with other federal departments and agencies;
- Identifies opportunities to help the public better understand the Department’s mission, programs, and policies and works to communicate key messages to targeted audiences;
- Leads rollout strategies for department-wide initiatives, events and announcements, and coordinates and supports individual component rollouts; and
- Establishes a meaningful dialogue on issues of importance with key groups and stakeholders.
Internal Communications
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Internal Communications...
- Develops and distributes Secretary/Deputy Secretary messages and general employee announcements to the workforce;
Manages the internal DHS Connect homepage and newsroom; - Collaborates with component internal communicators to amplify interdepartmental initiatives;
- Produces feature profiles that align with leadership priorities and federally-assigned special emphasis months; and
- Produces and distributes the weekly “This Week at DHS” e-newsletter to all 250,000 employees.
Social Media
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The Social Media team...
- Is responsible for strategy, content creation, and management of DHS headquarters and Secretary/Deputy Secretary social media accounts, including X, Truth Social, Facebook, and Instagram;
- Coordinates, communicates, and advises component social media leads on broader campaigns and agency priorities;
- Tracks and analyzes agency trends and stats across various public social media platforms to inform the broader communications strategy and DHS response to incidents; and
- Drafts time-sensitive messaging to rapidly respond to incidents.
Speakers' Bureau
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The Speakers' Bureau...
- Tracks and reviews requests for DHS HQ employees to speak at external events and engagements;
- Liaises with HQ offices and the component Speakers’ Bureau offices to identify speaking opportunities and to ensure coordination when multiple speakers across the Department are requested;
- Reviews presentation materials and talking points prior to select events to ensure consistent messaging across the Department and that no non-public information is revealed; and
- Works with the Office of the General Counsel/Ethics Division to ensure all requests for speakers comply with federal law and regulations.
Speech Writing
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The speechwriters...
- Prepare speeches, talking points, editorials, Congressional testimony, video scripts, web content, and other written products for the Secretary and Deputy Secretary;
- Develop speech content, circulate draft remarks, incorporate feedback from the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and senior staff, and submit final, approved remarks to the Executive Secretary's Office for inclusion in briefing books; and
- During emergencies and exercises, support incident communications by staffing the National Joint Information Center and preparing the Secretary's initial one hour statement, and subsequent addresses to the nation.
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Incident & Crisis Communications...
- Serves as the lead federal agency for communications during major domestic incidents and disasters and coordinates all incident response activities (including national level exercises), as required by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD 5), which directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to keep the public informed during a national incident;
- Operates the National Joint Information Center and continuously maintains the National, State and Private Sector Incident Communications Conference Lines;
- Directs the External Affairs Emergency Support Function (ESF #15) of the National Response Framework;
Leads OPA’s work on the National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS); and
Develops and maintains Federal incident communications doctrines and plans.
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Multimedia Relations...
- Engages with the entertainment industry to provide story ideas and access to DHS for documentary and fictional TV and feature film, reaching audiences with “infotainment” that educates millions of viewers about DHS;
- Reviews and approves all television/film footage and scripts to ensure DHS is portrayed accurately, in context, and in a positive light to best educate the American viewing audience about the DHS mission and what we do; and
- Coordinates with DHS components and directorates to actively engage in productions to showcase how each Component interacts with others to achieve the DHS mission.
Homeland Security Story Arcs
In the Significant Cases archive you'll find retellings of major events in recent U.S. history that DHS has been involved with. Told in a narrative manner, these pieces can serve as a guide for writers interested in the process by which the Department detects, responds to, investigates, and recovers from major high-profile cases such as terrorist attacks, catastrophic storms, organized drug cartels, and more.
How the Department Mobilizes for Action
Already know what type of story you're interested in telling? The What DHS Does tool highlights which of the Department's component agencies and offices take leading roles in certain plot scenarios.
Branding
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The Branding Office...
- Oversees the DHS brand, ensuring all Components, Directorates and Programs have a consistent look/tone/feel tied to the DHS seal and brand; and
- Works with Office of General Counsel Intellectual Property division to secure trademarks for our logos and marks (so we do not infringe on existing trademarks and other visual identifies).
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The Multimedia Services Division...
- Manages all multimedia support services within the Hitchcock Hall Auditorium, Multimedia Recording Studio, and Center Building Broadcast TV Studio;
- Delivers multimedia products for DHS communications for broadcast, webcast/livestream, and social media;
- Hosts and/or records live interviews, press briefings, and video/audio recording for DHS senior leadership; and
- Provides consultation to other DHS components for activities and events that involve multimedia components, media training, virtual events, or other visual information products.
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The photographers...
- Serve as the official photographers for the Secretary of Homeland Security;
- Photograph official events, meetings, ceremonies, press conferences, and public appearances to create a visual historical record of significant events;
- Provide high-quality images for DHS press releases, social media, websites, and public outreach;
- Take official portraits of DHS leadership and employees (as requested);
- Organize, label, and store imagery for government archives, ensuring they are accessible for future use; and
- Work within strict guidelines regarding confidentiality, security clearances, and event protocols.
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The Web Communications Division...
- Provides overall strategy, structure, organization, and presentation of DHS websites and digital services (especially DHS.gov) and overall guidance and oversight for all public websites/digital services;
- Delivers counsel on strategic web communications across the Department;
- Works with subject matter experts to provide accurate, timely and relevant information and services to web/digital visitors;
- Works with Incident Communications to post National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) bulletins and alerts to DHS.gov;
- Works with the DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer to develop new functionality for DHS.gov, the Enterprise Photo/Video Library, and other DHS public websites/digital services;
- Evaluates and coordinates the approval of Third-Party Digital Services (including social media platforms) for DHS use; and
- Leads the DHS Public Web Council and represents DHS to the larger federal digital workforce and OMB’s Federal Digital Experience Council.
DHS Web Council
The Director of Web Communications coordinates editorial standards, workflows, roles, processes, and requirements for all DHS websites and digital services with input from the Department's web/digital governance bodies. The director also serves as chair of the DHS Web Council, which is made up of one public affairs (PA) representative and one technology (IT) representative from each of the operational DHS components.
The purpose and goals of the DHS Web Council are to:
- Unify and simplify web systems at DHS by consolidating component sites, integrating stove-piped programmatic sites and eliminating duplicative sites;
- Identify and promote best practices for effective, customer-focused web and application development throughout the Department;
- Identify and research new technology and propose pilot tests to evaluate their possible adoption by the department;
- Provide a forum for web/digital technologists to share skills, knowledge, best practices, ideas and solutions;
- Provide DHS leadership with an accurate accounting of the scope of all component public-facing websites/digital services and the technology and resources supporting them, along with financial and operational transparencies, including usage metrics;
- Provide DHS a cross-component forum to address high-level web/digital policy issues that affect all DHS components;
- Promote cross-agency collaboration through information and resource sharing; and
- Communicate our successes and challenges to stakeholders, to bring greater recognition and support for our work and the DHS web/digital community as a whole.